I hesitate to put these Sly & The Family Stone tracks up - I'm almost sick of Sly's greatest hits. But they sound so good and are played so well that I want to share them with you all.The show is from Piknik Kasteel Groeveneld Baarn in the Netherlands on October 9, 1970. Sly & The Family Stone were still on top of the world when they recorded these tracks, but the optimism of this music was about to descend into the murk of the classic There's A Riot Goin' On, his last unquestionably great moment on record. (I know that there are some people who love Fresh, but I'm not one of them.)
When I listen to these tracks, I hear Sly's vast influence - on late 60's & early 70's Motown (the Jackson 5 were a reaction to Sly), Parliament-Funkadelic, Prince and even James Brown. I also hear his desire not just to ignore barriers of music and race, but to tear them up. That influence and sense of possibility still reverberates, and it's the reason that over 35 years after the fact, there are a lot of people who are still waiting for Sly Stone to really make a comeback.
*I recommend downloading all the songs and then listening to them seamlessly. Especially for the "Dance To The Music" medley.*
Download: "Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "M'Lady" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "Sing A Simple Song" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "Stand!" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "Dance To The Music" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "Music Lover" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "I Want To Take You Higher" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Buy Sly & The Family Stone at Amazon
the last three track aren't there...
ReplyDeleteMy apologies. Something is up with my fileserver. I will have it up as soon as I can.
ReplyDeleteAll the tracks are working now.
ReplyDeleteWanted to drop a line once again. Love the sound of this. Great version of "Thank You.." Those horns sound like Miles on this live version and the original single is just insane. I posted a few days ago about "A Change is Gonna Come" being one the magnificant songs of all time, but I think "Thank You" is one of the all time greats along with a few others (and I take my top ten songs of all time pretty damn seriously).
ReplyDeleteOnce again, great blog. I've been reading it for quite a while, even though I've taken my time posting. Hope you realize there are others out there who appreciate what you're doing.
Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm glad that you're enjoying it so much. I'm open to recommendations if there's anything you think I can add that will make it better.
ReplyDeleteyo Ben Lazar ! Have you ever heard this Kathi McDonald feat Sly Stone ?
ReplyDeleteThere was a great article this month about Sly and the Family Stone's drummer in Modern Drummer magazine.
ReplyDeleteYou might do a blog sometime about the evolution of soul to funk--your Parliament reference made me think of it.
ReplyDeletePlease post these songs again!
ReplyDeleteSigned,
Someone Who Came To The Party Later and Funk Lover
Please repost this! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteLove the blog, adore the music. Lots of it isn't there anymore. Is that the fileserver, or is it gone forever?
ReplyDeleteHow is it that Sly and the Family Stone could be in Netherlands on October 9, 1970 if they played at the Frost (Stanford, CA) that night?
ReplyDelete