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"So that's been a burden on you?"

"Yeah. If something happens that they don't choose to appreciate, then comes the role model thing. `You're a role model, what happens when you get in trouble?' 0. J. Simpson did." He snickered. "And I didn't do near that kind of stuff. Aargh! Can't even describe that."

After some jocular exchanges with Rikki, Charles, Neal and me, Sly announced, "I'm gonna go now, okay?" and headed back up the stairs, shouting, "Thank you!"

Selected

Discography

RESENTED HERE IS AN OVERview of the major Sly & the Family Stone LP reissues on CD, as well as reissues and compilations currently available featuring Sly with and without the original and later formations of the Family Stone. The first seven Sly & the Family Stone albums all include bonus tracks in their remastered, reissued formats. Some of those tracks are monophonic singles versions of album tracks, and others are previously unreleased. Each track is included in the commentary for each album, all of which are gathered in The Collection box (2007). Aside from the albums included here, there are recordings of festival performances at Woodstock, Isle of Wight, and Atlanta, and several excellent bootlegs recorded at the Fillmore East in 1968 and at the Kasteel Groeneveld in Baarn, the Netherlands, in 1970. The Fillmore recordings may finally be remastered and released by Sony in 2009. Worth viewing are two DVD's, My Own Beliefs: Video Anthology 1969-1986 (two discs) and It's a Family Affair (single disc). Both are collections of performances, televised appearances, and promotional videos, mostly from the band's heyday and showcasing the hits, but also with some scenes of Sly interacting with TV hosts and guests. The recording quality is less than ideal, but the depiction of the evolution and presentation of the group and its leader is fascinating. There are numerous bootlegs of Sly's pre-Family Stone material and early band demos, and of later assemblages, generally of inferior quality and put out on a variety of pirate labels available from various sources, many of which can be found on the Internet. With all such bootlegs, caveat emptor.

Not covered here are Starbucks's Hear Music Higher compilation, a decent point-of-sale primer for the uninitiated, and Different Strokes, a 2005 collection of Sly classics reworked, not always to good effect, by "different folks."

SLY & THE FAMILY STONE

A Whole New Thing Epic, 1967

(1) Underdog; (2) If This Room Could Talk; (3) Run, Run, Run; (4) Turn Me Loose; (5) Let Me Hear It from You; (6) Advice; (7) I Cannot Make It; (8) Trip to Your Heart; (9) I Hate to Love Her; (10) Bad Risk; (11) That Kind of Person; (12) Dog; Bonus Tracks: (13) Underdog (single version); (14) Let Me Hear It from You (single version); (15) Only One Way Out of This Mess; (16) What Would I Do; (17) You Better Help Yourself (instrumental)

Sly Stone-vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass; Rose Stonekeyboards, vocals; Freddie Stone-guitar, vocals; Cynthia Robinson-trumpet; Larry Graham-bass, vocals; Jerry Martini-saxophone, vocals; Greg Errico-drums

There was a lot on this disc, perhaps too much for any radio programmer, record store owner, or listener to be able to divine what the "thing" was, other than that it was being performed by a talented collection of players and singers, led by an already experienced songwriter and arranger. Like many Family Stone sides, it started strong, with a message song ("Underdog") that could be counted as one of Sly's few references to racial discrimination. Musically there were references back to the R & B approach of Autumn Records (and to the spirit of Otis Redding), and ahead to funk, psychedelia, and the dynamics and colors of the hit singles. Larry got a solo soul-vocal outing on "Let Me Hear It from You," one of several aspects of this debut disc that wouldn't be repeated in the band's later work. The bonus tracks showcased wild horn harmonies on "Only One Way Out of This Mess" and the aheadof-its-time instrumental fusion of "You Better Help Yourself."

Dance to the Music