You make me feel miiiiiiiighty Neil

This is a track I’ve been after for a long long time, ever since I heard Eddie Piller (founder of Acid Jazz Records) play it on BBC 6 Music about a year ago. Sylvester, the hi nrg, hi camp, hi falsetto disco artist doing a pretty excellent version of Neil Young‘s ‘Southern Man’. I finally tracked it down on a dodgy file sharing site and although it’ll only play and burn in iTunes, it’s here in all its MP4 glory. But first, a history lesson…..

Is it a Pointer Sister? Chaka Khan? Nope. It’s Sylvester.

Sylvester & The Hot Band released their self-titled debut album (sometimes referred to as ‘Scratch My Flower’) in 1973. It was full of mostly discofied versions of rock and blues stuff (‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’, ‘Steamroller’), with the odd ’30s standard thrown in. His version of ‘Southern Man’ was released as a single to no great fanfare or sales. Which is a pity. It starts off like the background music to Starsky & Hutch – a bit of vinyl crackle, the thudding funk bass and, yes, a wah-wah playing a cracking riff. In come the keyboards, the horns and a bit of distortion on the guitars. It could be Sly Stone, it could even be Hendrix. Until then the vocals come in. It’s Sylvester. Even this early on in his career, he’s got the falsetto down to a tee. I don’t know what Neil Young made of it (he certainly never made much money from it) but this version is magic. Sure, it’s of it’s time. It sounds 1970s, but then so does Neil’s. Crucially, more importantly, they sound nothing alike.  

Sylvester really wanted to be known as a great ballad singer. He idolized both Aretha Franklin and Little Richard. He was a Grade A diva, enthusiastically and flamboyantly gay. He knew where his sexual preferences lay right from the start, even before he was abused by a local evangelist when he was “7, 8 and 9!” He was born into a well off LA family, but moved to San Francisco to find himself and his fortune. He died 19 years ago of AIDS-related illness and is best remembered for ‘You Make Me Feel Mighty Real’. But you knew that. I prefer to remember him for his stab at disco-rock fusion. My friend Big Graham no doubt remembers him from the time he saw him live in Glasgow once.

*Bonus track. The Stills-Young Band doing Southern Man at the Civic Center, Providence on July 7th, 1976. Standard gnarly guitar mangling with nice harmonies. Just the way you like it. Dude.