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had become a very hip, `in' place to be, with strobe lights and projections. I got there the first night. I was knocked out by the show, and immediately went up to Sly and the band and introduced myself. Jerry arranged an immediate meeting with David Kapralik ... and I was very aggressive not only about signing them, but caring about them." What made Al so eager to secure the relatively unknown act for his employer, the largest diversified talent agency in the world, was, "The dynamics of the music, the strength of the music, Sly's leadership qualities onstage, and the chemistry within the band. They were more than band members, it felt like a family, they cared about each other."

Al perceived A Whole New Thing as "a smash record," but he shared David's doubts about its marketability. Whatever its mass appeal, the album displayed the sophistication of good jazz. Sly's sophisticated arrangements showcased Larry's articulate bass lines and the brassy teamed horns of Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini, all especially notable on the opening track, where "Underdog" quoted "Frere Jacques" in a minor key. Greg's drumming on that same track seemed to presage the hip-hop of thirty years later. The swirling segue from "I Cannot Make It" to "Trip to Your Heart" was pure '67 psychedelia. But this mix of elements rendered it difficult to categorize the album within the accepted format of radio playlists and record store bins.

Like the Jefferson Airplane with Grace Slick, and Big Brother with Janis Joplin, the Family Stone suggested a flower-power female-and-male bouquet from California, but they had a better handle on time and sounded more like a full-fledged band working and playing in harmony. They laid down pop grooves as impressive as Motown's, but without the impersonal grooming and choreography that glossed many of the faceless studio musicians who backed Berry Gordy's Motown vocalists. Onstage Sly Stone could sing with some of the bluely grit and edge of Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, but he also conveyed that endearing attitude of mischief that had once entranced both Ria Boldway and his radio audiences.

Sly's group also boasted the squalling brass and syncopated power of James Brown's, but without Brown's cold control of meter and melody and his autocratic approach to organization. The Godfather of Soul had been known to slap fines on band members who missed beats or hit wrong notes. But Freddie Stone told Guitar World magazine that in the Family Stone, "No one was held to any rules. It wasn't necessarily about playing the traditional guitar part or the traditional bass part or the traditional horn line. It was about giving the musicians the freedom to create a part that they thought was appropriate."

But the uniqueness of the Family Stone, however much it may have been appreciated in 1967 by members of the band and other musicians, didn't immediately result in strong records sales and a wide fan base. Clive Davis, then president of Columbia Records, which owned Epic, recalled for Vanity Fair magazine an early lunch with Sly. "I told him, `I'm concerned that the serious radio stations that might be willing to play you'-by which I meant the underground FM radio stations-'will be put off by the costuming, the hairstyles:... Sly said, `Look, that's part of what I'm doing. I know people could take it the wrong way, but that's who I am: And he was right. I learned an important lesson from him: when you're dealing with a pathfinder, you allow that genius to unfold."

Jerry Martini was summoned with Sly to meet with other Columbia execs and A & R (artists and repertoire) personnel responsible for artist development. "They played us other things, like [sweet soul successes] the Fifth Dimension, and they said, `We want you to do this,"" Jerry recalls. "Sly walked out of there very disturbed and upset, because [of the lack of recognition of] his innovative ideas and drumbeats."

Greg remembers that, after the disappointment of A Whole New Thing, "Sly was very conscious that we had to simplify the music, that we had to find a subject