Psychemagik have done a remix of Sylvester’s ‘I Need Somebody To Love Tonight’, one of my favourite disco records ever, so it seems like a good chance to bang on about it for a few hundred words. The regular version is a perfect slice of low slung synth disco from (*checks Google*) 1979, originally an instrumental from the godlike Patrick Cowley. It drips sleaze, as synths bubble along and Sylvester noodles away. If you only know him from ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ you’ll be surprised at how sultry it is.
Clearly a huge influence on the cosmic disco scene of early 80s Italy, the slow BPMs of this sparse six-and-a-half-minute track has never sounded better. I fell in love with it when it popped up in Looking, HBO’s ironically overlooked San Francisco-set gay drama a few years ago, and apparently it's in an episode of Master Of None I haven't seen yet.
The Psychemagik version isn’t bad – a bit chunkier but pretty respectful - and it’s backed on 12” by the rare, but more clumsily-drummed, ‘Disco Mix’. But let’s face it the original was just about perfect, though strangely difficult to mix. Maybe I’ll try the new versions after all.