A Whole New Thing

Sly & The Family Stone

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 18, 1995)
• Original Release Date: 1967
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002ARY
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #196,075 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
By the time Sly Stone, former producer/talent scout for Tom Donahue's Autumn records, decided to step out front and form his own band in 1967, he knew exactly what the music business needed: a multi-racial, boy-girl outfit that skillfully blended elements of soul, rock, jazz and funk. Sly & the Family Stone's debut, A Whole New Thing, didn't completely tip Sly's hand, but it got the ball rolling in the right direction by adding fuzzed-up guitar to soulful vocals, a tasty horn section, occasional protest lyrics and just enough Golden State psychedelia to make Sly's groundbreaking work unmistakable. This revolutionary new sound wouldn't fully catch the nation's fancy until the spring of 1968, but it was already perfectly clear that A Whole New Thing was going to be nothing less than what it proclaimed! It was, indeed, the harbinger of a whole new thing! --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sly's best, & a great lost album, June 19, 2002

By	Bruce Merrill (Cambridge, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Actually, this is Sly's best album, an unrecognized wonder, a great lost album, really. As he went downhill (from drugs), his music became simpler, here it begins at its most clever and ambitious. What sets it apart from his subsequent output is how eclectic and highly arranged his songs are. It's the late sixties; Sly is opening up his kind of R&B-- just as the British Invasion opened up the rock/pop song in general. He was a music major in college, so his beginning the disc with a minor key "Frere Jacques" was a conscious borrowing from Mahler.... Listen to how tight and varied and "Advice" and "Dog" are-- as Sly keeps the beat, but puts the tune through one change after another. Wonderful use of the different voices, distinct and blended. Two excellent touching slow ballads: "Let me Hear it from you" (sung by Larry Graham), and "That kind of person" (by Sly's brother, Freddie). Dig the insanely frantic "Turn Me Loose"-- which they used to attach to their equally frantic version of Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose." Great drumming! Great sound; beautifully produced, by Sly.

But so many of these potent songs fall apart at the end... Sly didn't have the sense of an ending. And then-- is there a connection?-- he fell apart in the end, and became a druggy shadow of the talented wizard that he once was.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WHAT A SUPRISE! THE GREAT UNKNOWN SLY ALBUM., November 11, 2000

By	Steven D. Litos (Chicago, Il USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first picked up this CD, I did it only to complete the collection. I was amazed at how great this album is. "Underdog" leads off the set with a bang, and in my opinion Greg Errico's best drumming performance. "Let Me Hear It From You" & "What Would I Do" are lost soul classics. The album's mixing, production, and over all sound are better than any other of Sly's 1960's albums. It's a must listen for headphones. The sound quality is so superb that you will be reaching for the CD case again and again to look for the sound engineer's name. FYI - I read somewhere that the album was done on a 4-Track machine.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So nostalgic it hurts!, August 2, 1999

By	Mark Grindell "Mark Grindell" (Shipley,West Yorkshire) - See all my reviews

I heard this fine selection when I was a student in Hertfordshire. I was born in 1960, and for the life of me I can't imagine how I heard any of this material. I must have only been in primary school. And yet this stuff immediately stirred and moved me. It has so much soul, this stuff is irresistable. If you weren't there, it will make you feel like a fully paid up member of the sixties, like you were really one of the dudes...

It has so much to offer ("Underdog" really jumps) and the inventiveness of the horn parts... Well, you would get a good deal from this in so many ways, but more than anything, the yearning and longing for the years past when this stuff was being made.

What soul... Where are you now, Sly old friend?