Thankful n' Thoughtfull: The Sly Stone Dedicated Chronological Listening Thread

1963:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_unB6ODy8

And if you guys will indulge me (sorry, I love this stuff), one more. Black group, L.A., 1962.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe1d0b4Y--I

You know, I think when it comes to someone like Zappa, this is something that's misunderstood. When the Mothers started out playing in this style, it was not actually some archaic, defunct form of music. It was current. (See also Beefheart's "I'm Glad.")

7. The Viscaynes - I Guess I'll Be (1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv0lkEkKUQ0

The b-side to "Stop What You Are Doing" (both tracks also credited in some places to the Viscaynes and the Ramblers).

hard to detect Sly in this mix, although I assume he had a hand in the writing/arrangement but who knows.

i really like this one !

kinda has a “dream lover” lite vibe

def a bit of the Bobby Darin version in that guitar pattern

Was just reading about how Jeff Miller, one of the students killed at Kent State, was a big Sly and the Family Stone fan and would travel to see them play. His brother wrote this letter for this year's commemoration, which is tomorrow, the 50th anniversary.

https://www.kent.edu/sites/default/files/file/russ_miller_letter_0.pdf

Still no sign of Shakey.

yeah, strange.

8. Danny (Sly) Stewart - Do You Remember aka I'm Just a Fool (non-album single, 1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXAyOIzOLKs
The first appearance of the ""Sly"" moniker and his initial foray as a solo artist. Continuing in the doo-wop vein of previous one-offs, he delivers a controlled and stylized lead vocal complete with vibrato and few of the idiosyncratic tics that he would develop later, although in the bridge his voice becomes more recognizable as it hits his upper register. Otherwise the song is fairly standard 6/8 ballad with a conventional instrumental and vocal backing arrangement.

That you, Shakey?

I fear it may be some time before we have an interesting song to listen to.

9. Danny (Sly) Stewart - A Long Time Alone (non-album single, 1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY4Y9tKd6kg
It's hard to argue that there's much distinctive about his early doo-wop efforts. Here we have another weepy teenage romance set to a 6/8 ballad arrangement, with a prominent vibraphone part and some odd, descending half-step chord changes in the refrain being the most unique things about it. Sly's lead vocal is serviceable, again leaning on a crooning vibrato.

He is like 17 or 18 here, it's better than Lou Reed could manage when he was 16 but that's about it.

10. Danny (Sly) Stewart - Oh What a Night (non-album single, 1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKbomnigCQ8
Things starting to get a more little interesting. We're still in solidly workmanlike doo-wop territory, but this time there's a good hook, some rhythmic tomfoolery with the stop-start accents throughout, plus a key change. The best of the lot so far.

11. Jessie James and the Royal Aces - I Will Go (non-album single, 1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3_T4j7g0Ts
Sly on guitar, trading licks with the piano player throughout the song in a somewhat jazzy (and frankly, overly busy) manner for this slow grinding ballad. Oddly picks up the pace into double-time in the middle before Jesse's smooth vocal slows things back down for the showstopping last verse.

Worth noting that at this point Sly is already working with a few future members of the Family Stone, including his brother Freddy and Jerry Martini (who is on several of the tracks already posted, including "Yellow Moon". Sly is 18 when he meets Bobby Freeman in 1962, and Autumn Records founders Bob Mitchell and Tom Donahue also get interested in hiring him as a house producer around the same time.

12. Jessie James and the Royal Aces - Cha Cha Minnie (non-album single, 1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtFS-qt8Jok
Sly also credited with playing guitar on this rocked-up cha-cha, which was the B-side to ""I Will Go"". There were a bunch of similar songs like this a couple of years prior (Johnny Otis' ""Willy Did the Cha Cha"", Sam Cooke's ""Everybody Loves to Cha Cha""), so a little behind the times perhaps.

Sly had one other production credit ahead of his tenure at Autumn records, which we will get to tomorrow. After that things enter much more varied musical territory (Bobby Freeman, Beau Brummels, Mojo Men, etc. Although not certain that the above-referenced proto-Crazy Horse Psyrcle record allegedly produced by Sly actually exists; it is not in the Selvin book's discography).

14. Gloria Scott & The Tonettes - I Taught Him (Pts 1 and 2) (non-album single, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlR7tU9WT-0
A great, short and sweet girl-group single with a head-held-high spoken intro and an energetic vocal from Gloria. The horns blare, the bass walks, the drums roll and the girls tell off their no-good (former) boyfriend. Not especially remarkable for the genre but credibly delivered overall. Sly's hand is not particularly evident - it doesn't sound like he performs on the track - but emblematic of his blossoming range and tastes.

15. Bobby Freeman - Let's Surf Again (non-album single, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Pw0IDTgJ4
By this point Sly is 20, he's been diligently studying music in Vallejo at Solano Community College and working in San Francisco as a disc jockey for KSOL (and later KDIA) and has finagled his way into a staff producer position with the newly founded Autumn Records. Bobby Freeman is already friends with Sly and familiar with the label-owners, and is tapped as their lead artist for this tune, the label's first release. The first of several inexplicably aquatic-themed records (this time namechecking the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean in a shameless and hilarious bit in the middle), Freeman delivers a fine soul-shouting performance over a rollicking drum-and-guitar centered arrangement. Not sure who's playing guitar here but the licks are energetic, the horns and backing vocals sailing over the (many) drumrolls until we get to the droning call-and-response section at the end, the bass leaning into a nice octave-jumping riff. Not bad, but not a hit.

16. Bobby Freeman - Come to Me (non-album single, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYFmLqHsMeU
The b-side to Let's Surf Again hearkens back to Sly's doowop sides of just a couple years prior. It's almost Spector-ian in its production, cramming what is clearly a pretty large band of drums, guitar, piano, horn section, backing vocalists into the echo chamber. The song sways in the standard 6/8 time signature, working through a gently ascending and descending lead melody and lovelorn lyrics. Serviceable.

17. Bobby Freeman - C'mon and Swim (Pts 1 & 2) (C'mon and Swim, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PT40tW-qgI
In mid-1964 Sly co-writes and produces ""C'mon and Swim"", as well as playing organ and guitar and possibly bass. It sells a million copies, goes to #5 on the US pop chart - Sly's first involvement with a real hit. Future Family Stone member Jerry Martini has also been in Sly's orbit for several years already (he's on some of the Viscaynes tunes) and is also in the 15-piece horn section used here. Seems like there's some racial politics dimension to a black man using surfing/swimming as a marketing gimmick in the early 60s, and perhaps this aspect appealed to Sly, already deeply invested as he was in crossing rigidly enforced color-lines. Essentially a novelty dance tune, the sound is nonetheless pretty immense, big and brassy, Freeman doing his best Sam-Cooke-in-party-rocking mode. Easy to imagine this going over gangbusters at the Cow Palace and other Bay Area dancehalls.

18. Sylvester Stewart - I Just Learned How to Swim (non-album single, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbYyNXK-88Q
This solo single was presumably a quick cash-in to ride the success of the Freeman hit. Sly has absorbed rock and the British Invasion at this point, plainly obvious from the opening Chuck Berry riff, the driving 4/4 beat and the dance-oriented lyric. Some pretty serious shredding on the guitar solo and the whole thing has an energy and propulsiveness that sets it apart from his previous doo-wop roots.

19. Sylvester Stewart - Scat Swim (non-album single, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2vjKDdpqGE
A choppy surf-rock guitar rhythm opens the b-side, leading abruptly into a swing-rhythm scat-singing breakdown, Sly evidently employing some DJ patter skills likely developed during his stint at KSOL. The scatting gives way to a guitar solo over a chugging proto-Nuggets organ, and then we're back to the beginning. Kind of a bizarre studio throwaway/experiment which, while incorporating pieces of the a-side arrangement, is actually built around a completely different take/backing track.

Don't worry, I'm going to sit down and listen to all these at some point! The thing is I actually have a CD of all this stuff somewhere that I think I played once.

fixed youtube link for no. 18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qe1KKTQvjI

That Gloria Scott track sounds incredible. Some naked drums at the end, I wonder if they've been sampled.

20. Bobby Freeman - S-W-I-M (C'mon and Swim, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f4cDwVOVk0
The same old dance we did before, now we're back to swim some more. For a hacky attempt at repeating a prior hit, the production and performance here feel a bit hotter - that's a huge horn section blasting away, and the rhythm section is similarly laying into this with a level of fury and commitment not entirely justified by the material. Sly's goofy humor peeks through with an inexplicable organ quote of the theme from Peter Gunn in the middle. In general it's easy to see this as Sly flexing his muscle in the studio following a successful single: now that he's got the resources and skills to arrange for a bigger ensemble, the strategy is to repeat the formula and just crank up the energy level. It didn't really work, the single stalled at 56 on the US Pop Charts, and was Freeman's last hit.

21. Bobby Freeman - That Little Old Heartbreaker Me (C'mon and Swim, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BvN91Iz6HQ
A fantastically inventive arrangement and production of a fairly simple song, the parts rippling and echoing one another, the distorted lead guitar, backing vocals and horns swapping and juxtaposing melodic and harmonic lines throughout. Freeman indulging in some ode-to-himself mythologizing as a cruel lothario (heartbreaker/break her heart as the background chant goes) is almost incidental to the song's appeal. Sly was reportedly a devoted student of the music theory classes he'd been taking in the years prior, and this seems like evidence of him playfully deploying some of what he'd learned to gussy up an otherwise non-descript b-side. This may be the first time Sly deploys a musical phrase/tic that he would quote/repurpose later (a tactic he would return to frequently throughout his discography) - the guitar riff that leads the opening of the song here shows up as a horn line on ""If This Room Could Talk"" from the Family Stone's debut album.

great thread!

22. The Spearmints - Little One (non-album single, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-jZgDWb9b4
The Beatles, the Beach Boys and (perhaps most significantly) "Louie Louie" have hit the US by this point, ushering in an avalanche of (mostly white, mostly male) rock 'n' roll combos eager to explore and capitalize on this relatively new template in popular music. Sly's a popular figure, DJ and musical jack-of-all-trades in the Bay Area with a well-established interest in crossing genre and racial lines and an available outlet for exploring commercial possibilities, so it makes perfect sense that he would have no problem moving from R&B to the burgeoning rock market. The Spearmints (which sounds like it had a mixed-gender lineup) deliver on the bankable "Louie Louie" template of a I-IV-V chord progression over a slightly latin beat plus your basic teenage romance lyrics. Perhaps the most interesting thing going on is the vocal arrangement, with some variations on the refrain gradually getting layered and shifting around until it resembles the Beach Boys (especially with the higher falsetto part). Sly keeps the production simple and straightforward, much more stripped down than his previous productions. This was not a hit, but it's not bad by any stretch. The b-side (""Jo-Ann"") does not appear to be available on Youtube.

23. Beau Brummels - Laugh Laugh (Introducing the Beau Brummels, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ4WE0GviLg
Sly's second big hit - and the first big hit of the SF rock scene - couldn't be more different than his first. While Beau Brummels' lead guitarist Ron Elliott has insisted this song was actually inspired by the Four Seasons, it's presentation is undeniably mid-period Beatle-y, what with the mid-tempo acoustic guitars, tambourine, harmonica riff, and complex vocal harmonies (not to mention the hard stereo panning of individual instruments). Lyrically the song is a multisyllabic mouthful, which lead singer Sal Valentino delivers in the somewhat mannered style of a more traditional crooner than either Lennon or Macca. And, let's face it, on a melodic and harmonic level this is a very weird song; while the verse, prechorus and chorus are all distinctly catchy on their own, each section is in a different key. It's not hard to see how this new territory would have appealed to someone with Sly's wide-open ears. Per Elliott: "He brought the band up a notch. He had me do a lot of overdubs, playing different parts, acoustic parts, electric parts." The single went to number 15 on the US charts, initiated "the San Francisco sound", successfully delivered on Autumn Records designs to cash in on Beatlemania, and made it clear Sly's success with Bobby Freeman was no fluke.

I like all that Swim nonsense. I generally can't stand the Beau Brummels' vocalist but he's OK on this one. I don't think I'd ever heard this song before - even though it's pretty famous.

The song is a bit like something Gene Clark could have written for the Byrds but it obviously pre-dates the Byrds.

never knew abt any of this stuff, thanks

24. Beau Brummels - Still in Love With You, Baby (Introducing the Beau Brummels, 1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pULBWGT9bsk
The b-side to "Laugh Laugh". Decidedly simpler than the a-side, with surf-rock drumrolls/breaks and vocal harmonies that place this at some mid-point between the Beach Boys and the Byrds (which this predates by 6 months). Sly's production is clean and functional but not particularly noteworthy.

25. Bobby Freeman - I'll Never Fall in Love Again (C'mon and Swim, 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy1z9KyIrOM
Sly's first writer-production credit for Autumn Records in 1965 was another attempt at a follow-up hit for Freeman. As the a-side of the single, this one didn't land, and it's not hard to hear why: there's no hook. A driving marching beat charges out the gate under a compellingly gritty and strange elecric guitar figure that seem to briefly signal that we're headed into some proto-Doors/Velvets territory, but once the vocal and overly busy horn line come in it doesn't actually go anywhere. The song is built around a rhythmic pattern that Sly would return to often - one that Larry Graham would subsequently rip into with abandon - this time around it just doesn't cohere.

I never understood what could have happened that would have explained your absence for three years. but I have missed you, I hope you contribute to more discussions, and I'm looking forward to this thread getting up to the non-obscure, highlight-of-20th-century-music era.

26. Bobby Freeman - Friends (non-album single, 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_8V7y8qhtg
Sly wrote and produced the b-side as well, and this one is at least unexpectedly bizarre, with it's wonky 3/4 time signature and offbeat woodblock accents. It isn't good exactly, and it doesn't seem like a fit for Freeman at all. It feels more like an exercise for Sly to experiment with rhythmic arrangements in his inimitable way, with each section of the band (the percussion, the guitar, the horns, the vocals) all emphasizing different beats in the bar, creating a weird, rickety machine-like effect. Melodically it's similarly all over the place, moving through a series of shifting two-chord patterns and changing key midway through in a way that Brian Wilson probably would have appreciated, and the ascending ""friends, friends, friends"" refrain hints at a similar figure he would use for "Stand" a few years later.

27. Beau Brummels - Just a Little (Introducing the Beau Brummels, 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYneeXVOAyA
Recorded early in '65 and released in April, the Beau Brummels' follow-up to their initial hit goes a bit further afield, right from the first few bars. Downright Ennio Morricone-ish in places, for some reason this became their highest charting hit, reaching no. 8 in the US. Sly seems to have reveled in the challenge of seeing what he could do within the confines of the restricted palette and abilities of the band, making up for their limitations by creatively leaning on arranging tricks: swapping instruments in and out, using different effects. You can hear it here in the intro where he's got two strikingly different guitar sounds paired against the vocal crescendo, or later on in the song when it switches to the "Be My Baby" beat and the guitars trade lines. Sal Valentino: "He was always joking, always real enthusiastic. He wanted to play more than he actually got to play. I think the end of "Just a Little" is the only thing he ever did that you can hear, that little timbales thing."

28. Beau Brummels - They'll Make You Cry (Introducing the Beau Brummels, 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdafwzPG6NI
"Just a Little"'s b-side sounds like the theme song to some z-grade cowboy tv show with its repeated harmonica refrain and woodblock accents. The ridiculously affected nasal vocal delivery is an odd touch, perhaps a Dylan homage/parody? Although the other elements in the song don't sound like Dylan at all, including the simple but precisely arranged guitar parts (including one that is pitched up, or perhaps some kind of harp?) The foreboding tone of the lyrics do seem a little Dylanesque ("some people are fools/others are clowns", "life is no game" etc). A curio.

29. Mojo Men - Off the Hook (non-album single, 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srwhFKFZZII
A slight but charming slice of garage rock, opens with a not entirely convincing guitar figure and then sliding into familiar white-teenagers-do-three-chord-R&B mid-temp territory. Sly doesn't take too heavy a hand from the producer's chair - this is basic stuff. There's plenty of bands like this circulating in the SF-scene by 1965; it's hard not to fantasize about what might have happened if Sly and Fogerty had crossed paths.

Shakey, I love this thread and am so glad you are back and sharing all of this.

30. Mojo Men - Mama's Little Baby (non-album single, 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOAtLwDIjFQ
"Shortnin' Bread" a la Nuggets. This song is so basic the devil's always in the details, and there are a bunch here thrown in here for good measure (off-key piano solo, handclap accents, inserts of lyrics from "the Jerk"). They don't elevate it above its clear throwaway status.

31. Sylvester Stewart - Buttermilk (Pts 1&2) (non-album single, 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRQDW6tIZ74
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKzyfe4xxYI
Most appropriate descriptor for this instrumental dance number is probably "groovy". The arrangement is an interesting but not altogether unusual mix of disparate elements - jazzy organ lines, an R&B harmonica solo (Sly clearly really loves the harmonica, it's a constant in his arrangements), a bluesy bass and acoustic guitar breakdown. Hard to guess who's playing what but the chops are sharp and the pieces all propel what is essentially a very basic throwaway into some unexpected places. It wouldn't be out of place scoring a dance sequence in some shitty 60s beach movie. The "have a glass of buttermilk" refrain is pure R&B DJ patter, there were tons of songs like this up through the mid-70s.

2. The Vejitables - I Still Love You (non-album single, 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLsjE-c2Fqc
More proto-psych-rock from the Autumn Records stable, this time opening with a bit of faux-sitar elecrtric guitar, signalling we're firmly in jangle-pop territory. The rhythm section goes into double-time on the bridges, pushing against the longer melodic phrases of the male/female harmonies. Oddly it looks like this predated the Mamas & the Papas first single, the similar sound and approach are unmistakable. The "oh yeah" refrain at the end is particularly nice, with the counter-melody from the harmonica. Again nothing groundbreaking here but more evidence that Sly is more than comfortable operating with a different combination of sounds and instruments than one typically found in his R&B productions. The b-side ("Anything") does not appear to be available on Youtube.

wow, "Buttermilk" sounds like a direct swipe of the Stones' "2120 S. Michigan Ave." minus its guitar solo

The beginning of Buttermilk pt. 2 would sound great looped up, either slowed down for a rap beat or as the basis for a krautrock jam.