Best track on Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits (1970)

God I love this record. Voted Higher - and pretty instantly, because it was the first Sly I ever knowingly heard and it's amazing - but this is just faultless brilliance front-to-back.

The one I always play on the jukebox in my local is "Hot Fun in the Summertime", more an ironic choice than aesthetic one tho tbf.

Would vote 'Family Affair' if it was on this disc, but as it is I went for 'Everyday People' cos we've got to live together.

Even now Sly seems underrated just as a singer

It's classic front to back, but 'Fun' jumps out the most immediately because I like it a lot and probably also because of its relative lack of cultural ubiquity (I had no idea that it was counted among their greatest hits).

My pick is either I Want To Take You Higher or Dance To The Music, but I'm basically on the same page as Scik, there isn't a bad choice on here.

Thank You but yeah every song is good

Hot Fun in the Summertime

for the longest time (at least, until the anthology came out) this was p much the only LP/CD that had Everybody is a Star/Hot Fun in the Summertime on it - worth purchasing just for those two alone imo

and Thank You too, I think...?

Stand!

Hot Fun

"Everybody is a Star" is my favourite of these today

It rules.

impossible to choose.

Kinda surprised (but, given the circumstances at the time, not really that surprised) that there wasn't a follow-up greatest hits album. That thing would be just as easy to fill up with stone classics.

? that would have two songs on it: Family Affair and If You Want Me to Stay

he didn't have any hits after that

Well, you know. "Hits". Songs like 'Underdog' and 'Loose Booty' that are well-known and beloved despite not being huge singles. Anyway, 'Life' wasn't a hit. 'Fun' was a b-side. They weren't exactly pedantic about the tracklisting on volume one.

everything on the greatest hits package was on a single, with one exception

"everybody is a star"

this gets my vote for the best greatest hits ever

xpost Yes, and there are a number of singles that were not included in their greatest hits, is what I'm saying.

Gotta vote Thank You -- first Sly song I ever heard and still one of the weirdest and skronkiest-sounding hits ever

Why was this polled? Seems pretty random Having to pick one is ridiculous.

this gets my vote for the best greatest hits ever

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, October 9, 2015 12:11 PM (4 hours ago)

Might be a fun poll.

I remember reading a good Herbie Hancock quote about how he had played classical music with major national orchestras as a child, played with Miles Davis, was at the top of the jazz field etc., but still couldn't figure out how Sly made Thank You sound like it did, and that was part of what pushed him into doing Headhunters.

Or maybe it was that he never could have come up with something like Thank You, IDK.

Yeah, I vote "Thank You" - the blueprint for 70s funk if any single record is, the groove still cuts to shit most of the great music it made possible. And that's not even to mention the great lyrics, which Greil Marcus built a whole chapter in Mystery Train around. But almost every song is a worthy contender. "Higher," "Dance to the Music," "M'Lady" and "Everyday People" are electric church music like none other, "Sing a Simple Song" the raison d'etre of the Meters and most every "Rare Grooves" comp besides, and if all you know Larry Graham for is slapping and popping, check out "Life," where he invents disco bass.

haha yes that walking octaves thing

(he can't have been the first to come up with that tho...?)

... thread about that somewhere

Um, the Meters debut came out the same month as Stand! so I don't think Sing a Simple Song is their raison d'etre

not to mention that the band was active for a good amount of time before that

hmmm

What was the first song that featured an "octave" bassline?

Ya I know (about the Meters - I love New Orleans funk!), that part was poetic license.

It is pretty crazy that those riffs came out nearly at the same time.

How did nobody mention "Life" on that thread? The two Sly singles mentioned both postdate it, and "Life" even has a disco-ish drumbeat.

XP to Shakey

that thread is p sad tbh, abuses of musical terminology are almost too many to count

Thought it was interesting, the fact that I know nothing of musical terminology probably helps.

it is an interesting subject, but reading the thread is like listening to blind people trying to describe colors

gotta be "Stand"

I Want To Take You Higher

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Four-twelfths of this album (one-third in lowest terms) is beyond perfect. "Everyday People," I guess.

When the one I went with comes back with one vote, I'll know I voted correctly.

Greatest Hits Volume 2:

01 Underdog
02 Family Affair
03 Runnin' Away
04 Smilin'
05 If You Want Me to Stay
06 Frisky
07 Time For Livin'
08 If It Were Left Up to Me
09 Loose Booty
10 I Get High on You

Easiest vote ever.

Thank You.

the whole thing is perfect tbh, i can't think of a single second i'd do without. more and more i'm thinking S&TFS may be my favorite band.

There's always been a disconnect for me between how much I love/revere my five favourite Sly songs--"Everyday People," "Hot Fun," "Everybody Is a Star," and "Thank You," plus "Family Affair"--and most everything else they did, which I've either heard too often or am just indifferent to. (Some of the rest I just don't know.)

After much deliberation, voted "Thank You"

umm umm .. oh go on then .. everyday people.

still sends shivers up my spine every time i hear it.

Stand!

I voted Thank You, but primarily because it made Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa possible.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Surprised to see this be something of a runaway, as there was really no wrong answer here.

M'Lady would have been a wrong answer

M'Lady is awesome nonetheless.

I helped make "Thank You" the runaway winner so I can't complain, but "Life" and "Sing a Simple Song" didn't get enough love here.

The best part about Thank You is how it was the last time Sly ever sounded remotely upbeat about anything other than scoring coke.

The internet has its uses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awdRKghKQY

nice! don't think I've seen this before

speaking of, m'lady was completely robbed in these results

So much to choose from though!

those kids!!!!!

A+ content

So much to choose from though!

― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Wednesday, October 16, 2019 1:31 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

true, i could vote for every song except maybe 'life' (tho 'life' did crop up in my favorite beck song)

Saw this was up on Tradersden this morning. Not sure if I've seen it before. Think I got a dvd file about 10 or so years ago that was pretty comprehensive. Even a couple of discs long, & i Think had the Harlem Cultural Festival set on
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=181846.
So can't comment on quality yet since not watched it yet. But thought others here might be interested