13 March 2008

Mid-Week Brain Break

Reader email:
"Hot Line!" What a piece of shit song! The Sylvers were MUCH better when they wrote and produced their own stuff- before and after the bubble gum pop. Whoever owns the rights to their library should put out on boxed set. That stuff is R&B brilliance!
I don't know who owns the family's musical library currently, but I've put together a playlist that highlights a very small amount of some of their best work.

Leon Sylvers III wrote most of the tracks on this playlist, and produced tracks 7 through 10. That production work led him to the legendary SOLAR label in 1978, where he would go on to produce such top acts as Shalamar ("The Second Time Around"), The Whispers ("And the Beat Goes On"), and Lakeside ("It's All the Way Live"), among others.

But the music he made with his brothers and sisters was pure perfection. These nine siblings could out-harmonize the Jacksons any day of the week!

Enjoy these 10 solid tracks by the Sylvers (to play, click here):

1. Wish That I Could Talk To You
2. Cry of a Dreamer
3. We Can Make It If We Try
4. Ain't No Good In Goodbye
5. Clap Your Hands to the Music
6. Mista Guitar Man
7. Star Fire
8. Don't Stop, Get Off
9. Love Changes
10. Play This One Last Record