Sylvester/Too Hot To Sleep CD

Many overlook the fact that Sylvester was as much of a soul artist as he was a disco artist, what with his gospel roots and his ability to wrap his voice around a slow, deliberate arrangement. That's a shame, since there are soul-loving disco haters who simply avoid Sylvester's records for his disco connections, not to mention his sexual orientation. He was one of the most versatile artists of his time, singing deeply and sensually ("Thinking Right") one moment and then reaching up for a type of falsetto that will either cause your goose pimples to rise or make you run for shelter ("Can't You See"). Too Hot to Sleep is one of his most refined and laid-back albums, a consistent but unremarkable one that puts a spotlight on his crooning (best heard on his version of "Ooo Baby Baby"). The problem with this record is that it seems too much like a compromise. It's lacking in personality and hardly captures all of what makes Sylvester Sylvester. [Fantasy reissued this album in 1999 and combined it with 1977's Sylvester; Too Hot to Sleep was retained as the title.] ~ Andy Kellman

In 1999, Fantasy reissued Sylvester's first and last albums for the label--Sylvester (1977) and Too Hot To Sleep (1981)--on this 74-minute CD. Both sessions point to the fact that no artist was no more consistently mindful of disco's northern soul and gospel roots than Sylvester, who made sure that his albums were as listenable as they were danceable. This CD is full of dance-floor classics--club hounds of the Disco Era were well aware of infectious gems like "Over and Over," "Down Down Down" and "Change" from Sylvester and "Give It Up (Don't Make Me Wait)" from Too Hot to Sleep. But Sylvester wasn't recording strictly for clubs, and his talents as a soulful, charismatic provider of slow jams and ballads are evident on "Loving Grows Up Slow," "Tipsong" and a superb cover of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "Ooh Baby Baby." Of course, Sylvester didn't escape the wrath of the knee-jerk disco bashers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, who saw disco as robotic and mechanical and refused to believe that any disco artist could be warm, personal and expressive--all of the things that Sylvester's albums were. But time would be kind to disco. While many rockers of the late 1970s jumped on the death-to-disco movement, disco spelled "legitimacy" and "hipness" to a lot of Generation X rockers of the 1990s. And if those Gen-Xers are basing their opinions on excellent CDs such as this one, it's easy to understand why they feel the way they do. ~ Alex Henderson

2 LPs on 1 CD: SYLVESTER (1977)/TOO HOT TO SLEEP (1981).

Adapter: Sylvester.

Personnel: Sylvester (vocals, piano, keyboards, background vocals); Izora Rhodes, Martha Wash (vocals, background vocals); Tip Wirrick (guitar); Gerald Martini (tenor saxophone); Louis Small (piano, electric piano, ARP synthesizer); Louis Biancaniello (piano); Harvey Hughes, Woody Cunningham (drums); Kelvin Dixon (cymbals); David Frazier, Tony Flores (percussion); Maurice Long, Harvey Fuqua, Jeanie Tracy, Maxine Willard Waters, Oren Waters, Julia Tillman (background vocals).

Audio Remasterer: Kirk Felton.

Audio Remixer: Eddie Bill Harris.

Recording information: Fantasy Studios, Berkley (02/1977-02/1981).