Customer Reviews

Together

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You know, I'd never heard of this album until all the Sister Sledge albums were reissued by Wounded Bird, so I went ahead and bought it, along with all the others that I only had on vinyl. Compared with some of them, I really like this one a great deal more than some of their later stuff. I mean, "When the boys meet the girls" has some great tracks on Side 1, but Side 2 lets it down badly. This album has the exuberance of youth and early disco on it and to that end, it's such a fun listen. I was cooking when I first played it and up to my neck in mince (there's a camp joke in there somewhere, but honestly, I was making meatballs!), so I put the album on repeat in order that I didn't have to touch the player when the CD finished and could keep listening to some music. I enjoyed it so much the first time round, I let it go round again.

Sure, there are one or two strange choices included on the album, but the gals make a darn good job of them all the same. I have to say, I like the ballads, especially "Baby it's the rain" and I'm not usually that sentimental.

Put this album in context. It was the mid 70's, the girls were exploring the soul/disco groove and sounded as if they were out for a good time. That's really all you need to know. Go in with the attitude that you're going to kick back and listen to so

Well it's 1977,Saturday Night Fever is out and the disco era is in full swing. On their second time around the Sledge's have jumped ship to the Munich scene,but it's not Giorgio Moroder and Pete Ballotte;they've hooked up with producers Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay,who was also the keyboard and sax player on this album. So this album allowed them to not only stay contemporary and embrace eurodisco to a degree but also diversify their musical pallet. Unlike Circle of Love this album focuses on uptempo and dance tunes with a larger ammount of variety.The punchy "Blockbuster Boy",two Stevie Wonder covers in "I Was Made To Love Him" and "As" as well "Moondancer" and "My Favorite Song" certainly fit right into the then highly popular disco sound and,as always,the sisters inject more then enough of their own personalities and spunk to give these tunes a timeless feeling. But the sisters also get down with some heavy funk-namely on Kathie Sledge's self penned "Do The Funky Do"-with it's punching keyboards and seriously deep beats it actually qualifies as a funk classic along the same lines as The Bar-Kay's "Holy Ghost". They add a little more disco stylings to the same general pallet on "Funky Family",which could actually be seen as a somewhat more rowdy and less tame prelude to "We're A Family".A cover of "Sneaking Sally Through The Alley" is with little doubt one of the funkiest things on this album,and his made even more of a surprise since the sisters didn't alter the lyrics to a mans point of view as they did on their Stevie Wonder cover. One of the finest overall tunes here is "Can't Mess Around With Love"-a Brazillian pop tune with a look and vocal very much out of the Sergio Mendes school. The two ballads that are here "Hold On To This Feeling" and "Hands Full Of Nothing" even seem to have a more urban feel to them and a newfound sophistication. This would be their final album before the pair of Chic productions that would make the Sledge's superstars and it will be obvious even on the first listen that the future starts here and the changes are coming fast.

First of all, I have waited for years to get Sister Sledge's albums released on CD. I finally broke down and bought this one and "Circle Of Love" on vinyl off of Ebay, about 8 or 9 months ago. Now this. What a slap in the face. This has some ok songs on it and one song so puzzling as to why they included it on here is anybody's guess.
The album is a mix of disco, funky, and of course ballads. In the aptly titled "Funky Family", they not only refer to themselves, but their whole family, mothers, fathers, and grandparents. Kind of hokey by today's standards, but maybe back then not so much. "Do The Funky Do" has a slinky beat and is one of the best songs to be found. "Moondancer" is typical 70's disco, kind of boring, but ok to listen to. Again, ballads here are totally forgettable, "Hold On To This Feeling" and "Baby, It's the Rain", I can't remember how they go. "Hands Full Of Nothing" is better. The two Stevie Wonder covers are cool, "As" and "I Was Made To Love Him" are here given a disco arrangement, of course. "Blockbuster Boy" and "Cream Of The Crop" are included, but no surprises on these two songs, as they have appeared on other compilations, we all know what great songs they are.

Now the head scratcher: "Sneaking Sally Thru The Alley". Why are they singing about getting caught cheating with a woman, by their wife? I'm not sure I even like how they sing this song. It's a great song, but I'll take Robert Palmer's version anyday.