Back on the Right Track

by

Sly & The Family Stone

Edit

After comparing this album with Sly's other albums (post Fresh) I have to say that this is easily the best. Recorded in 1978/79 you'd be forgiven for thinking that his mid 70's stuff would be better, but unusually this is not the case.

To me (and many others) it seems that Sly's ego and his paranoid delusions of granduer and omnipotence got the better of him after 1970.

Part of the problem was that 'The Family Stone' had left him in '73 and any creative input and boundaries that they may have been able to put in place were overtaken by more than a modicum of self indulgence and obstinance.

This lack of focus meant that Sly spent most of his time with his head in the clouds after the number 1 single 'Thankyou Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again'(1970).

On this album though Sly captures some of his earlier form. It is also not ruined by the 'diaphonous' master tapes that would be re-recorded over many times, for numerous and often unsavoury reasons. (think of the album There's A Riot Going On)

With members of the original band back on board and with some kind of monetary focus the awful sound quality that is present on There's A Riot has been completely eliminated.

There are certainly more than 2 good tracks here. I'd wager that ALL the tracks here are above Sly's 'own' average.

My only gripe is that many of the songs are under 3 mins and the album clocks in at less than 30 mins in it's entirity.

I think that this was a ploy by either the record company, the band, or Sly himself to try and condense the studio work into some kind of chart success. This, unfortunately was not to be and the album was a failure of sorts. Whilst it didn't perform in the charts it is certainly worth reconsidering if you are looking for something to compliment the 'Greatest Hits' packages.

Regardless, this is the only album really worth hunting out after 'Fresh', or possibly 'High On You' and as such, in many ways, marks the end of a distinguished career of a flawed genius.

What a shame though that the sound quality and coherence of the music on here is so absent from the releases that should have marked his glory days, after 1970. Sly only has himself to blame though.

This has the feel of the classic Sly Stone albums, but lacking in their liveliness, with a couple gimmicks thrown in simply to modernize the sound (buzzing keyboards on "Shine it On"; talkbox on "The Same Thing (Makes You Laugh, Makes You Cry)"; electric piano and disco rhythms on "Who's to Say?"). It's sad to see Sly reduced to this: he even takes some of his old ideas and dresses them up in new packaging ("Sing a Simple Song" + "Everyday People" = "It Takes All Kinds"). Of course, Sly was gone at this point, little more than a drug-addled recluse, struggling against the tide, trying and failing to reclaim the glory of his '60s material. It's laid-back, lazy funk: most of it is in the same tempo, every song sort of bleeds into each other, but not like the songs on There's a Riot Goin' On did. Kudos to the bassist: he does overuse slap a bit (obviously a Larry Graham imitator), but he holds down a solid groove: a couple of the songs are decent as far as imitation classic Sly goes ("Sheer Energy", with a harmonica; "Remember Who You Are"), and the album's very listenable, even if most of the songs are bad.

And I'm not anti-Sly by any means, no matter what this two-star review may imply: Life, Stand!, There's a Riot Goin' On and Fresh are all solid records. Far better than this, too.