Customer Reviews

For the Record 4: Sly & the Family Stone

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have long believed that Sly and The Family Stone are quite possibly the most under-rated rock band ever. They may be enshrined the RnR Hall of Fame, but their records are now unfairly viewed as nothing more than oldies radio fare.

In their time they were revolutionaries who broke down the barriers between "black music" and "white music"; in the process, they were instrumental in creating what later became known as "Funk".

When I found out about this book, I was thrilled. AT LAST---some insight into WHY the band made the music that they did!

No such luck here.

Crammed with lurid, voyeuristic, tales of excess and decline that sadly became the band's legacy, For the Record offers little insight into just what went into creating the music and records.

While readers might have loved to have found out something about Sly's inspiration for There's A Riot Goin' On, beyond "he was taking a lot of drugs"---that's about all that's offered here.

No doubt, the fact that drug casualty Sly was not available to offer his insights made the author's task more difficult(impossible?), you gotta believe that there had to have been SOME people with a little more insight into THE MUSIC of Sly Stone, rather than just the ugliness that went on behind the scenes.

It should have been better.

I thought this was a decent book with some good anecdotes and stories. One thing to consider--even though it may not be a literary masterpiece, it IS a book about Sly, and it does cover a lot of his activities, both as a DJ and then as the perenially F*d up bandleader for probably the funkiest band in history. That fact, in and of itself, makes it worth reading. To me, an average book about Sly is always better than a great book on lesser topics.

By the way, isn't Sly still alive? Doesn't that exempt him from technically being a "drug casualty?"

If you have an interest in Sly Stone, the man, then this book is a must read. It is a compilation of thoughts by many of the people who worked for him and with him, and a few observers. It is a masterpiece, for what it is. If you are interested in the creation of his music, there is a little of that, too, but that is not the emphasis of the book. It is an Oral History by everyone else; Sly made no contribution to the book.

I had been curious about his "disappearance" from the world of music. This book documents, through the words of others, the collapse of a creative, innovative musical genius, as he surrendered to the dark world of narcotics. This is all spoken about by many of the individuals interviewed for the book. It seems as if he didn't appreciate his great creations in music, so he never acquired an authentic sense of self esteem. From a hard-working, apparently happy maker-of-music and performer-of-music to an unreliable, physically abusive, withdrawn addict... It is all very,very sad.

The book seems very slight on actual detail, and very heavy on opinions. The fact that the authors have been able to interview most of the original band is a plus, but the bandmembers seem to only reflect on the surface-level events. There are conflicting stories everywhere, and no interviews given by the main subject himself, which is detrimental to a complete understanding of this material. I would personally say that more time was spent on the early, reputation building years than the later, more influential era. There were quite a few pivotal moments in the Sly saga that were brutally erased from the story, and the slight given to the Kathy Silva era was regrettable in that, at that point, I wanted to read more about Sly's personal life but was given a glossing over that anyone could have cobbled together from interviews. This is not a complete Sly bio; the "story" stops at Radio City in 1975, but there was no mention of Sly hosting the American Music Awards that year. Nor does it even mention Sly's 1975 release "High on You" or any of his subsequent albums, with or without the band. Quite disappointing, once you've heard the later albums and know that there is more to the story than this (for Sly's own viewpoint, check out the 2007 interviews that he has given and read his own words). Someone needs to write a "real" bio of Sly, starting from the very beginning and emcompassing everything that he has done. What is telling is that Sly actually had a few hits, subsequent to the "final chapter" of the book.

... The "collage of voices" approach endemic to oral history leads in this case to a frustrating, almost indigestible mess. Dave Marsh warns in his editor's note to the For The Record series of which this volume is a part, "if an artist isn't especially interested in what happens in the recording studio but has a fascination with what happens in hotel rooms after live gigs, that's what you'll get." So, instead of getting more than the barest glimpse inside the studio during the recording of There's A Riot Going On, surely one of the deepest albums in all of American popular music history, we are given page after page devoted to the band's sex lives, taste in drugs, and even their surprising if unilluminating avocation as collective dog fanciers (really!). What's missing, literally, is Sly's voice, which leaves a gaping hole in the center of the narrative. By connecting the dots one can glean a few insights about the music from the mass of bleary anecdotes herein, but aren't authors and editors supposed to do that for you? If you're in the market for a mess of depressing gossip, this will be your meat; if you're seeking insight into the man's (and the group's) brilliant music, look elsewhere.

Sure it might take a little getting used to -- reading through this oral history; the different quotes by those associated with Sylvester Stewart -- but ultimately it's an effective and easy read. Missing are any quotes -- however superficial -- by the man himself.

There are other gaps in the narratives also. There's a picture being painted that suggests, by the early '70s, that Stewart had turned into an almost non-functioning kind of vegetable who missed tons of shows because of a major drug addiction, but yet he still released a handful of albums (of varying quality) after 1974, when his Family Stone pretty much broke up.

I would have also preferred to read about the music: the making of the albums; what some of the big tunes were about. What some of the titles were about. More of that stuff.

Overall this book is an easy and insightful read from the perspectives of those around Sly, and not directly from a 3rd party writer.

(Reviewers note: It was also cool to read that he hung out often (in the early days) at his parents house, which was not more than 4 or 5 blocks away from the house I grew up in SF. As a kid I had heard that it was Syl's parents house, that he had bought it for them. I rode by the house on my bike often to see a fancy car or 3 parked in front, but never realized Syl was inside often making music, and not just visiting.)

I was very much attracted to the subject matter and I thought interviewing those involved was an excellent approach to it. I was frustrated by the lack of dates and context to the words of those interviewed. Without constantly flipping to the back to check on the dates in the discography, I had no idea whether I was in 1968 or 1972. I was hoping for a more definitive text.

This book is an oral history, so yes sometimes it skips around some. For the people who have panned it for that reason: get over it. This is more than made up for by the fact that a lot of the people who were there are interviewed and they give an ground level acct of what it was like. It is fascinating and terribly sad. Highly recommended if you like oral histories and soul and funk. . . .