All I Need (Sylvester album)
All I Need is the sixth studio album by the American recording artist Sylvester. The album was praised by the LGBT community media as a return to form, recalling the energy of "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" released four years earlier. The San Francisco Sentinel wrote that the album was "pure pop geared directly for the I-Beam crowd that wants to boogie down for seven cuts." The Bay Area Reporter said the album was "masterful", gushing "Syl doesn't just present music, he is music at its dynamic best." Mainstream music magazine Billboard noted that the album was "his most consistent [and] interesting" since the late 1970s.[2] In a retrospective review, AllMusic assessed the album poorly, writing that Sylvester "was now floundering, with his high-energy brand of disco out of fashion."[1] In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked "Do Ya Wanna Funk" number 179 in their list of 200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time.[3]
| All I Need | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1982 | |||
| Studio | Independent Sound, San Francisco; Starlight Studio, Richmond, California | |||
| Genre | Dance, post-disco, Hi-NRG | |||
| Label | Megatone | |||
| Producer | James Wirrick | |||
| Sylvester chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Physical copies of the single "Do Ya Wanna Funk" listed the song's artist variously as Patrick Cowley, Patrick Cowley featuring Sylvester, or simply Sylvester. The song peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart. It was also a top 10 hit in a few European markets and a top 40 hit in the UK. "Don't Stop" (with "All I Need" for some releases) also received significant US Club Play and peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart, where "Tell Me" also charted
A massive album release party was held in December 1982 at the former Dreamland nightclub in San Francisco, with Steve Fabus serving as deejay for the packed dance floor.[2]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "All I Need" | James Wirrick, Jeff Mehl | 4:27 |
| 2. | "Be With You" | James Wirrick | 6:38 |
| 3. | "Do Ya Wanna Funk" | Patrick Cowley, Sylvester | 3:31 |
| 4. | "Hard Up" | James Wirrick, Jeff Mehl | 4:39 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Don't Stop" | James Wirrick, Jeff Mehl | 6:51 |
| 6. | "Tell Me" | James Wirrick | 4:49 |
| 7. | "Won't You Let Me Love You" | James Wirrick | 6:46 |
Personnel
- Sylvester - lead vocals and backing vocals
- Patrick Cowley - synthesizers and sequencer
- James Wirrick - synthesizers and drum machine
- David Frazier - percussion
- The Fabulashes - backing vocals
- Wally Winzor - drums on "Tell Me" and "Won't You Let Me Love You"
Charts
| Chart (1982) | Peak |
|---|---|
| Australia [4] | 98 |
| US | 168 |
| US R&B | 34 |
References
- All I Need at AllMusic
- Niebur, Louis (2022). Menergy: San Francisco's Gay Disco Sound. Oxford University Press. p. 188. ISBN 9780197511077.
- Dolan, Jon; Lopez, Julyssa; Matos, Michaelangelo; Shaffer, Claire (2022-07-22). "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
- Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 303. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.