We Are Family: The Essential Sister Sledge

This review is for:  We Are Family: The Essential Sister Sledge I already had the "We Are Family" album on CD and various compilations mostly devoted to their Chic produced anthems. So I wasn't sure if this would be worth buying or not, considering the tracks date back as far as 1973 and I suspected they might sound too dated for my taste. But I decided to give it a chance and I'm glad I did. I played both discs through from start to finish and thoroughly enjoyed it all, discovering some wonderful tracks that were new to me along the way (particularly "Il Macquillage Lady"). When it ended I wished it could continue. This double CD is a very comprehensive collection of Sister Sledge's singles and key album tracks. Most of the tracks are included in their short single versions, so this enables the compilers to include 36 tracks and of those there was only one I didn't like (Super Bad Sisters). There is one slight error on the cover where it lists "Frankie (radio edit)" but it is actually the album version which is identical to the single version but continues repeating the chorus about 20 seconds longer (so that's not a bad thing). The price at the time of writing this review is £4.99 which makes this incredible value. So if you want to see what Sister Sledge have to offer beyond those Disco classics "We Are Family", "He's The Greatest Dancer", "Lost In Music" and "Thinking Of You" (all included here), then this is a collection I can thoroughly recommend, along with the  We Are Family  album if you want the full Disco experience and 8 minutes 20 seconds of the original "We Are Family". Much of Sister Sledge's music was produced by Chic, so if you like this you should also investigate:  Magnifique: Very Best of Chic  which is the perfect companion.

This track listing was available on HMV, as you can see it has all the hits you want to hear disc 1 1. He's The Greatest Dancer 2. Mama Never Told Me 3. Thinking Of You 4. As 5. Love Don't You Go Through No Changes On Me 6. Circle Of Love (Caught In The Middle) 7. Don't You Miss Him Now 8. Got To Love Somebody 9. All American Girls 10. You Fooled Around 11. Easy Street 12. All The Man I Need - David Simmons 13. Easier To Love 14. He's Just A Runaway 15. BYOB (Bring Your Own Baby) 16. Let's Go On Vacation 17. One More Time 18. He's The Greatest Dancer disc 2 1. We Are Family 2. Lost In Music 3. I Was Made To Love Her (Him) 4. Frankie 5. Smile 6. My Guy 7. Il Macquillage Lady 8. When The Boys Meet The Girls 9. Super Bad Sisters 10. Bet Cha Say That To All The Girls 11. Dancing On The Jagged Edge 12. If You Really Want Me 13. Gotta Get Back To Love 14. I'm A Good Girl 15. Reach Your Peak 16. Pretty Baby 17. Lost In Music 18. We Are Family

Similar to the Definitive Groove Collection released in 2006. In fact the Essential and Definitive both bear the Rhino trademark which suggests they have both been released by the same people. The difference this collection has 36 tracks compared to the 30 on the Definitive. They have basically added a couple of 1984 remixes and added more tracks from the other Sister Sledge albums abeit dropping one or two. The booklet is just a fold over type. I own both CD`s this one if your thinking of having a collection of Sister Sledge music is very good value.

Great album, good songs and most importantly - it has the long vers of "Lost in music" and "He's the greatest dancer" which are absolutely ingenius.

Sister Sledge hail from the musical city,philadelphia,this 2 cd ,336 track career retrospective,covers their atlantic recording years and features all of those ground breaking hits that have stood the test of time and which have been covered or sampled ,including "We Are Family" ,"He s T he Greatest Dancer" ,"Lost In Music" and their UK # 1 "Frankie".this is the Essential sister sledge.........RECOMMEND

So glad I got this ,as apart from the well known hits from the 70/80s which take me back to my school disco days ,it also has loads of other good danceable tracks .It has not dated and is still great for strutting your stuff too and has messages about the need for more love and unity in this col ,harsh world of ours .

Lost in music with a blast from the past. Great memories from a group that continue to perform today. We are family, lost in music and Frankie are my favourites. A gorgeous group with gorgeous voices. Sit back and enjoy.

He's the Greatest Dancer, Thinking of You, We are the Family and Lost in Music all great but the rest are just party background music.

This is a good retrospective of Sister Sledge's hits along with album tracks and several remixes. A 2 cd set that shows off the talent of these great singers.John Walsh

Tout amateur de musique de ce genre se doit de posséder du Sister Sledge en CD au même titre que du Chic. Pour être crédible. Donc acte.

When I think of Sister Sledge, it reminds me of the great Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards as part of the "family." Classics such as He's the Greatest Dancer, BYOB, We Are Family and many more are all here. The sound quality is stellar. This U.K. label has issued many great collections worth examining and buying.

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