Notes

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Dynamite! -- Chicken -- Plastic Jim -- Fun -- Into My Own Thing -- Harmony -- Life -- Love City -- I'm An Animal -- M'Lady -- Jane Is A Groupee -- Only One Way Out Of This Mess *
*Previously unissued -

Musicians: Sly Stone, Freddy Stone, Rose Stone, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, Larry Graham, Greg Errico
Killer work from Sly & The Family Stone -- hard-grooving, fast-funking, and really setting the scene for countless groups to come! The album's a messed-up funky party, with plenty of short little tracks that have a mix of funk, soul, and rock -- perfect for the crossover crowd from whence Sly sprang, and who would become his biggest supporters into the 70s. And almost best of all, there's hardly any hits here -- just tight little numbers that are as fresh today as they were back at the end of the 60s -- all the kind of righteous funk the group could do better than anybody else! Titles include "Fun", "Plastic Jim", "Dynamite!", "Chicken", "Into My Own Thing", "Life", "Love City", "I'm An Animal", and the seminal "Jane Is A Groupee". CD features 4 bonus tracks -- including "Pressure", "Sorrow (inst)", "Seven More Days", and "Dynamite (single)".


1. Dynamite
2. Chicken
3. Plastic Jim
4. Fun
5. Into My Own Thing
6. Harmony
7. Life
8. Love City
9. I'm An Animal
10. M'Lady
11. Jane Is A Groupee
12. Dynamite
13. Seven More Days
14. Pressure
15. Sorrow

Killer work from Sly & The Family Stone -- hard-grooving, fast-funking, and really setting the scene for countless groups to come! The album's a messed-up funky party, with plenty of short little tracks that have a mix of funk, soul, and rock -- perfect for the crossover crowd from whence Sly sprang, and who would become his biggest supporters into the 70s. And almost best of all, there's hardly any hits here -- just tight little numbers that are as fresh today as they were back at the end of the 60s -- all the kind of righteous funk the group could do better than anybody else! Titles include "Fun", "Plastic Jim", "Dynamite!", "Chicken", "Into My Own Thing", "Life", "Love City", "I'm An Animal", and the seminal "Jane Is A Groupee". CD features 4 bonus tracks -- including "Pressure", "Sorrow (inst)", "Seven More Days", and "Dynamite (single)".


Sly Stone, Freddy Stone, Rose Stone, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, Larry Graham, Greg Errico


Just a matter of months after Dance to the Music, Sly & the Family Stone turned around and delivered Life, a record that leapfrogged over its predecessor in terms of accomplishment and achievement. The most noteworthy difference is the heavier reliance on psychedelics and fuzz guitars, plus a sharpening of songcraft that extends to even throwaways like "Chicken." As it turned out, Life didn't have any hits -- the double A-sided single "Life"/"M'Lady" barely cracked the Top 100 -- yet this feels considerably more song-oriented than its predecessor, as each track is a concise slice of tightly wound dance-funk. All the more impressive is that the group is able to strut their stuff within this context, trading off vocals and blending into an unstoppable force where it's impossible to separate the instruments, even as they solo. The songwriting might still be perfunctory or derivative in spots -- listen to how they appropriate "Eleanor Rigby" on "Plastic Jim" -- but what's impressive is how even the borrowed or recycled moments sound fresh in context. And then there are the cuts that work on their own, whether it's the aforementioned double-sided single, "Fun," "Dynamite!," or several other cuts here -- these are brilliant, intoxicating slices of funk-pop that get by as much on sound as song, and they're hard to resist.