Pointer Sisters Appreciation Thread!!!

I didn't want to hijack the Breakout thread so I figured I'd start a new one. Who else is a fan? What's your fave album? Favorite song? Favorite era? Talk about whatever you want!! I became a fan in 1974 when I saw Ruth, Anita and Bonnie perform STEAM HEAT and SALT PEANUTS on The Carol Burnett Show. I was thrilled to find out that there was actually a fourth sister!!!....and although she wasn't doing live performances or tv performances she was on the three albums (THE POINTER SISTER'S, THAT'S A PLENTY and LIVE AT THE OPERA HOUSE).

Favorite song of the quartet: Probably YES WE CAN CAN or HOW LONG
Favorite album of the quartet: STEPPIN'
Favorite song of the trio: Very hard to narrow down....possibly JUMP or I'M SO EXCITED, or SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER. My opinion changes on a daily basis.
Favorite album of the trio: SPECIAL THINGS. I love COULD I BE DREAMING and WHERE DID THE TIME GO but I thought they were the wrong singles though.

Missed Singles opportunities: DON'T IT DRIVE YOU CRAZY, WE'VE GOT THE POWER, SPECIAL THINGS, SAVE THIS NIGHT FOR LOVE, SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER, HEART TO HEART, BACK IN MY ARMS, HEY YOU, SEXUAL POWER, MOONLIGHT DANCING, I WILL BE THERE (somebody really missed the boat with the SERIOUS SLAMMIN' singles.

 

They were my very first concert. It was 1975 in Miami at a dinner club at the hotel I was staying at. I was 9. The only song I can remember is "Salt Peanuts". They were fun and very entertaining.

 

Do you recall if it was all four sisters or just Ruth, Anita and Bonnie?

 

Wow, I am hard pressed to answer that one Joe. I do recall at that point in time that they did already have one minor hit
because I knew who they were.

 

Their Greatest Hits CD is a great listen! Other than Breakout, I have never actually listened to one of their Lp's front to back. So hard to pick one favorite but I have always really liked "Automatic"....although when I was younger I thought it was a guy singing lead! No joke! One single of theirs that never seems to get a lot of love that I like is "Dare Me".

 

I was practically raised on them.

 

Save This Night For Love should have been a huge hit. They played it in the clubs a lot.

 

My favorite Pointer Sisters lp is That's A Plenty. Besides the wonderful title cut, there's the great Steam Heat, the sublime Shakey Flat Blues and the Grammy winning Fairytale. That last one was in the Country Group Vocal category, believe it or not! Their other lps all had their moments, too. Having A Party, Angry Eyes and a great version of Everybody Is A Star come to mind.

 

I've never been enough of a fan to seek their albums out but they did have some fantastic singles such as "Fire". "Slow Hand", "He's So Shy", and "I'm So Excited". Their version of Fleetwood Mac's "Hypnotized" is pretty good too.

 

The Pointer Sisters s/t was my favorite when it came out and to me nothing has topped it and to end side 2 with such a great version of Wang Dang Doodle. Fantastic!

Anita- Ruth- June- Bonnie

 

Favourite album - Energy
Favourite song(s) Dirty Work, Lay it on the line (such a great intro) and Echoes of Love.

 

Joey Self recently ran a Pointer Sisters Weakest Link competition thread, that got a lot of interest, and which folks may want to check out. Joey used a nice greatest hits which fans not wanting to go deeper should like.

Of the albums, Break Out has the hits, So Excited is I think funkier, and although the later Contact had fewer hits it has maybe stood up better over time.

Slowhand is my favourite track, Jump and Automatic are the big hits, but Need You off Break Out is lovely, and I really like I Wanna Get Back Your Lady off So Excited too. Fire was a great cover.

 

I'm a HUGE fan of the Anita-Bonnie-June-Ruth lineup, but anything after Having A Party, I've not heard anything that's grabbed me as much as those early albums (though props to them for covering Richard Thompson on that album they did - can't remember which one).

The band on those records is so hot you could fry an egg on their sound (Chainey Do is probably my prime cut), but it's all about those vocals. They're just amazing jazz singers- I haven't differentiated which sister has which voice, but they're all brilliant. What I've heard from the post-Bonnie years is tastefully produced and catchy, but lacks the energy of those early records.

I know there's barely two sisters in the band these days (Wikipedia says they switch out with other relatives depending on availability), but do they even acknowledge anything from the Bonnie years in concert? I'd love to see them if they devoted a sizeable portion of their show to those early albums.

 

I really like them. My favorite song is probably He's So Shy.

 

I love the Pointer Sisters. So pleased to see this thread. I have blitzed through Ruth's bio, which was excellent, and been playing their albums non stop of late:

Favorite song of the quartet: HOW LONG
Favorite album of the quartet: HAVING A PARTY
Favorite song of the trio: EEP! Very difficult. I think it would be NIGHTLINE, which should have been a single, with AUTOMATIC, TELEGRAPH YOUR LOVE, HE TURNED ME OUT and BACK IN MY ARMS close behind
Favorite album of the trio: BREAK OUT, such a classic, but in truth they didn't make a bad album
Missed Singles opportunities: Far too many - TELEGRAPH YOUR LOVE, NIGHTLINE, SERIOUS SLAMMIN', SHUT UP & DANCE, MOONLIGHT DANCING, HOT TOGETHER (why wasn't this a single?), POUND POUND POUND. They seemed to release a lot of flops off their earlier albums, so I would say there were many missed single opportunities in terms of actually making them hits - SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER (UK single), HEART TO HEART, IF YOU WANNA GET BACK YOUR LADY, WE'VE GOT THE POWER, POWER OF PERSUASION, INSANITY - had this one been on Contact it would have been huge

 

Nightline was probably not released as a single and then later pulled off of the Breakout album because it had already been a soul and club hit for Randy Crawford on Warner Brothers. Both versions are good.

 

Randy's version I thought was very staid compared to the Pointers. Nightline was binned off as the b-side to Automatic, so I guess it was easy to lose in the re-press. Personally I'd have ditched Easy Persuasion which is the weak link on the record.

 

As a club DJ in the eighties, I'll never forget how popular "Jump" was. When I put that record on the dance floor would go nuts!

 

Here's some recent footage of Anita and Bonnie. Bonnie is a riot!!

 

Aside from the obvious I'm So Excited and Jump. This is my other fav:

 

Loved their first album. Besides Yes We Can Can, my favorite songs are Black Coffee and Going Down Slowly.

 

Good stuff!

 

I have Pointer Sisters compilations, but no albums. But as for the songs, my favourite of the early Pointers is "Yes We Can Can". I love it, from Anita's vocals to the super funky rhythm section. The later, 80s Pointers never topped songs like that or "How Long", but I love quite a few of their hits. My favourite of that period would be either "Slow Hand" or "Automatic". I really like "Dare Me" too. I was 12 when that was on the charts, and I loved the song and the video.

 

My favorite is their version of the Bruce Springsteen song "Fire." His version lacked the "soul" needed to make that song work.

 

And a great cover of "The Fever" as well!