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the Sunshine Festival in Hawaii, and he appeared on two TV specials in the latter part of the year. In December, he released Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back on the Epic label, but it failed to get Sly back on the charts. His Back on the Right Track, for Warner Bros. in 1979, managed to chart, but no higher than number 152. During the Warner period, there had been one TV appearance, on The Midnight Special, and a San Francisco news spot, both in 1977. Reflecting a few years later, Sly said to journalist Michael Goldberg, "If you think about it, what could I do after `[I Want to Take You] Higher' or `If You Want Me to Stay'? I wanted to go fishing, man. Or drive my own car. For a long time, I didn't understand anywhere but hotel rooms, the inside of airplanes, and trying to figure out a way that I didn't come off wrong to human beings."

Over time, benefited by the recent re-releases in CD format, the albums Sly recorded after the breakup of the Family Stone have been more clearly valued. High on You, ascribed to Sly Stone and not to any backing band, has been praised as a prime chunk of mid'70s funk, whose title track made it to number 3 on the R & B charts. Heard Ya Missed Me, supported by a "new" Family that included Cynthia and Vet Stewart, and featuring ascending blond guitar angel Peter Frampton on the "Let's Be Together" track, maintained a perhaps deceptive upbeat mood. Back on the Right Track packed a funky punch with the hard-hitting "Who's to Say" and "Remember Who You Are," the latter jointly credited to Sly and Bubba Banks. In 1982, Sly created Ain't But the One Way, also for Warner, with lyrics engagingly reflective of his wit and of the sort of insightful wisdom he should better have applied to himself. Even his cover (rare for him) of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me," and "Ha Ha, Hee Hee," his bandmate Pat Rizzo's songwriting contribution (another rarity), are distinct and imaginative. Back on the Right Track had garnered a number 31 spot on the R & B charts in 1979, and its "Remember Who You Are" rated number 38 among R & B singles. But Ain't But the One Way didn't hit, and there was no successful follow-up in the '80s. Sly continued to flicker in the public eye in two different lights: as the source of occasional news flashes about his misdeeds, and as the inspiration, with his nowextinct Family Stone, for a thriving crop of music makers.

Earth, Wind & Fire, Maurice White's audacious and artful blend of mysticism and soul, had already mounted mammoth stage shows and hits like "Shining Star" and "Serpentine Fire." The Commodores, boasting the superb pop sensibility of vocalist and songwriter Lionel Richie, were evolving from the dance boogie of "Slippery When Wet" and "I Feel Sanctified" to slower love songs like "Three Times a Lady" and "Sail On." Kool & the Gang suggested the influence of the band they'd once bested at Radio City, with the infectious funk singles "Celebration" and "Get Down on It." All these acts confirmed the viability of Sly and his band's formula of concocting pop from soul and R & B ingredients, and of manifesting (as long as possible) a fixed group identity. It was a vital change from the older Motown or Stax-Volt studio concoctions, with their contracted, offstage songwriters.

GEORGE CLINTON HELPED TO KEEP Sly both stoned and musically active during some parts of the'80s. George was founder and mastermind of Parliament-Funkadelic, a loose but productive project operating under George's highly-in all senses of the word-conceptual direction. P-Funk had served up a righteous mix of psychedelia and R & B, not unlike some of what was served up by the Family Stone. By the mid-'70s, they'd taken theatrical costumed rock well beyond the Family, in live appearances that were more spectacles than concerts and on hardcore funk albums like Maggot Brain and Mothership Connection. Guitarist Eddie Hazell sounded like an even more acidified Jimi Hendrix, and rubbery bassist Bootsy Collins seemed heir apparent to Larry Graham. "He's my idol, forget all that `peer' stuff," George testified to the