Customer Reviews

Collection

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This set could easily have been five stars. A one-stop shop for all your Sly & the Family Stone needs. But for some reason, they decided to omit three songs:

1 - Hot Fun in the Summertime
2 - Everybody is a Star
3 - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Really, they couldn't have added these to the end of "Stand!"? And what really hurts is I found this out after paying 50 bucks and tax for it. There was no tracklist on the box itself, but I naturally assumed these would be included. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief.

Yeah, I Know those 3 amazing tracks are missing, and yes, it is a mistake. But What you got here is an incredible boxset with the first seven Sly & The Family Stone Records!!! Go for ANY Greatest hits for those songs, i would recommend "the Essential" which also contains the song "High On You" which is ultra-funky. And that collection aint really expensive for 2 excelent cds, even if you have this boxset. Besides is a good introduction to the band.

I MEAN COME ON!!! I BEEN PRAYING FOR THIS BOXSET TO SEE THE LIGHT OF THE DAY. AND NOW, IN A SINGLE PURCHASE YOU CAN HAVE 7 MASTERPIECES OF 20TH CENTURY MUSIC. EVERY SINGLE SONG ON THIS BOXSET IS UP THERE WITH THE MUSIC OF DUKE ELLINGTON, FRANK ZAPPA, MILES DAVIS, GEORGE CLINTON, CHARLIE PARKER AMONG MANY OTHERS (MOST OF THEM SEMI-FORGOTTEN LIKE SLY)

But trust me, this box isn't everything you need from sly and the family stone. If you like this stuff, you have to go for the "sly Stone" album "High On You" which is GREAT, but so under rated, and "Back on the right track", "Heard you missed me" and "Ain't But the One Way" which are really good, dont listen to the fools who say those arent worth the price. They worth a lot more. Even "Seventh Son" if you're a completist.

Let's push for a live record because we REALLY need that. And The DVD. This generation gotta get to understand the genius of this music. I know that, because i'm only 19 years, and i'm south american, from Colombia, and yes i'm kinda new to sly's music but i know this stuff will never let me see music the same way again.

IT'S SO DINAMIC, CREATIVE, PASSIONATE, FUNKY, HEART-BREAKING, ALL AT THE SAME TIME. NOTHING NOWDAYS COME EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO HEAR IF YOU BUY THIS BOXSET. DONT DOWNLOAD SOME SONGS. SEARCH DEEP IN YOUR POCKET. SAVE THE MONEY NEEDED. DONT SPENT EATING. THIS WILL BE YOUR FOOD. AT LEAST THIS IS MINE. RIDE ON SLY!!!!! YOU KNOW YOU'RE THE BEST!.

This boxed set makes progress towards rectifying the sad state of the Sly & the Family Stone catalog-- a band that's pretty much fallen off the radar, the enormous influence that Sly Stone and his musicians had on music can't be underestimated. From their peers coming out of San Francisco to the fusion movement that kicked off a few years after their first records (Miles Davis was a huge fan) to pretty much all funk, soul, r&b and hip-hop music since these records, Sly Stone laid out the blueprint for much of modern music.

"Collection" draws together the band's first seven albums, all remastered with bonus tracks, reprinting of the original liner notes and a new liner notes essay, with each CD packaged in a digipack and housed in a sturdy slipcase style box. There's nothing in here that's not on the individually reissued CDs that followed this release by a couple weeks, so if you're wanting all of these, price should be your gating factor as to whether or not to go with the box or the individual CDs (unless you really want the slipcase...). The remastering done here is top notch-- everything sounds crisp and clear and the depth of the music really gets a chance to shine. The bonus tracks by and large alternate versions, different mixes, a couple early recordings, and a seemingly endless array of instrumental pieces. Some of them are fantastic ("Fresh" seems to have the best), for the most part they're more interesting than essential.

The music itself... if you're not familiar, this is the blueprint. As I've started listening to Sly & the Family Stone only recently, I'm amazed how oddly familiar and yet how unique this material can be. Sly Stone was definitely the mastermind here, writing, producing and singing most the leads as well as contributing primarily on organ (among other instruments), with the first integrated band, featuring women in instrumental roles rather than simply as backing vocalists and both white and black musicians. Brother Freddie Stone (guitar and vocals), sister Rose Stone (keyboards and vocals), Cynthia Robinson (trumpet) and Jerry Martini (saxophones) and vocal group Little Sister (including Vet Stone) contribute throughout. Initially, the band had one of the best rhythm sections ever essembled in bassist/vocalist Larry Graham (inventer of the slap bass technique) and drummer Gregg Errico, both left over the years, the former replaced by Rustee Allen the latter by a series of drummers (Andy Newmark being the most significant).

The early records leveraged this great musicianship and these endless array of vocalists in an aggressive funk sound. Although a brief detour into a pop/dance funk driven by the record company would get in the way of the band's progress (sophomore effort "Dance to the Music"), Sly's songwriting and arranging quickly evovled into something with a real sense of timelessness-- his two masterworks, the positive funk of "Stand!" and the dark, claustrophobic "There's a Riot Goin' On" (and to a slightly lesser extent, its followup "Fresh", nearly as great). Along the way, there's an endless series of fantastic cuts-- "Underdog", the aformentioned "Dance to the Music", "I Want to Take You Higher", "Everyday People", "Just Like a Baby", "Family Affair", "(You Caught Me) Smilin'", "If You Want Me to Stay" (the song that turned me onto Sly...), the list goes on and on. There's so much great material here.

But curiously among all these riches, some of the best material was left out. Between "Stand!" and "There's a Riot Goin' On", Sly and the Family Stone released two superb singles-- "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and double A side "Thank You (Falettinme be Mice Elf Agin)"/"Everybody is a Star" intended for an album that was eventually shelved and stuck on a "Greatest Hits" album. There's certainly room on the CDs to have fit these, they could have been tacked into the bonus material on either of the albums they were released between. Also left out of the set were the last two records Sly Stone did for Epic-- admittedly "High On You" was credited to Sly Stone and "Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back" was a Family Stone record in name only, I'd've liked to have had these anyway. While the contributions of a great band and great musicians can't ever be underestimated (I've often suspected Larry Graham's departure had something to do with the serious sound change between "Stand!" and "There's a Riot Goin' On", either that or Graham left because of the sound change), this was Sly Stone's show. Admittedly, it's the singles that I'm irritated about being missing and are the reason I'm dinging the rating a star (for anyone interested, they can be found on the remastered 2CD "The Essential Sly and the Family Stone").

Even with these weakness, this is a great set-- there's so much great music here that really needs to be heard. Highly recommended.

This is one of the greatest boxed sets ever available to man. Just the idea of being able to purchase the first 7 Sly and the Family Stone albums in one collection is bananas. I've been reading the reviews from everybody and we all know that "Hot Fun In The Summertime", "Everybody Is A Star" and "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin) are not included. They were not on any of these albums and the box clerly states " The First 7 Albums". True they could have been used as bonus tracks but all of you sound like true SFS fans so I know you own those three great songs on more than one cd already. STOP COMPLAINING. This boxed set is GREAT. The sound is terrific. "There's A Riot Goin On" is still one of the greatest albums ever recorded ALL TIME. If you're already a fan or trying to get to know all about Sly, pick this up and don't be discouraged by any other reviews. You can buy "Sly and the Family Stone Greatest Hits" anywhere for under $8 bucks and then you'll have the first 7 albums, the 3 missing tracks and still not pay over $70. It's well worth it. I own the Greatest Hits, The Essential and now this. Can't wait for the later Sly albums to be released...maybe another box set? Hmmmmmm....... Peace to Sony for hooking this up !

among Musicians that have truly made a Lasting impact Sly Stone is right there,but because he pretty much cooled off and other factors he isn't given the Proper due that his Musical Pioneering Hybrid of R&B,Pop,Gospel,Blues,Jazz and everything else in between that he helped create. sly and the Family Stone are on that same Bridge of Musical Trend-setters that broke Racial barriers and created Songs that are timeless. this collection captures the most important Music created by Sly Stone in it's full zenith. His Influence is felt decade upon decade. now i personally feel that this whole collection best captures his Importance. I wouldn't recommend anything else beyond this aside from the Live at the fillmore which is due soon. Sly Stone hit his Peak and Prime all at the same time. His Songwriting,Arranging and Production are still some of the most important standards in Music History. Funk Artists,rock,Pop,Rappers,Blues,Jazz,etc.... have all incorperated Sly Stone's Work and his work should be fully embraced. he is long overdue. the Band was Ground-Breaking and Sly Stone truly had his own Musical Bag.

Now these albums are being released seperately but 'The Collection' is TOTALLY worth plunking down the money for;you get Sly & The Family first seven albums,from their very first up through 1974's 'Small Talk'.These albums represent the bands commercial and (in some eyes) artistic peak.And no matter how you do the math this boxed set will lost you far less in the long run then purchasing the seperate volumes.It may be a bit intimidating;all these classics in one fell swoop but this is so long overdue it will be worth it.Even though the limited edition thing may be a gimmick and mean nothing all of these albums (save for Small Talk) didn't last hardly a minute in print on CD the first time around,and as you'll see here that first Sly & The Family Stone reissue actually gave an alternate cover for A Whole New Thing and this version features the original cover.Plus you get more environmentally friendly digipacks (just make sure to keep these CD's out of the rain).So you really have a fine collection here.

If there were any riots goin' on, caused by the long delay Sly & The Family Stone fans had to endure prior to the issue of this box set, then things ought to settle down for a while. Album fans will love this set. The seven LPs are limited edition versions with bonus tracks included. Singles fans will miss the non-LP cuts "Hot Fun In The Summertime", "Everybody Is A Star" and "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)" that appear on the best-seller classic Greatest Hits LP (hopefully to be remastered and issued soon?). SATFS is my favorite recording artists of all time (as a kid I saw them in their wild costumes on TV during a Kraft Music Hall program in August 1968 and I felt spellbound!) so I made certain to get this set the first day it became available.

My set happens to include a bonus DVD with live performances of "M'Lady" and "Everybody Is A Star". The individual Sony/Legacy LP discs are stored in modern digi-paks with the original Epic label LP artwork (front side and back side) reproduced and bonus photos and liner notes. Sony/Legacy had previously remastered and released the first four LPs on individual CDs a few years ago, so it's nice to finally have the final three, There's A Riot Goin' On, Fresh, and Small Talk, available for the first time in the 21st century. Highly recommended.

The proper treatment of Sly and the Family Stone's work is so overdue that is it criminal. How many lesser artists have had box sets and collections released in the time that it took to get this new set for Sly?

While the missing classic cuts are perplexing, yo get a nice bonus if you buy it at Besy Buy - a DVD with 2 videos on it! When was the last time you saw a Sly and the Family Stone video?

This is a masterpiece of a boxed set, from notes to the incredible (and I do mean INCREDIBLE) remastering of the sound. Many don't know that "There's A Riot Going On" was taped over and erased and taped back over again so many times that is one of the reasons it has its infamous muddled sound. But the remixing and remastering engineer(s) did a hell of a job making that album sound like was just recorded this year.
As for the three missing tracks: They were single releases and not released on any albums. That is why they are missing. As the previous guy said, get you a greatest hits cd for those songs, but pick up this boxed-set! You will be sorry if you don't.

This review is about sound quality, not the music. But you should know sly is a genius and you really need to have this in your collection, now onto the sound quality.

This remastering is AMAZING. It is perfect in every way imho. I cannot detect any degradation from any noise reduction that may have been done, nor is there any unnecessary dynamic range compression/clipping/distortion. I have no way of knowing what eq (if any) was applied by the mastering guy but this version sounds so much better then the other versions I own, it is jaw dropping. The music is full of life and energy, and I can't get enough. If every remaster was done this way, I'd be spending a lot more on music, so it's prolly a good thing most of them suck. Huge props to mastering guy Vic Anesini for his work here. I wish he had a tip jar so I could slip him a few bucks in thanks.

for more information on the loudness war (which these disks DO NOT suffer from), look up 'loudness war' at wikipedia or google '[...]' or '[...]'.