Live and Sleazy

1979 live album / Studio album by Village People

Live and Sleazy

Live album / Studio album by

Village People

Released

September 1979

Genre

Disco

Length

70:14

Label

Casablanca

Producer

Jacques Morali

Village People chronology

Go West
(1979)

Live and Sleazy
(1979)

Can't Stop the Music
(1980)

Singles from Live and Sleazy

"Ready for the 80's"
Released: October 1979
"Sleazy"
Released: 1979

Live and Sleazy is the first live album and fifth studio album by the Village People and features a mixture of live and studio recordings. It was released as a double LP. The album featured numerous lead singers: original cop Victor Willis on the entire "Live" disk; on the "Sleazy" disk, construction worker David Hodo on track 1, Ray Simpson (who replaced Willis as the cop) on tracks 2, 3, and 5, and G.I. Alex Briley on track 4. Horace Ott is credited as the arranger and conductor of the string and horn sections. The musicians were credited as Bittersweet.

Victor Willis had announced plans for the live portion of this album be remastered and reissued as a stand alone live album titled “Village People Live At The Greek Theatre” in 2018. Other songs left off the original release though performed on the 1979 tour include "Key West", "Go West", "Village People", and "I Wanna Shake Your Hand".^{[citation needed]}

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]

Cash Box called the song "Sleazy" "an amusing self-parody which, vocally, relies more than ever on the group's zealous choral work."^[2] Record World called it "great dance music."^[3]

Track listing

All music composed by Jacques Morali

Live

No.	Title	Songwriter	Length
1.	"Fire Island"	J. Morali, H. Belolo, B. Whitehead, P. Hurtt	4:01
2.	"Hot Cop"	J. Morali, H. Belolo, V. Willis	6:00
3.	"Medley: San Francisco (You've Got Me) / In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star)"	J. Morali, H. Belolo, B. Whitehead, P. Hurtt	11:07
4.	"Macho Man"	J. Morali, H. Belolo, V. Willis, B. Whitehead	6:00
5.	"In the Navy"	J. Morali, H. Belolo, V. Willis	6:25
6.	"Y.M.C.A."	J. Morali, V. Willis^[4]	8:00

Sleazy

All songs written by J. Morali, H. Belolo, B. Whitehead, P. Hurtt

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Sleazy"	6:10
2.	"Rock and Roll Is Back Again"	7:00
3.	"Ready for the 80's"	6:38
4.	"Save Me" (Ballad)	4:00
5.	"Save Me" (Uptempo Version)	5:07

Note: The Rebound Records CD release placed the studio tracks before the live tracks.

Personnel

Village People

Victor Willis – lead vocal on "Live" (album)
Ray Simpson – lead vocals on "Sleazy" (album)
David "Scar" Hodo – backing vocals, lead vocals on "Sleazy" (song)
Alex Briley – backing vocals, lead vocals on "Save Me (Ballad)"
Randy Jones – backing vocals
Felipe Rose – backing vocals
Glenn M. Hughes – backing vocals

Production

Jacques Morali – producer
Horace Ott – string and horn arrangements, conductor
Michael Hutchinson – mixing on "Sleazy" side
Joe Barbaria – engineer
Michael Hutchinson – engineer
Steve Mitchell – engineer
Carla Bandini – assistant engineer
Chris Fergesen – assistant engineer
Derek Du Nann – assistant engineer
Doug Grinbergs – assistant engineer
Jon Smith – assistant engineer
Matthew Weiner – assistant engineer
Stephen Lumel – art direction
Lynn Goldsmith – photography

Bittersweet

Albert Finney – guitar
Keith Starkey – bass
Greg Baker – drums
Chuck Kentis – synthesizer
Zack Stephens – synthesizer
Lawrence Killian – percussion

Additional percussion and background vocals

L.Waymer – percussion
C. St. Charles – percussion
Ray Simpson – percussion
Milt Grayson – percussion
Peter Whitehead – percussion
D. Andres – percussion

Charts

Chart (1979)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[5]	69
Canadian Albums (RPM)^[6]	23
Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[7]	80
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)^[8]	13
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[9]	25
US Billboard 200^[10]	32

Certifications and sales

‹See Tfd›‹See Tfd›


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)^[11]	Platinum	100,000^{^}
United States (RIAA)^[13]	Gold	800,000^[12]
Summaries
Wotldwide	—	2,000,000^[12]
^{^} Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

^ "Live and Sleazy Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. October 6, 1979. p. 20. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. September 29, 1979. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
^ "Jury Decides Village People 'Y.M.C.A.' Songwriter Has 50 Percent Song Share". The Hollywood Reporter. 5 March 2015.
^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 330. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
^ "RPM: Village People (albums)". RPM Magazine. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
^ "Oricon Archive - Village People". Oricon. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Village People – Live and Sleazy". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
^ "Swedishcharts.com – Village People – Live and Sleazy". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
^ "The Village People – Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
^ "Canadian album certifications – Village People – Live and Sleazy". Music Canada.
^ ^a ^b Murrells, Joseph. Million selling records from the 1900s to the 1980s : an illustrated directory. Arco Pub. p. 483. ISBN 0668064595. This album sold over two million globally (800,000 of these in the U.S.A.)
^ "American album certifications – Village People – Live and Sleazy". Recording Industry Association of America.