''Sylvester'' is the third studio album by Sylvester. Previously Sylvester had released two albums on the Blue Thumb Records credited to ''Sylvester and the Hot Band''. It was his first disco album in the series of three that were recorded and released by Fantasy Records in the late 1970s. The album was issued with the alternative title ''Over and Over'' in France. Two singles were issued from the album. The first single, a self-penned song called "Down, Down, Down", charted at #18 in the '' Billboard'' Dance chart. The following single "Over and Over" written by

Ashford & Simpson Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting-production team and recording duo of Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946). Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, ...

failed to make any impression on the charts. On the track "I've Been Down", the lead vocals are performed by Izora Rhodes and Martha Wash, known at the time as Two Tons o' Fun, they later went on to record as

The Weather Girls The Weather Girls are an American female duo whose best-known line-up comprised Martha Wash and Izora Armstead. Formed in 1976 in San Francisco, California, The Weather Girls members began their musical career as Two Tons O' Fun, the female back ...

. The album was re-issued on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

in the UK by Southbound Records in 1995, together with the album '' Step II'', this release features no bonus tracks.

Track listing

Side A

# "Over and Over" ( Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson) - 6:58 # "I Tried to Forget You" ( Sylvester James, James "Tip" Wirrick) - 4:59 # "Changes" (James) - 3:07 # "Tipsong" (James, Wirrick) - 3:59

Side B

# "Down, Down, Down" (James) - 5:18 # "Loving Grows Up Slow" (Morgan Ames) - 4:01 # "I Been Down" (Rob Galbraith, Maury Keener) - 3:39 # "Never Too Late" (James) - 2:57

Personnel

* Sylvester - lead vocals and

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

(Izora Armstead, Martha Wash) - lead vocals and backing vocals * James "Tip" Wirrick -

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

* Dan Reich - synthesizers and electric piano * John Dunstan - bass * Jack "Sandyjack" Reiner - drums *David Frazier -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

s *Leslie Drayton - string and horn arrangements

Production

Recorded, mixed and mastered at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley. * Harvey Fuqua - producer * Sylvester James - co-production * Eddie Bill Harris - mixing

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Tracks: 4, 5, 7 and 8 * Phil Kaffel - mixing

Tracks: 1, 2, 3 and 6 * Phil Bray - photographer * Phil Carroll - art direction * Jamie Putnam - design

Release history

LP: * 1977 Fantasy Records F-9531. CD: * 1995 Southbound Records CDSEWD 104

References

{{Authority control 1977 albums Sylvester (singer) albums Albums produced by Harvey Fuqua Fantasy Records albums