Customer Reviews

We Are Family

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

 

 

I've been re-purchasing my favorite disco era songs and albums. The disco era was 'my era' and reflected my love for music and dance. This is a mega find. the sound quality is unbelievably great and the 12" songs on this album are nothing short of a gift. Please, Please don't sleep this. We don't know when the next time will be that the music industry will be this wise and actually give the public what it wants. If you loved the song 'lost in music' like I did, then you won't want to pass up the chance to get more then one version of that and so many others all on one compilation.

Love this album. This is nile Rogers at his best. Combining great production, the voices of Sister Sledge and great songs. This was the 2nd record I ever bought when I was 15 and did'nt realise how fantastic it was until I listened to it again. Don't know what happened to my vinyl copy. The whole album has a feel good attitude to it. My kids love it as well. There are a couple of nice ballads as well as the anthem, "We are family" and dance tracks, "Hes the greatest dancer", "I'm lost in music" and one of my favorites, "Thinking of you". Recommend this album. Not a weak track.

i got this album in 95 when it first came out. i adore it since then, there's no flaw on it. the CD is still on sale & chipper with the time. by the next year atlantic released love somebody today; now is not in the market anymore. i guess i was lucky enough to make that ivestment on time.

This cd brought me way back in time ,the whole cd just cranks out their greatest songs, and hearing them puts you in that time and place when disco dancing and roller skating were at a peak.And Families had a sure, you can buy it with certainty that it would be ok for all to listen to.

A staple at my record hops and wedding receptions. THE Best
dance tune ever. And you get three versions of this song on the album.

(Partial Lyrics, We Are Family, Copyright 1979, Sister Sledge)

We are family/I got all my sisters with me/We are family/Get up everybody and sing...

We are family/I got all my sisters with me/We are family/Get up everybody and sing...

If you were alive and into the disco scene in the late 70's and early 80's (and who wasn't), then you'll recognize those words. Who could forget the words to this mega-hit Sister Sledge anthem that celebrated and celebrates unity and sisterhood. With its heavy bass rifts and the scratchy but powerful voice of lead singer Kathy Sledge, We Are Family from the groups self titled album, "We Are Family" is to date the sisters biggest hit from an album that produced exactly two (track No. 1 He's the Greatest Dancer is the other)!

The Philadelphia born and bred sisters of Sister Sledge--Kathy, Debbie, Kim, and Joni (almost from the beginning I was in love with them all; the cover of the album alone is enough to make me wish I could...!), had actually been laboring in virtual obscurity on the Atlantic Records label, managing only minimal success from 1975 -1977. But in 1978 they were teamed up with Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards of Chic fame, and "We Are Family" the album was the result. Edwards and Rogers, both front men for "Chic" (remember them?) had written and produced all of that groups hits, and were brought on to write and produce this album for the label and finally get the sisters on the charts for more than a month.

The album--We Are Family--was released in 1979 with the single He's The Greatest Dancer becoming the first hit form what proved to be the groups biggest chart-maker. The track was produced in the classic Chic wrapper, with heavy bass riffs provided by Bernard Edwards and funky guitar licks by Nile Rogers; the tempo was of course all disco. The song was artistically vague and uninspired by today's standards, but then again wasn't most disco music?
In sharp contrast the title cut, track No. 5, We Are Family was---and is--fun to listen to and had the stamp of a classic from the day it was released. With its slow infectious beat and ever present, but understated bass riffs, the song begs to be danced to, and invites you to sing along. But not just you, everyone in the room is induced to get up and dance and sing! I have been in rooms that were dead, but as soon as We Are Family begins playing the dance floor became crowded with finger snapping, hand clapping, booty's bumping people with voices raised in almost perfect harmony in rousing chorus:

We are family,
I got all my sisters with me,
We are family,
Get up everybody and sing...

We are family,
I got all my sisters with me,
We are family,
Get up everybody and sing...

What fun!

The rest of "We Are Family" is mediocre at best and none of the other songs really capture my musical heart like We Are Family. I continued to follow Sister Sledge' careers (insofar as possible) however, because like I stated above, I was and am in love with the exotic looking foursome. Kathy, who is the youngest, (was) is the cute one; Debbie, (was) is the beautiful one, Kim with a face shaped like a heart and almond shaped eyes (was) is the sophisticated worldly beauty, and Joni (was) is the pretty girl next door.
Where are they now? Kathy' Sledge released a debut solo album, entitled 'Heart', in 1992. The rest of the group sans Kathy, has continued to perform and released African Eyes in 1998, and had continued to tour mostly in Africa and Europe. Who knows, perhaps one day their star will shine here in the U.S. once more!

Used it for my radio show on KGPL 91.7 fm On historical route 66

"Thinking of You" is the best disco-ballard ever.....her glowing voice is so uplifting...and "Easy To Love" is gorgeous.

I love this CD and knew that I would. It arrived in excellent condition and sooner than I had expected.

my mom had a 77 monte carlo,8 track,i had one tape......this one.this was my coming of age.