Silver Vibrations cover

Silver Vibrations

Released

This is the perfect dollar bin record, though someone will point out that it once sold for big money. Before BBE reissued it, this 1983 Roy Ayers album was a rarity next to the major Polydor albums like Everybody Loves The Sunshine. A disco-funk workout with seven long tracks originally issued only in England, Silver Vibrations (a reference to the instrument Ayers plays) is an exercise in genre coherence and anonymous craft. For 1983, it’s even a bit behind the times. The words are vestigial and half of the music sounded like a late night commercial the day it was put out. None of that matters—the bass slaps have a nice little envelope on them, and the band charges ahead with a modest lack of personality. It’s an energetic and unabashed piece of dance work, cheesy and plain and unafraid.

Sasha Frere-Jones

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