Customer Reviews

The Essential Sly & The Family Stone

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

There are at least four things that make this far and away the best Sly & the Family Stone collection yet:

1) Unless you've hunted them down on various hard-to-find compilations, this is the first time you'll hear true stereo mixes of "Hot Fun In The Summertime", "Thank You" and "Everybody Is A Star". (The improvement in sound is a small miracle)

2) Unless you happen to have a copy of the MasterSound gold CD version of 'Stand!', this is the first time you'll hear those tracks on CD like they were meant to be heard, with punchy and crystal clear sound. (Only the 13-minute "Sex Machine" jam is omitted from that great album.)

3) Unless you have the UK import version of 'There's A Riot Goin' On', this is the first time you'll have most of that album in proper sound.

4) Unless you bought the ... Japanese import, this is the first time you'll have anything from 'Small Talk' on CD.

Now let's hope all the original albums will be released in remastered form with plenty of bonus tracks! (In the meantime, don't buy any of those substandard old CDs)

There is a war goin on out there, between the good the bad and the pabulum. You can hear the battles seeping out of tv's and blaring out car windows. The war is for the soul of America- every time some lil' anorexic gal buys a Britney album an elf dies of advanced encyphalititis... Not mice elf though... This is your best defense against empty-ass bland as hell, dead-people music.

Thirty five tracks of remastered Sly and the Fam????? Damn brother, where do I sign??!! Yes, yes, yes- this lil collection is exactly as badass as they say. In a world a broken promises- this is one that will not let you down!

Where do I start? The badass opener (Underdog) that builds on the little kid's tune, `Frere Jacques,' making a funky world out of it? Sing a Simple Song, Stand!, Everyday People, Everybody is a Star, Love City, Life, Somebody's Watching You (a favorite mellow track of mine), Are you Ready, Fun...

And that's just the first CD. The price on this is reasonable considering the quality, all the more if you can find a reliable used seller.... Nice packaging, blah blah blah- get it for the tunes or just don't get it. These songs deserve to be played. ALL THIRTY-FREAKIN-FIVE OF THEM!!!!!!!!

Minor key beef- the track selection... Too much of their poppiesr shizzah and not enough deep-fried frunked out kinky funk madness. Well, I wasn't polled when they put this together so I can't really complain there. I would have had more of their oddball material- the absence of "I'm Gonna Trip through Your heart," (sampled by LL for Momma said knock you out) rankles a tad. As does the lack of `Remember Who You Are,' from Back on the right track... Aww hell though, there's so much killer cream from the cookie cutters on this that nothing can diminish the 5 star rating. Here- your five stars, now run with it baby, go outside and play.

I have to say- the sound is soooooooo much better than before. I was a bit surprised and I don't usually put much stock in in `remastering,' yeah whatever, I thought- NO! It's much improved. So, until they start revamping and reissuing all the old Sly and albums with bonus tracks and better sound quality- it's either this or looting your grand-daddy's record collection like I done did done it. Shhhhhhh!

Hey if you want to dig on Sly in a different evirons/goin's ons... Check out Funkadelic's, `Electric Spanking of War Babies,' (ASIN: B000069CLA) where he gets down with brother Eddie Hazel and the savior- Dr. George Clinton, Esq!!!!!

When I saw that the library had just received this double disc set, I held my hands together and whispered a Burnsesque "Excellent". I could already envision the sunny days in my car, jamming out to some of the happiest and empowering funk ever made, songs such as "Dance to the Music", "I Want to Take You Higher", "Stand!" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime".

Those were the types of songs that I had on my worn out and now scratched copy of Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits. But I found that The Essential Sly and the Family Stone is more complete, and with that, a collection of songs that tells a story that is at times sublime and tragic. Especially if you read Sly Stone's descent into drug addiction and isolation into the songs.

One surprise on this collection is the first song, "Underdog". I hear a young and scrappy Sly, taking on racism in the lyrics, but still learning the ropes as far as arranging the horn parts and producing. The chorus sounds like it's in a minor key, not fully resolved. Comparing it to the later songs, it seems to lack that classic Sly perfection. But it's still catchy and I love it.

Soon enough the hits start to roll across the speakers. The classic Sly sound develops right before your ears. Multiple voices carry the verses. Driving drums and bass carry a big time horn section. Once in a while there might be some nonsense vocal harmonies; my favorite part is the chicken clucking on "Everybody is a Star". The lyrics feature some wonderful word play. And of course, there's a lot of hope and togetherness. After all, the Family Stone was one of the first intergrated groups, with both black and white musicians. Most people describe this era as Sly's Happy Music Era.

Not that there aren't any hints of a darker side. "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey" foretells a different and darker sound, with more confrontational themes and an electronic talk box.

I also have to wonder if Sly could prophesize his own decline when you hear lines like the one in "Everybody is a Star" which goes: Did you catch a falling star? /It won't stop until it hits the ground.

The second disc is like the night to the first disc's day. It starts off with "Family Affair", which frankly isn't the most uplifting song. The driving drums of the first side are replaced with plodding electronic drums. And there's only one backup singer. Sly's vocals sound like they've been sung on a beautifully over-driven microphone, as if he's whispering into a megaphone right behing the speaker. It's a creepy sound, but very cool. Every time I hear this song, I envision Sly sitting in the studio with all the curtains drawn, binging on whatever he's been binging on. Nobody can be around him. But he still has it together enough to come up with a cool groove. He lays down all the tracks by himself and calls in the backup to record the refrain in a one hour session. I also like to imagine that Sly is referring to himself in the lyrics when he sings about the two children: the one child who loves to learn, and the other you would just love to burn--like the two sides of Sly Stone himself.

The rest of the disc is more confrontational, and the sound starts to get a little off kilter, more processed and electronic, like a bad trip...like Funkadelic. That's not to say that it's a bad thing, in fact it's kind of cool sometimes.

To me, "If You Want Me Stay" has a bass line that is just like musical crack. I cannot get enough of it, and there's no chorus or changes...just the bass, some horns, organ, and the lyrics straight through. And then the lyrics seem to be written by someone who's locked themselves in their hidey-hole.

If you want me to stay
I'll be around today
To be available for you to see
I'm about to go there
Then you'll know
For me to stay here
I've got to be me
You'll never be in doubt
That's what it's all about
You can't take me for granted and smile
Count the days I'm gone
Forget reachin' me by phone
Cause I promise
I'll be gone for a while...

I start to feel bad for the guy; it's like he's saying goodbye. And then, of course, Sly dropped off the face of the planet, to join the mythic American music acropolis of rock and roll burn-outs.

A release I've been eagerly anticipating for a long time has been this new compilation of Sly And The Family Stone's best from 1967 to 1974. 35 tracks on two CD's this collection is an excellent introduction for new fans of this innovative and highly influential band's work. One of my biggest complaints about the previously available Sly CD's(minus the Gold "Stand" CD)was the sound quality and packaging, which were poor to say the least. Sonically this music has never sounded better and is readily apparent on the especially on the "Stand" and "There's A Riot Goin'On" tracks, most of each album is represented on this set(minus "Sex Machine" from "Stand" and "Spaced Cowboy" and "Africa Talks To You" from "Riot"). Also for the first time the previous mono only singles "Hot Fun In The Summertime", "Thank You(Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", and "Everybody Is A Star" are in true stereo on a Sly compilation. The first track(Hot Fun) has been released on a couple of different Sony Legacy compilations and "Everybody Is A Star" turned up on a rare Legacy promo CD. While this package isn't entirely comprehensive, it hits the major highlights and hopefully will finally clear the way for remastered and repackaged versions of Sly's Epic albums from 1969 through 1975, and the much talked about and delayed box set. I can hardly wait. Until then, this comes highly recommended.

It's about time the folks at Epic/Sony set about remastering Sly's music. I've been waiting for this for years, and I hope that the individual albums won't be too far behind. It had come to the point where I could no longer listen to cd's like "Stand!", "Riot", or "Greatest Hits" without cringing due to hiss and poor sound overall. Such an influencial artist with such [bad] sound. But on to the music.... This is an excellent overview. Most of "Stand!" and "Riot" are represented. The first disc is truly essential as is most of the second, but the last few tracks? Judge for yourself. Regardless, this is the career-spanning overview most of us have been waiting for. And "Thank You", which I cranked in the car on my way home from purchasing the album, is glorious. The song is a classic, of course, but the sound (oh, that bass) is now truly amazing. Janet Jackson sampled it for "Rhythm Nation", but the original rips her to shreds. Buy and enjoy. And hope for Sly to come back to us one day ...

I have been waiting for a 2 cd compilation of Sly & the Family Stone for a long while and I was eagerly anticipating this set. Sly & the Family Stone played a combination of rock, funk, soul, and r&b. Stone's band was one of the first interracial rock bands of the late sixties and early seventies. Sly & the Family Stone provided us with some of the most danceable tunes of all time. Songs like "Dance To The Music", "I Want To Take You Higher", "Sing A Simple Song", "Everyday People" and "Thank You (Falettimme Be Mice Elf Agin)" are instantly memorable and are used as background music for commercials to this day. Sly's songs on the first disk are especially uplifting and came along at just the right time when people needed them after becoming burned out by the Vietnam war. The rhythm section of Greg Errico and Larry Graham was great. They infused the music with both drive and danceability. Graham's finger-popping bass technique was revolutionary at the time but is now a standard practice among funk bassists. Sly & the Family Stone became popular enough to be invited to the big rock festivals of the day like Woodstock. With the second disk Stone's music began to become more erratic with his ascent into drug addiction and the departures of both Graham and Errico who were replaced by Rusty Allen and Andy Newmark respectively. Sly also began to write about black issues of the day like "Don't Call Me Nigger Whitey" and "Babies Makin' Babies" among others. The Essential Sly & the Family Stone" contains all the songs released on "Greatest Hits" and every song from "Anthology" except for the great cover of "Que Sera, Sera". Even if Sly Stone never makes another album the material on this set cements his legacy. He is not only a funk innovator but also produced some of the best singles of the late sixties and early seventies. He also found time to produce a number of bands before concentrating on his own material. This is truly an essential purchase!

As others have noted, Sly & The Family Stone - one of the most important rock and soul bands from an era that produced many great ones - have not been well served by their label (Sony, or Epic back in the days of vinyl). Rhino Handmade, to its credit, recently did a fine job remastering the group's underrated 1979 - 83 Warner Bros. material on a limited edition 2-CD set (get it while you can!). Sly's first three albums, "A Whole New Thing" ('67), "Dance To The Music" ('68) and "Life" ('68) were remastered and expanded with bonus tracks by Bob Irwin a decade ago, and are all - especially the latter two - well worth buying at their midline price, but the rest of the catalog, beginning with "Stand!" (available briefly in an Irwin-produced gold disc long out of print), as well as "Greatest Hits", "There's A Riot Goin' On" and "Fresh" are sadly available only in terrible sounding (and cheesily packaged) cds that date to the late '80s. And the last three Sly albums for Sony/Epic - which range from quite good ("Small Talk") to remarkably uninspired ("Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back" - the latter not represented on this compilation) have never been available domestically at all. So much for maintaining the astonishing legacy of these seminal R & R Hall Of Famers. "Essential" covers Sly's fertile 1967 - 75 period, but leaves me with mixed feelings - it's great to have a 2-disc comp of remastered classics, but why at this late date is there no career spanning boxed set, which might include some of the terrific work Sly produced and/or wrote for Autumn Records' artists during 1963-65, including several hits and gems for artists as disparate as the Beau Brummels, Great Society (Grace Slick's pre-Jefferson Airplane band), Bobby Freeman, Mojo Men, and many others, or fascinating collaborations with the likes of Billy Preston and brother Freddie Stone. (Sly also recorded his own material concurrently with his involvement with Autumn. The best overview of this crucial period of development is the UK import "Precious Stone") One can imagine that unissued Family Stone material might be languishing in the vaults, given how prolific Sly had been in the pre-Epic period. Then, there are the classic Little Sister singles released on Sly's Stone Flower label (issued through Atlantic)in 1970 that link the sound and vision of "Stand!" to that of "Riot" (Three of the four Little Sister single sides can be found on the Eric label comp "Hard To Find 45s: Sweet Soul Sounds"). Finally, it should go without saying that Sly's entire catalog should be available on upgraded and, when possible, expanded CDs, and that would include restoring the original cover art to "Riot." So, returning to the artifact at hand, every track on this poorly annotated but well chosen compilation is good-to-classic, and the sound is much improved over those terrible '80s CDs, yet the project simply points to the necessity for a complete catalog overhaul, which is long, long overdue. Get this solid if rather obvious set, then petition Sony Legacy to put Bob Irwin back in charge of upgrading Sly's great body of work. We need it now more than ever.

There's no question about it: Sly Stone has earned his place in history as one of funk's founding fathers. There have been other Sly & the Family Stone collections, but none as comprehensive as this one. It's the best you can do without buying the individual albums (many of which are out of print). The one glaring omission is the cover of "Que Sera, Sera" from the "Fresh" album and featured on the Anthology originally released on vinyl in 1981. One of the most pleasant surprises I found while listening to this 2 CD set was that the versions of "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and "Everybody Is A Star" are from actual stereo masters, not the "simulated stereo" versions found on the "Greatest Hits" and "Anthology" albums. Hearing these tracks again reminds me what a remarkable band Sly & the Famly Stone was. They play like a soundtrack of my adolescence. If anyone whose memories of music goes back only to the 80's wants to know where Prince and Rick James got their inspiration, I would highly recommend they give this colletion a listen.

If ever a musical comeback was due, it belongs to Sly and the Family Stone, who have been silent as a stone for too many years as this excellent package reminds us. That funky beat, rude horns, inter-racial harmonies and an unlikely fuzz-tone guitar brought pop culture to it's knees in the late '60s and was the first rock and roll outfit to successfully cross over to mainstream pop while remaining true to it's black soul heritage. At a time when The Supremes were wearing white-inspired mile high hair-dos, Sly and the Family Stone were a shocking rebelious sight with wild colorful mod American garb and blonde hair on dark skin. Those wonderful politically astute, radio friendly pop songs are all here plus some early soul recordings that gives hints of the magic to come. I was glad to find "Somebody'a Watching You" on the disc, being familiar with the dark paranoic but haunting and lovely Little Sister version (I believe, a Sly family off-shoot artist) here is the original Sly song in a much lighter vein bringing a playful tolerance to the big brother theme. "The Essential Sly and The Family Stone" is excellent and historical popular music. It makes one crave for more of Sly Stone's work in music.

This compilation is worth the money if you were to only hear the stereo version of "Hot Fun In The Summertime". Man, I have been taken back to the '60s in a sonic way. I really enjoyed the mixes and the clarity of the remastered tracks. Cudos to Sony for finally givng the genius of Sly Stone some technical gloss.
Peace, man!!!