Sometimes there's something to be said for slick. To me, this is especially true in the case of this ultra-polished version of Leo Sayer's disco-ish mid-seventies hit "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing." On the original, the Jew-froed Leo Sayer sang the undeniably catchy hooks of the song in a sad imitation of a "soulful" falsetto, sort of like a poor man's Berry Gibb. Lee Ritenour, an ace LA session musician, knew that what this song needed for his version was a singer with the chops to match his own slickly produced guitar solos, and he found one in jazzy diva Patti Austin. Sayer's strangled high notes sound like the chimes of golden bells when emitted from Patti's ultra-professional larynx.Perfectly arranged horn charts are added to mix, along with Lee's carefully sculpted, interlocking guitar lines, and suddenly the song kicks like a Rufus & Chaka Khan track that didn't quite have what it took to make the album, or Steely Dan's attempt at a party record. Call me crazy, but I think I actually heard Mr. Professional Lee Ritenour enjoying himself as he traded lines with Patti's vocal improvisations near the end, although I'm sure they both recorded miles away and hours apart, as the fees for the top of the line studio pros that contributed to this album most certainly precluded any chance for doing anything the least bit spontaneous in the studio.
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