Step II

It’s hard to pin down exactly how important Sylvester and “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” was, and still is. One of the earliest successful dance tracks from an openly gay artist, the song is open-armed and joyful hi-NRG fever distilled into six glorious minutes. But the album it comes from is far more than your run of the mill collection of disco singles. Featuring gay synth wizard Patrick Cowley handling most of the various bleeps and bloops, Step II ebbs and flows from its highest highs (the aforementioned “Mighty Real” and “Disco Heat”) to lovely slow-dance RnB and soul (the gorgeous closer “Just You And Me Forever” and a surprisingly emotional reprise of “Mighty Real”). While disco continued to evolve and change into the synth-pop we associate with the 80s, Sylvester was a true vanguard of what the sound could truly accomplish.