Thinking Of You: The Atco/Cotillion/Atlantic Recordings (1973-1985)

Sister Sledges trajectory was so peculiar -- nearly a decade of occasional minor success, followed by two years of disco-era prominence with Chics Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, and then sometimes-thrilling LPs produced by Narada Michael Walden, the Sledges themselves, George Duke, and Rodgers alone -- that the confusing stack of anthologies in their wake was inevitable. No best-of has done the group justice. Overviews of a larger size have missed crucial tracks. The five-disc Original Album Series covered the most ground in simple fashion, but still told only part of the story. Thinking of You: The Atco/Cotillion/Atlantic Recordings 1973-1985, titled after one of their many superb deep cuts, solves the problem by including all eight albums from Circle of Love (1975) through When the Boys Meet the Girls (1985). Early non-album tracks, including the number 20 U.K. hit Mama Never Told Me, are appended to the debut. The sixth and final disc gathers 12 material such as the Tom Moulton mix of Mama Never Told Me (originally released on Atlantics Disco-Trek compilation in 1976) and Rodgers remix of Lost in Music (a favorite of Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan and a number four hit in the U.K.). Even the devout fans who own it all should be enticed by having the lot available in one thoughtfully assembled package with engaging annotation featuring quotes from Kathy Sledge. ~ Andy Kellman