An hourish. I had no idea he was still performing. This show had Cynthia and Jerry...along with Rose's daughter.
Listened to Milady earlier today - and was reminded of how great Freddie Stone's rhythm guitar break halfway through is. In fact, I'd say it makes the song!
Anytime I create a soul/funk mix for myself or someone else, I ALWAYS include this song: 'Africa Talks to You' is probably my second favorite Sly track.
'Feel so good, feel so good, don't wanna move' has to be one of the most chilling lines in all rock music.
It certainly is. Definitely up to the standard of the first three albums, if not (quite) to ''big three' (Stand!, Riot, Fresh).
I pray that before I die, I'll get to hear and own a first press mono of A Whole New Thing. Or that someone will do an AAA mono remaster of it from the original tapes.
This is my poetic license/speculation, but the internal metaphor I've always thought of is that the early Sly records sound to me like the soundtrack to intelligent and future-minded young people going about their socially-conscious business with style and confidence on a sunny day, while the later Sly records sound to me like the soundtrack to one guy peeking through his window blinds in the middle of the night to see if the police are about to show up. Cocaine is a hell of a drug! That's an exaggeration of course and not even meant entirely critically. There is killer stuff on records like Riot and Fresh.
[QUOTE="MaccaBeatles, post: 21060430, member: 27564"]I know it's been said many times before but man, what a positive message Sly & The Family Stone had behind their music. Black or white, who cares? Times have changed for the better in many respects but in many ways society has become much more fragmented, which leads to different groups of people continuing to target each other and forgetting about what they have in common. (Let's not get political here, we know how that tends to go) But Sly & The Family Stone always said forget about all that. We are all "Everyday People", "EVERYBODY is a Star", "You Can Make It If You Try" so let's "Stand!" for equality. Forget your hangups, let's "Sing a Simple Song" and "Dance to the Music", let's go "Higher!" Thank you Sly, for delivering an important message and making some of the most kick*ss music at the same time![/QUOTE] That was very much the 'message' of pre-Riot Sly. But, after 1970, with Sly's gradual drug-induced detachment from the other members of the band and the pressure he was under from the Panthers to fire Martini and Errico, things got a lot darker. That's why one of the reasons I find S&TFS such a fascinating band: their 'message' was very mixed.
The first pressing US mono LPs of both “A Whole New Thing” and “Dance To The Music” are both fantastic and worth every penny. The mono promo “Life” LP is a fold down sadly. And there’s no substitute for getting nice original US 45s to hear the 60’s singles in their proper mixes - they sound thunderous!
That was very much the 'message' of pre-Riot Sly. But, after 1970, with Sly's gradual drug-induced detachment from the other members of the band and the pressure he was under from the Panthers to fire Martini and Errico, things got a lot darker. That's why one of the reasons I find S&TFS such a fascinating band: their 'message' was very mixed.[/QUOTE] I find that Fresh and Small Talk are relatively upbeat even if they lacked the innocence of their 60s work
I love the Family Stone. "In Time" is one of my favorite songs ever, it contains a sort of musical pointilism where all of the instruments play off of each other. And features some outstanding funk drumming.
One of the all time greats, and maybe the best funk band ever, though their prime was brief. Recommend everything through Fresh at minimum.
I sooo badly want a whole new thing but it's so rare, none on discogs but one in good+ condition. Please let me know if you ever feel like selling
I really hope this happens, for both mono albums. I'm listening to DTTM on my headphones right now, and the stereo separation on the medley is so distracting. Some tracks are better than others, but I can't imagine both of these records wouldn't be so much heavier in mono.
I love this appearance so much. You really see Sly doing his best to keep the peace and continually calling out Ali for being a hypocrite.
I was in Bournemouth too...I remember there being an authentic (see: worrying) delay for Sly getting on stage (whilst the rest of the band got on with it), and when he finally came out singing If You Want Me To Stay (which was about 5 or 6 tracks in), with the vocals painfully low in the mix. They sorted this out after this track, but the sound was....bad. Which really I think related to the choice of venue: the Opera House just wasn't acoustically suited to a band. Having heard other videos from around this time, his voice was clearly still sounding pretty great - not like it used to be, but like you say, that unmistakable quality. It's a shame they didn't record the gig, as a decent mix might have made it sound better post performance. There are a couple of tracks on Youtube from the gig, but using video phones from 2007, so not great quality. Although you can hear Thankyou For Talking To Me Africa at the end of one of them (a 3 second snippet), which sounds pretty good. But having already seen James Brown and George Clinton, seeing Sly felt like I'd seen the funk Holy Trinity!
