Consumer Guide Album

Sylvester: Stars [Fantasy, 1979]
In which Mr. S. stretches his two best tricks--for thrills, a supernal burst of sound too sweet for a shriek that he unlooses well above his normal falsetto range; for romance, a transported croon--over a consistently satisfying four-cut disco album, with help from his own Martha Wash and the Labelle-without-camp of Hodges, James and Smith. The title track tinges Sly Stone with Andy Warhol, but the tour de force is a remake of Ben E. King's "I (Who Have Nothing)," and you know what? Its artificiality suits the schlocky lyric at least as well as King's virtuoso dramatics. B+