Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The "undiscovered" early Luther record - amazing disco/soul boogie, 23 Dec 2007
Before Luther's actual debut album (NEVER TOO MUCH), everyone knows he did NYC session work, some may know he co-wrote, arranged, and sang on Bowie's big U.S. hit "Young Americans" and some even know that before Luther was Luther, he was "Luther" - releasing two group LPs on Atlantic/Cottilion in 1976/1977 - and even some might know he contributed the amazing "Everybody Rejoice" to the WIZ, but...few realize that Luther provided lead vocals and arrangements to a barely-released 1979 mob flick SUNNYSIDE that was released for a week and the soundtrack buried - until now: NEW YORK CITY BAND is is the first-ever CD reissue of this long lost soundtrack, and trust me, if was well worth the wait - with Luther's unmistakably rich vocals on several keys tracks, this is manna from heaven, essentially like finding a "lost" Luther album - the standout track has to be the disco/soul boogie groover GOTTA HAVE YOUR BODY - one listen and it's worth the price of admission - I don't think Luther, in his ambitious blaze of youthful energy and bravado, never sounded so sexy, playful, and free - a keeper for sure, and a must-have for all Luther fans. I cannot fathom why this CD isn't availabe domestically in the U.S. - I had to order it here on amazon.co.uk to get my copy - thanks UK! They've always appreciated soul more than U.S. counterparts. Luther RIP.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the line-up and liner notes say it all !!! get it !, 25 Jun 2007
In 1979, LUTHER VANDROSS was one of the premier session singers on the New York
studio scene and probably recorded as lead vocalist on some of these songs for the first time.
NEW YORK CITY BAND - directed by the great HAROLD WHEELER - is a true
soul-funk-disco gem for everyone to discover.
"American International Pictures (A.I.P) was an independent film company that had produced many successful horror movies. The music supervisor was a friend of mine. One day he called and asked me to produce a soundtrack for a new film that was in production. When I asked what it was about, he said that A.I.P. had signed John Travolta's brother Joey to star in a 'gang' film that would take place in the slums of Queens New York - a place called 'Sunnyside', and that would be the name of the picture. I thought 'Sunnyside' didn't sound very 'gang' or 'slums' to me but ... He then said he wanted to try for a big soundtrack album as he had done a deal with Casablanca Records, the home of Donna Summers and other major 'disco' artists. I asked, "do you want a disco record?" he answered "let's call it a dance record". For a high quality dance record that needed more than a beat I called Harold Wheeler* in New York to do the conducting and arranging. Harold was on top of his game and could jump in and out of all genres of music. We decided on a big band and lots of voices with the bass and kick-drum up high in the mix, and most of all we had to have good melodic songs."
"Luther Vandross was one of the premier session singers on the New York studio scene and we hired him as 'choir master', responsible for the performance of all the singers hired for the recording. Luther sang lead on most of the chorus tracks and then we came to the two songs that were written for a solo voice - Harold and I both simultaneously shouted 'Luther!'. Luther jumped behind the vocal booth and shouted back "not me!". After a cup of tea and some high powered persuasion by Harold and me, he agreed."
"When you hear Luther's solos on 'Got to have your body' and 'Bo Diddley' you will understand why we worked so hard to convince him to do it."
"Sunnyside was released and played in the theatres for about three days - which is probably why nobody has ever heard this record before."
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vandross fait de l'excellent disco, 13 Jan 2008
L'année 1979 n'est pas une très bonne année pour Luther Vandross : il a définitivement dit adieu à son groupe Luther qui n'avait à son actif que deux albums sortis dans l'indifférence du public en 1976 et 1977, et pour gagner sa vie il a dû continuer à chanter des slogans publicitaires pour la radio et participer à des sessions où il était choriste de manière rarement reconnue. Nous sommes en plus à l'apogée du disco, genre musical qui lui va très mal. D'ailleurs les productions auxquelles il participe en tant que chanteur principal comme Charme («Georgy Porgy») ou Bionic Boogie (l'album «Tiger tiger») sont bien poussives. Sa participation à la B.O. du film «Sunnyside» sortie en album sous le nom de «New York City Band» sur le label Casablanca est donc une excellente surprise. En fait, elle l'est grâce à celui qui en a fait l'orchestration et les arrangements musicaux, Harold Wheeler, chef d'orchestre qui vient de Broadway et qui cette même année participe aux très bons disques de Marlena Shaw, Samantha Sang ou Dante's Inferno -certes, ce ne sont pas les noms les plus connus du disco mais justement ils méritent le détour. Wheeler fait le tour de tous les clichés du disco en les réutilisant de manière rafraîchissante, sans oublier que ce qui définit le genre est la prééminence de la phrase de basse et le battement continu de la grosse caisse, tous deux mixés en avant. Le résultat est un disco optimiste, brillant et entraînant. On reconnaît la voix de Vandross sur à peu près tous les titres, même si c'est parfois fugace. Il chante en solo sur la perle « Got to have your body» et sur « Bo Diddley». Dommage d'ailleurs que « Got to have your body» n'ait pas été sur la quadruple compilation du chanteur sortie en 2007, «Love, Luther», où elle aurait parfaitement accompagné «Hot butterfly» (chanté pour Bionic Boogie en 1978) et les titres de Change (1980) qui y sont présents.
Sur la réédition en cd, accompagnée d'un petit texte explicatif en français et en anglais, on trouve un titre supplémentaire, «Together», majoritairement senza voce. Bizarremment, les titres du cd ne sont pas dans l'ordre de ceux de l'album d'origine ci-dessous (et auxquels il faut rajouter «Together» de 4:46). La raison de ce changement est peut-être que la face A du lp étant très nettement supérieure à la face B on aboutissait à un album un peu déséquilibré.
A/ Loving you 5:25
Bo Diddley 4:43
Got to have your body 4:47
Ride that wave 5:58
B/New York City Band 4:42
Sometime 5:45
Sunnyside 7:11
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~ Luther Vandross
~ Luther Vandross
~ The Supremes
~ Luther Vandross
![Luther Vandross - Journey In Black [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31P05F067WL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Luther Vandross
