A reissue of this LP just appeared and if you have a crush on someone and want to make them a tape, your summer is going to rule. Watching a friend hear this song for the first time is one of the greatest treats I have had in my life. I know a lot of charming people but none of them touch the ridiculous heart-capturing skills of 11-year-old Foster Sylvers, and he's at his best on "Misdemeanor."
People are always struck by his bright eyes and huge smile on the cover, and both features play a huge role in his voice. He sings with such pure joy, breathlessly rushing through passages before bursting into these warm, round-edged choruses and dazzling harmonies. There's something absurdly mature about his dynamics, jumping from desperate ("she makes me feel so out of place"), to detached ("it's no big deal"), to worldly and in control (it's going to subside"). It's maybe a few too many conflicting feelings for one song, but he handles it easily; I mean, I can't really think of many singers who could pull off the word "subside" at all, let alone in the middle of such an emotionally undecided song. And all of that during a cut that sounds like so much laughter, like the most fun you've ever had dancing, like steady bouncing with the biggest smile on your face. The last few runs through the chorus he lets the backing vocalists handle it while he sings over all of them, "you're what I need!" The "eeeee's" in "need" get held so long, notes climbing through the other voices way longer than any normal kid could hold his breath. It starts on such a dark, minor note, the most chilling part of the song, but quickly rises to such a bright, frenzied pitch, for a second it's near-spiritual, then the next second it just surpasses the song, an exalting, celebratory high note that feels like the whole song in miniature.
It definitely helps that "Misdemeanor" is one of the greatest tracks of the 70s, with an irresistible backbeat, but subtle enough details to withstand constant listening. The production snaps so tight and succinct, it feels closer to mid-90s east coast rap beats than 70s kiddie-soul, and everyone from Afrika Bambaataa to Dr. Dre has sampled it. There's this glockenspiel/xylophone part that pounds with a clipped, repetitive sharpness that's a lot easier to imagine emerging from the rubber pads of an MPC than the rubber mallets of a human hand. The bass line bumps along with a three note lurk, a ton of empty space, and every once in awhile an understated yet smart-alecky bubbling walk. The dusty snare cracks nice and regular, with a shimmering hi-hat backbone. Every sound is crisp and individual, except this quiet guitar part that would wail if it were cranked, but instead rides below-the-surface, creating a subtle fullness that holds all the bits together.
Foster was the youngest of the Sylvers, the Memphis vocal soul made up of nine brothers and sisters. The group was considered a Southern version of the Jackson 5, but as the kids grew up the family looked to the younger siblings to create new hits. Foster's 1973 debut, "Misdemeanor" ended up a bigger hit than almost anything the Sylvers ever made (surpassed only by "Boogie Fever"), selling over 250,000 copies of the 45. Like his older siblings, Foster Sylvers got locked into his early persona and confused his listeners simply by growing up. In the 80s he moved into songwriting and production, including a hit for Janet Jackson in 1983.
After hearing "Misdemeanor" for the first time I went on one of the more rabid record hunts of my life and ended up finding a copy of the LP in London; I was skeptical because I hadn't heard the rest of the cuts and worried that he was a one-hit wonder but I was pleasantly surprised by how solid his debut LP is. Nothing ranks with the single, but what could? Fans of the band Nation of Ulysses will find a pretty good surprise at the end of side one, and there's an amazing legend about Ian Svenonius giving his copy of the LP to Chris during Huggy Bear's first U.S. tour. The reissue is a fantastic deal, even if you just grab the LP and put the first song on a mixtape, I promise it's worth it.
1 comment:
Ace!... Ethan... Ace!
but not enough update duke...
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