Tag Archives: Atlantic Records

Introduction to Sister Sledge

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sister sledge
Title: Introduction to Sister Sledge

Artist: Sister Sledge

Label: Atlantic

Formats: CD, Digital

Release Date:  March 2, 2018

 

 

When one thinks of the great family acts, what names just pop in your head? The J5 / Jacksons naturally. The Osmonds perhaps? The Wilson Brothers? The Gap Band? Which set right. The most slept on family act hands down are the Isley Brothers. But the one name that constantly gets overlooked is Sister Sledge. The four ladies from Philly–North Philly to be exact–perhaps never had the same commercial appeal as the others mentioned, but if you check their history, you just might want to rethink where you rank them. SS even played the concert in Zaire with James Brown, the night before Ali v. Forman, and the group also had huge following in Japan.

Kathy, Joanie (R.I.P.), Debbie & Kim. That’s how I remembered their names, in that order. Forty years ago, SS released their He’s the Greatest Dancer album and became hotter than a firecracker. Hooking up with members of Chic—Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards & drummer Tony Thompson, who were hot as well with “Le Freak”—SS jumped on the disco train and rode it to the end of the line.

Introduction to Sister Sledge is a ten track “best of” collection. Yes, “We Are Family” is included–don’t panic. When some think of SS, they only think of this song. After the Pirates of Pittsburgh adopted “We Are Family” as their theme in 1979 and won the world series, the song put SS even more on the map.

The compilation takes us back to early SS and you can tell, just by listening to Kathy Sledge’s voice. The track “Mama Never Told Me” is bubblegum pop, but cute. I mean, it could have been performed by J5 or the Five Stairsteps (another family act). “Shibby Doo, Shibby Doo, bop bop.”

“Lost In Music,” produced by Niles Rodgers, sounds like Chic. Heck, for so many years I thought it was Chic since it has that distinctive Chic sound. “All American Girls” tries to recapture the sound of the previous LP and singles. I never knew if SS was referring to themselves as all American girls.

“He’s the Greatest Dancer” hands down is a top five disco track. You know a song is big when the Muppets had include it on their first TV special.  Nile Rodgers is on guitar, Bernard Edwards on bass, and Tony Thompson on drums. “Halston, Gucci, Eaucci, that man is dressed to kill!”

Introduction to Sister Sledge offers the best of SS. You get the big hits plus the ones that you never knew or just plain forgot about. One thing—don’t forget—when you list great family acts, make sure Sister Sledge isn’t forgotten.

Reviewed by Eddie Bowman

 

 

 

Apollo Saturday Night

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Title: Apollo Saturday Night

Artists: Various

Label: Collectors’ Choice Music

Catalog No.:  CCM-998

Release Date: March 10, 2009



As entertainment, one show at the Apollo is about the equivalent of an entire evening of TV watching, a dozen hours of radio, plus four double features at the movies all rolled into one — Bob Altschuler, from the original LP liner notes.

There have been a number of ‘Live at the Apollo’ albums reissued in recent years, but most focus on concerts by a single artist, such as James Brown.  The beauty of Apollo Saturday Night is the variety of talent captured onstage in a single performance from November 16, 1963.  The artists were drawn primarily from the stable of Atlantic and Stax Records (Atlantic had a distribution arrangement with Stax at the time)—Ben E. King, The Coasters, Doris Troy, Rufus Thomas, Otis Redding, and The Falcons—and backed by the King Curtis Orchestra. The album captures an important period in African American music, when elements of rhythm and blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll were frequently intermingled, and the pop-soul of Motown and southern soul of Stax were just on the verge of breaking loose and taking over the charts.  The concert also illustrates the performance practices and reception of the artists when playing to an almost exclusively African American audience.

The master-of-ceremonies, King Coleman, kicks off the show which opens with the Falcons performing their 1962 chart topping Wilson Pickett penned hit “I Found a Love,” followed by “Alabama Bound.” Apparently Pickett had already left the group by the time this concert was recorded (according to the liner notes), and the lead is sung by the Falcon’s founder, Eddie Floyd (the Falcons disbanded shortly after this concert, and the name was taken over by the Fabulous Playboys).

Next up is a young Otis Redding, one of the big headliners of the night, who draws screams from the ladies in the audience over his renditions of “These Arms of Mine” and “Pain in My Heart,” his first two major hits released just months prior to the concert.

Redding is followed by Doris Troy, best known for “Just One Look” which debuted that summer, but for some reason is passed over in favor of a rousing rendition of “Say Yeah” and an up-tempo jazz version of “Misty.” The venerable Rufus Thomas performs his signature song, “Walking the Dog,” which had just charted at #5 a month prior to the concert.   The Coasters, whose popularity had peaked in the late ‘50s with their seminal early rock ‘n roll hits “Young Blood” and “Poison Ivy” (which had recently been covered by the Beatles (1962) and the Rolling Stones (1963), respectively), contribute “Speedo’s Back in Town” and “T’Ain’t Nothin’ to Me,” which would be released the following year on their last charting single.

The other big headliner of the night was Ben E. King, who kicks off his set with the lesser known “Groovin'” (from the 1962 album Ben E. King Sings for Soulful Lovers), followed by “Don’t Play that Song, ” which hit #2 on the charts the previous year.  And of course he closes with his iconic #1 hit from 1961, “Stand By Me.” The concert concludes with a rousing group performance of Ray Charles’s “What’d I Say,” which must have brought down the house, but unfortunately the recording fades out before the applause.

The original Apollo Saturday Night LP was released by Atco (a subsidiary of Atlantic)  in 1964 and didn’t garner much attention, and a previously released budget label CD is no longer available. Thanks to Collector’s Choice, this remastered edition once again allows us to witness the excitement of a Saturday night at Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater.

Posted by Brenda Nelson-Strauss