News

If you love Rhino France’s new CHIC box set as much as we do here at The Second Disc HQ (expect a review up in a few days or so), here’s another title you’ll probably enjoy: the Music Club Deluxe label in the U.K. is releasing a new two-disc compilation for Sister Sledge.

Sister Sledge, indeed comprised of Philadelphia-based sisters named Sledge (Kim, Debbi, Joni and Kathy), were a moderately successful R&B/dance group in the Atlantic label group (first signing to Atco, then Cotillion) that spent the mid-1970s releasing a handful of singles and records that earned them moderate chart success in the U.K. but little else. Just when their fortunes seemed bleak, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of CHIC picked them from the entire Atlantic family to produce a new record. Riding high off the sonic perfection of C’est CHIC (1978) and about to have another hit with Risque (1979) and “Good Times,” CHIC backed up Sister Sledge on the whole album and provided choice cuts like “He’s the Greatest Dancer,” “Lost in Music,” and the anthemic title track “We Are Family,” all of which topped the U.S. Dance charts.

Sledge and CHIC cut one more album, 1980’s Love Somebody Today, before working with up-and-comer Narada Michael Walden on All-American Girls (1981). Though the hits would not come as quickly in the post-disco age (save for “Frankie,” a U.K. No. 1 hit produced by Nile Rodgers), a fair amount of remixes and samples (most notably Will Smith’s chart-topping “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” in 1998) have kept the band’s sound alive to the present day.

This double-disc set will feature all the biggest hits and album tracks (many in their original 7″ single edits) as well as a few remixes, notably Rodgers and Edwards’ 1984 remix of “Lost in Music” and the hit “Sure is Pure” remix of “We Are Family.” The set will be available on December 13 in British shops; order it here and check the track list after the jump.

Sister Sledge, We Are Family: The Essential Sister Sledge (Music Club Deluxe MCDLX508, 2010)

Disc 1

1. He’s the Greatest Dancer (Radio Edit)
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 (Radio Edit)
9. All American Girls (Radio Edit)
10. You Fooled Around
11. Easy Street
12. All the Man I Need (with David Simmons)
13. Easier to Love
14. He’s Just a Runaway (A Tribute to Bob Marley)
15. B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Baby)
16. Let’s Go on Vacation
17. One More Time
18. He’s the Greatest Dancer (12″ Version)

Disc 2

1. We Are Family (Original Radio Edit)
2. Lost in Music (Radio Edit)
3. I Was Made to Love Her (Him)
4. Frankie (Radio Edit)
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 (1984 Bernard Edwards & Nile Rodgers Remix)
18. We Are Family (Sure is Pure Remix)

Original versions of Disc 1, Tracks 1, 3, 13 and 17-18 and Disc 2, Tracks 1-2 and 17-18 from We Are Family (Cotillion, 1979)
Disc 1, Track 2 from non-LP single (Atco, 1973)
Disc 1, Track 4 and Disc 2, Track 3 from Together (Cotillion, 1977)
Disc 1, Tracks 5-7 from Circle of Love (Atco, 1975)
Original versions of Disc 1, Tracks 8, 10-11 and 16 and Disc 2, Tracks 14-16 from Love Somebody Today (Cotillion, 1980)
Original versions of Disc 1, Track 9 and 14 and Disc 2, Track 12 from All American Girls (Cotillion, 1981)
Disc 1, Track 12 and Disc 2, Tracks 6-7 and 9 from The Sisters (Cotillion, 1982)
Disc 1, Track 15 and Disc 2, Tracks 5, 10 and 13 from Bet Cha Say That to All the Girls (Cotillion, 1983)
Original versions of Disc 2, Tracks 4, 8 and 11 from When the Boys Meet the Girls (Atlantic, 1985)
Disc 2, Track 17 released as a 12″ single (Cotillion, 1984)
Disc 2, Track 18 released as a 12″ single (Atlantic, 1993)