Customer Reviews

Small Talk

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

 

 

This is by far my favorite complete album. You can try to compare it to other eras of the Family Stone, but doing so only points out that it's completely different from all the other albums. It's clear that there was a lot of time spent in the studio here. The grooves are understated, but each track features a symphony of vocals. The songs are each so rich, this is not the party music or political anthem album that you're used to from Sly. Here's a track by track breakdown:

1) Small Talk: A lot of the talk around this album cites Sly's own family stone (wife and kid) as the reason for this mellow, humble selection of songs. The album starts with a very quiet track with a nice bass line where his new baby whimpers along. Very cute, very good background music.

2) Say You Will: This is one of the better songs on the record. Definitely the best instrumental performance, and the vocals are like fudge.

3) Mother Beautiful: One of the most intense songs ever recorded. The background vocals ride in and out like a giant snail, leaving their silvery slimy trails throughout the track.

4) Time for Livin': An anthem of sorts, but a good natured one. This is a great song, I think it went top 10 when the album was released. The Beastie Boys made a hard core cover of this on their Check Your Head album.

5) Can't Strain My Brain: Quiet, but dense in meaning. Sort of a personal theme for Sly, but the song speaks volumes. This is another example of a track that's scantly appointed by the band but indulgently iced by the vocals.

6) Loose Booty: Straight Party. Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego.

7) Holdin' On: Sly asks the band to 'yo punch in' at the beginning. This is a great melt of the band and the vocalists. You'll sing to yourself all day long.

8) Wishful Thinkin': This is an inspirational number. Great lyrics and intense feeling in the vocals.

9) Better Thee Then Me: Pretty good, but not great. It has a questionable theme that makes me not love the song, but I don't turn it off if it comes up on shuffle play.

10) Livin' While I'm Livin': The most apostrophes of any song title on the album. This is another fast and busy Sly song. It's a good time.

11) This is Love: This is boring. I don't like this song. It's a better doo-wop song, but definitely the least ear-catching song on the LP.

I got two copies of this on vinyl from a bearded woman that I worked with in the cafeteria of a mental institution when I was 19 years old. She was emptying closets, her husband was ending his career as an amateur party DJ, and I just acquired a turntable from a friend who doesn't pay back debts in cash (I found out too late). I was initially amazed by the "Mother Beautiful" track, and by the number of rap samples I recognized from the album. This really ushered me out of the east coast suburban metal/rap/punk scene I was into, and if I ever find that bearded woman I'm going to give her a kiss on the mouth.

Just listen to it. Funky but very hip. Every tune is good. It's cool how he uses the violin to do some of the horn parts. This is probably the best Sly before he disapeared into LA. His songwriting, production and arrangements on this album are pure genius. I have the LP (bought when this originally came out) but found the cd on Amazon a couple of years ago. It is worth the extra money because it was an import from Japan. I think this album is way better than Fresh and Fresh is pretty good.

I happened to buy this C.D. on a whim in Yokohama about ten years ago. Prior to seeing it I was unaware of it's existence. What a sweet suprise. I loved it instantly. It is one of my favorite if not favorite albums ever. Though I believe "Riot" to be one of the top 5 albums of all time and I think "Fresh" is a better album I prefer "Small Talk" to both because I feel that Sly exercises an emotional range that finds him higher than "Stand" yet more soulful than "Fresh" however he is never as angry or as bitter as "Riot". The title track "Small Talk" showcases a father's pride for his family. In "Mother Beautiful" Sly shows his admiration for his own mother as well as the mother of his child. "Can't Strain My Brain" and "Wishful Thinkin'" are Sly feeling down but they are oh so beautiful. "This is Love" is a doo-wop song that I initially dismissed as trite. I was wrong about it. This is a song that starts off a bit silly but gains momentum throughout with a chorus that goes little beyond the words "This is Love..." but the words seem to gather more conviction with every verse. The song steadily pulls you in building to a harmonious crescendo and then one day you realize that the reason that he's singing this like he means it is because he does. It may be the most revealing song on the album. There is no doubt that Sly's in love. This album offers the best glimpse of Sly before his final descent into decedence. "Small Talk" is a genius bearing his soul.

I tried this album out after hearing the Beastie Boys cover of 'Time for Livin''and it was the opposite to what i'd been prepared for-from hardcore punk to mellow familyfunk warmth. I loved it though and the whole album is so warm, sensuous and so sly! The beastie boys came up again in 'Loose Booty' that they sampled for 'Shadrach' on 'Paul's Boutique' and the original is pure hip hop groove in itself. Sly created the looping sound and he uses every instrument [sax, trumpet, voice, violin] to mix together something so new and unbelievable! This is the coming of age album before the drugs and divorce got the better of him and you're left wondering where he would have gone from here. I think the doo wop of 'This is Love' is far more sincere the their version of 'Que Sera Sera' and songs like 'Loose Booty', 'Holdin' On' and 'Better thee than me' are as inspired and as funky as the band have ever been. This is my favourite Sly album and think everyone with any kind of soul should own it.

....don't be put off by the strings.

...this came directly after Sly and Family's outstanding "Fresh" CD. And I guess Sly said I've worked hard, it's time to chill out for uno momento. Sly had married and was taking care of kids. In the groovin' title cut, the baby is "accidentally" recorded--crying on key and on beat.

"Can't Strain My Brain" has Sly doing those bluesy church deacon vocals to strings. "Loose Booty" has Sly and Family in funky partymode ala "Dance to the Music" with a ShadrackMeshackAbednego party chant in the breaks.

"Wishful Thinking" which, in my opinion should have been released as a single, has Sly perhaps sorry for all the time lost for all the "wanna start a revolution" peace movement talks...only to find that peace will be gotten when we..."Relax. We'll Get there Soon" (...or he could be taking "Running Away" a step further by slyly lambasting the USA's race for outer space).

The post-Doo Wop "This is Love" channels "Hot Fun in The Summertime" which channelled The Platters or The Flamingos. But it has that Sly wink-wink, dig?

A very, very good rare and classic album from the masterful Sly and the Family Stone. Find a copy, now. Get it from Amazon, now.

This is a really good album. The song Loose Booty is a good song even though I don't understand it. The names Shadrach,Meschach and Abednego were unfimilar but I looked them up and I was thinking they put people in the bible in their song. I was amazed. The song has a nice beat. Overall it's a good album and it has a nice cover. And you should go out and buy it. Trust me I have a lot of the Family Stone's songs and they are the best.

This is the smoothest and most laid back of Sly Stone's work, and although many think 'Fresh' is better (it's certainly funkier), I personally am more fond of 'Small Talk'!
'Fresh' still had some of the murkiness and "stoned"-ness of 'There's A Riot Goin' On', but that's completely vanished on 'Small Talk'. In fact a more appropriate title for this album would be...'Fresh'!
As I said, I like this album a lot (totally worth the import price tag, since it's completely unavailable on CD otherwise). Standouts: the hits "Time For Livin'" & "Loose Booty" are soulful and immensely funky; as for the others...hell, there's not a single bad song on the whole disc! Buy it now before it goes out of print again!

Sly Stone words can't describe His Effect on Pop Music&Music in General.Sadly alot of folks just don't Know the Impact this Man has had on Music as we know it.this Album was very Mellow when Compared to "There's a Riot Going On".But this is another Chapter in Sly's Musical Growth."Loose Booty" is one of the Funkiest Jams still&Sadly one of Sly's Last Musical Highs in the Groove Department."Time For Livin" is a Good Cut as well.this Album doesn't Hit me as Hard as the "Fresh" Album but it has it's moments.Sly was Pretty Much a One Man Band.Drums,Keys,Guitar&Bass also Composing&Singing all or Most of the parts on His Albums.He is a Artist Sadly Missed Now more than Ever.Hopefully One Day He will Unload Some Jams.

'Small Talk' is Sly's first album as a husband and father and it shows loud and clear on the cover.Like much of his music in the mid 70's the production on this recording is as spare as it comes,in fact in the case of the title track almost down to none at all.It's little more then drums,bass the sound of Sly's new baby crying.But somehow it's still funky.The first five songs are all like that-funky,bassy bottom but zero top."Mother Beautiful" however contains one of the creepiest usages of a string section I have ever heard."Loose Booty",on the other hand is a Sly Stone funk classic in every respect-it's got those hot horns,wild vocals and some of most out and out hip-hop breaks-to-be I've ever heard."Better Thee Then He" and "Livin While I'm Livin" are more great funk but much of the rest of "Small Talk is eerie and subdued,without the underlying muscle that made 'Fresh' so enjoyable.Even the hit single "Time For Livin" is one of the Family Stone's softer moments,even if it isn't a ballad.Sly himself hadn't really gone soft-he was still going for the same spare,horn and organ led gospel/funk/pop sound that had served him so well on his last two albums before this.But where does that leave the music?Basically if you look at it one way 'There's A Riot Goin' On','Fresh' and 'Small Talk' are all of a piece-there's very little musical difference and this is the weaker of the three song wise and the only one to heavily use strings,as surrealy produced as they are.Was it time for Sly to call his musical career a day with 'Small Talk'?Maybe in some camps but the results are actually pretty appealing at times.

1974 brought the music world Sly and the Family Stone's last album: Small Talk.

Overall, the album has some glimmer of Sly's past genius but also signals his fading creativity, with tired hooks, and unimpressive instrumentals. Tracks that manage to stand out, in my opinion: "Can't Strain my Brain," "Time for Livin'" and "Better Thee Than Me."

If you're thinking about scratching together the $30 bucks that it'll cost you to buy this album (because Epic Records is too nearsighted to re-release it on CD in the U.S.), you might want to consider copping the "High On You" LP instead, which stands as a nice post-script to "Fresh." If you're an avid fan, grab "Small Talk" for completions sake--it does have its moments.