The Sylvers – The Sylvers
Vinyl rip in high resolution
FLAC | 300 dpi scans | Soul, Funk
1972 Pride Records || 2019 Mr.Bongo
The early seventies were the heyday of “family” bands from The Jackson 5 to The Staples Singers to, um, The Partridge Family. But there many less famous groups like The Stairsteps, and The Sylvers, with their own patriarchal figure helping shape things, and several guys named Leon in the mix.The siblings had been in a doo-wop group that put in time on the road with Ray Charles, called The Little Angels. As The Sylvers, they found more success later in the decade with disco-infused soul hits, but this debut proves they weren’t exactly obscure out of the gate: it is produced by the venerable Jerry Butler of the Impressions.
Butler was running The Songwriter’s Workshop around this time, which may be why the tunes on this record are so damn well put together. In fact a few of them are maybe right on the cusp of having too much going on for a 3 minute song, but I love every minute of it. I mean, “Only One Can Win” just blows me away every time I hear it. But they make the complexity so very accessible. Brilliant stuff.
There’s a very thorough review along with great background info on this site:
As par for the course with Mr.Bongo, there is zero information provided about the source of the audio here. I’ll put my money on it being the same master as what was used for the 2017 reissue by Japanese label Octave Lab. But it sounds nice, and I gotta give credit to Señor Bongo on at least one point: they generally put out really *quiet* (as in free of pops and crackle) pressings, and flat ones too. Sort of sad that this is something to celebrate but that’s where we are in 2025!
Tracklist
A1 – Wish That I Could Talk To You (03:37)
A2 – Fool’s Paradise (02:28)
A3 – Only One Can Win (03:05)
A4 – I’m Truly Happy (02:48)
A5 – Touch Me Jesus (03:45)
B1 – I Know Myself (03:50)
B2 – Chaos (04:25)
B3 – So Close (02:59)
B4 – I’ll Never Be Ashamed (03:39)
B5 – How Love Hurts (03:56)
Total length: 34:32
Arranged By – David Crawford (tracks: A1, A3, B2, B3, B5), Jerry Peters (tracks: B1, B4)
Executive-Producer – Michael Viner
Producer – Jerry Butler, Keg Johnson (2)
Record Store Day 2019
Official Mr Bongo reissue. Licensed from Pride Inc and Leon Sylvers.
Comes with 30 years Mr Bongo-sticker
Barcode (On sticker): 7119691257211
Matrix / Runout (Label side A): MGS 2964
Matrix / Runout (Label side B): MGS 2965
Matrix / Runout (Runout side A etched): MRBLP 193. A¹ F.T. B152546-01 A1
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B etched): MRBLP 193. B¹ B152546-01 B1
Rights Society (Track A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5): ASCAP
Rights Society (Track A4, A5): BMI
LINEAGE:
LINEAGE: 2019 Mr Bongo MRBLP193 / Pride PRD 0007 vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica Signet TK7E cartridge; Speedbox power supply; Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 preamp; Audioquest Black Mamba and Pangea Premier interconnect cables; RME Babyface Pro interface ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 192khz; Click Repair on low settings with output monitored in real time ; further clicks and pops removed manually with Adobe Audition 3.0; dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced. Converted to FLAC in either Trader’s Little Helper or dBPoweramp. Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename, Replay Gain tags added in Foobar2000.
p/w: vibes
Thanks!!!