Customer Reviews

Do Ya Wanna Funk

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This cd which is released on the Canadian label Unidisc was originally released (on L.P.) on the Megatone label in 1982. Electronic synthesizer master Patrick Cowley (who died in the early 80's) was an innovator in this hi-nrg electronic sound (as was Giorgio Moroder in the 70's) and both Sylvester and Cowley make the perfect combination. Sylvester with his gospel high searing vocals and Cowley's melodic synthesizers. This cd includes all the hits (Do you wanna Funk, Don't Stop and Be with You) plus the remix versions, some of which were only available as import 12" records from Europe. The sound quality is nothing less than superb. If you enjoyed hi-nrg music from the 80's such as Miquel Brown, Hazel Dean, The Flirtations, Bobby O, Lime, etc. then you'll love this disc. Highly Recommended!

It was Originally released late 1982 under the name "All I need " by the San Francisco dance label "Megatone" which was owned by legendary (revolutionary) Synth dance producer Patrick Cowley. Songs where written and produced by James Tip Wirrick who also performed everything. The song "Do you Wanna Funk" which is written and produced by Cowley was added to the album becuase it had become a hit. In general, in this album you get an energetic yet elegant synth Hi-Nrg backround ...all very well arranged with moog solos...and over it you get an extremely emotional and heart pouring melody song by sylvester in falsetto ..plus a near gospel chant backing vocals apear featering big voices like Martha Wash/ Daryl Coley/ Jeanie Tracie. I think its Sylvester's best album and one of 80's best albums to be ignored by the mass media.

This album was orginally released as All I Need, and the title track is a fun post-Disco romp. Do You Wanna Funk is no doubt the song that most would consider the biggest hit off this release, but this track was released months before this album and was already a hit on it's own.

Don't Stop is the standout track here and it is to me one of his greatest Disco tracks ever. This song takes the best of late 70's Disco and reworked it for the 80's, without loosing anything in the translation.

Hard Up is VERY notable for the video made to support it was the first video by a black male artist to be featured on MTV
(sorry Michael Jackson, and just deal with it). Be With You is another great track and the line about being with someone in heaven proved to be an erie foreshawdoing.

Most of what is currently offered of this awesome talent is various greatest hit packages, so it is great to see this studio album being offered on CD.

See also my review of Living Proof.

What a great disc. Funky drag-queen Sylvester "funks" with you on almost a dozen tracks, including the smooth "All I Want" and the classic disco anthem "Do Ya Wanna Funk". Add it to your collection!

Unidisc you are awesome. I've looked for "Won't You Let Me Love You" on CD for years. Have it on vinyl but it's scratched. Love the song, I think it was overlooked. I don't like buying CD's without knowing track times but bought this one just for Song#7 without knowing times. So here are the track times for the rest of you:
1. Do Ya Wanna Funk 6:55
2. All I Need 4:28
3. Be With You 6:39
4. Hard Up 4:40
5. Don't Stop 6:50
6. Tell Me (Remix) 6:28
7. Won't You Let Me Love you 6:46
8. Be With You (Remix) 8:33
9. Don't Stop (Remix) 8:27
10. Do Ya Wanna Funk (Remix) 6:21
11. Do Ya Wanna Funk (Radio Edit) 3:32

When I bought & listened to this album, I was transported immediately
back to my care-free club days of 1982!!---I was 18, in the military,
and the party life was festive!
(Keep in mind, I started early on the private house party,
teen disco, and roller disco scene at age 14 back in 1978.)
Little did I know that within a year or two, all that would come to a screeching halt!
Well, I still partied, but never ever as care-free as I did from 1978-83.
The spectre of death was looming on the horizon, and would change everything!
Sylvester's music meant so much to the gay community in general, but to
the black gays, he was truly a representation that you could be anything
you wanted to be, and you didn't have to change yourself or suppress anything to achieve it!
That's what his music was to us..FREEDOM!! (-:

This era, to me, was his last big hoorah!--The final musical triumph!
Even though he did sign to Warner Brothers in 1986 and release
"Mutual Attraction" which had the hit "Someone Like You" in 1987.

Originally released as "All I Need" on the Bay Area independent
label called MEGATONE which was cranking out the club hits in
1981-1983, this album featured 4 songs which got alot of play
in the clubs across America and beyond!
"Do You Wanna Funk", "All I Need", "Don't Stop" and "Tell Me".
This album returned Sylvester to the top of the Hot 100
Dance charts after Fantasy Records had dropped him from the label.
He then reconnected with keyboard wizard Patrick Cowley,
who was part owner and the main creative force behind the label.
Within months of this album's release, the innovative Bay area
producer and the mastermind behind the SF sound that became
known as "HiNRG", Patrick Cowley, was dead from a then
unknown & mysterious illness that was effecting gay men
in all the major cities.
By the late 80's, Sylvester himself, as fabulous and iconic
as he was, succumbed to the dreaded disease which by then
had a name...AIDS.
But this album and his earlier groundbreaking disco-dance
hits from the late 70's are like a time capsule which captured
a very magical & special time in gay as well as dance
music's history! Definitely a dance music classic....
"DO YOU WANNA FUNK" is a piece of musical history!

Do Ya Wanna Funk is a great dance song from the 80s, and the CD has three different versions of it (Album version, Dance Club Version, Radio Edit). The other songs on the CD are just OK. The only other hit I recall from Sylvester was "You Make Me Feel So Real" but it's not on this CD. But if you're into fun, brainless dance songs from the 80s, "Do Ya Wanna Funk" is a must-have song for your collection. Enjoy!

if i could take one album that could without a doubt hold the energy and excitment of the disco era it is Sylvesters masterpiece work here.this album not only encapsulates the heart and talent of this late artist but what the era was all about. six stars!!!!!!!This album is iconic.

this is an album to have if you like disco music, all the remixes & won't you let me love you are incredibdle. i have it sequenced on my MP3 with the remixes of "call me" his next album, & is great, to hear 10 remixes of songs by sylvester. the timings are longer than the original versions & they are full of musical fioritures that you don't get in the original songs. get your copy & get "call me" too; just for the remixes

oh my gosh ! I love it, really gets ya going, especially at the gym ! love ed it in the 80's too ~~