YouTube
Kathy, Debbie, Joni and Kim Sledge hail from Philadelphia... 'We Are Family' was created by legendary 70s disco innovators Chic and first hit back in 1979... This Sure Is Pure re-mix saw the song race back into the Top 5 in early '93.Third time around for this song, which as well as its original success was also the beneficiary of a previous remix in 1984 as part of that revival of their Chic-produced album. Apparently Nile Rodgers regards that as one of his career highlights which may be why he continues to include songs from it in his live set. However, on this occasion he wasn't involved in the remixing which was clearly an attempt to appeal to 1993 club culture. A Top 5 peak for this release and subsequent Top 20 returns for 'Lost In Music' and 'Thinking Of You' (I guess 'He's The Greatest Dancer' drew the short straw) proves that it worked at the time, but for somebody not steeped in that sound it feels a bit odd 22 years later. Although it's nice to be reminded of Robert Sabino's piano part from the original, dropping in odd bars of it does sort of make me wish I was listening to the original in its entirety: perhaps building a wholly new track around the vocal would have been more effective. The best thing about this remix is probably that it includes some sung ad-libs that weren't part of the original 7" edit.
It remains a good song of course, despite the fact that Rodgers and Bernard Edwards had to write it before meeting the singers. And no, she's not really singing "We're giving love in a Femidom," it's actually "a family dose".
Also appearing on: Now 3, 5
Available on: We Are Family - The Essential Sister Sledge
No comments:
Post a Comment