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

Has anyone seen the On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone documentary that came out in 2017? I can’t find it anywhere.

― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, July 14, 2023 4:51 PM (one month ago)

Huh, interesting. You all know Questlove is currently working on his Sly documentary, right?

176. Sly & the Family Stone - Sheer Energy (Back On the Right Track, 1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRmR_LeKtv4
Sly closes out the album with some extended harmonica soloing, an instrument he hadn't pulled out in years that gives the track a bluesy, country-funk flavor. The mix is cleaner and clearer than the "Riot" era, but it feels cut from a similar cloth: less structured, largely improvised on a few melodic ideas based around a simple tonal center. Taylor and Burke again provide a solid, detailed rhythmic foundation with their lurching, slow-tempo groove, with electric piano and multiple guitars circling around it. There's also some creatively voiced horn lines and nicely harmonized female vocals adding additional melodic ballast, no idea what the lyrics are. It's not a showstopper but it's fine.

1969 was a key pivot point in Sly's career, and a decade later he was at a different kind of crossroads. This is really the end of Sly as a creative force. It's the last time that Sly managed to maintain the focus to follow a full-length album through to its completion. Unfortunately (if not entirely unexpectedly), the album sank without a ripple. George Clinton subsequently threw Sly a lifeline, drawing him into his labyrinthine tangle of recording contracts, which would sustain Sly's increasingly meager output over the next few years.

177. Muruga and the Soda Jerks - Superstar Madness (Testing Positive for the Funk (Clinton Family Series Volume IV), 1980)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TabZ5ljQ1HM
This track was apparently recorded in 1980, although it was not released until 1994. Clinton connected Sly with drummer Muruga Booker, and the pair appeared on some minor P-Funk releases, including this track, with Sly playing bass. God only knows what Sly thought of this song, which is on its face unabashedly silly but also musically amateurish and several steps beneath him. There's undeniably some novelty to Sly appearing on such a strange baby-boomer-does-new-wave oddity, but apart from the surface appeal of the processed vocals, distinctly rock guitar sound and early 80s synths, the song itself is just bad - there's no real hook, the melodies (and the chords) wander aimlessly, the drums overplay a boring 4/4 rhythm, and the lyrics are just substandard food jokes, trying too hard to be some Zappa-esque version of "weird". Apart from a few bars midway through where his bass is run through a strange effects pedal, Sly doesn't have much to do besides gamely plunk along on straight 8th notes. In a career with many inexplicable detours, this is one of the most embarrassing.

178. Funkadelic - Funk Gets Stronger (Parts 1 and 2) (The Electric Spanking of War Babies, 1981)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pO-AcY44tk
Sly and George Clinton were made for each other in more way than one, and the eventual dovetailing of their careers in the 80s has the air of both inevitability and tragedy. Sly arrived in Clinton's camp just as it was unraveling, and his first appearance with P-Funk also happened to be on one of the albums that directly led to the implosion of the P-Funk empire. Sly's presence at P-Funk shows and sessions during this period does not appear to have always been welcomed by all involved, and he seems to have particularly run afoul of bass players, as evidenced by episodes recounted about Bootsy and Skeet Curtis in the P-Funk "Off the Record" book. Crack would cast a long shadow over both Sly and George over the next several decades.

Does the music bear up under scrutiny? Split across two tracks, this is certainly an odd song, not least due to the snippet of the Beatles' "She Loves You" tacked on at the end. The slow, lurching song is built around a circular guitar figure, which is overlaid with a cascading series of guitar, vocal, percussion and keyboard overdubs, with plenty of effects applied. The lumbering rhythm, which seems to shift from overtime to half-time and back again multiple times, is dotted with percussion, including a cuica.

Sly has a shared writing credit on this, but given the P-Funk camp's usual approach to song gestation it's most likely there were a bunch of different players throwing in ideas, riffs, lines and rhythms, making it difficult to precisely pinpoint Sly's specific role. The horn line (played by Rizzo and Robinson) is one obvious contribution, as is his incredibly fried, raspy vocal, which pops up in Part 1 but is really brought to the fore in Part 2. He literally sounds like a ghost, appearing in a whispery haze of smoke, until he pivots to a more throaty delivery to extensively quote Lee Dorsey's "Everything I Do Gonh' Be Funky (From Now On)" and then some energetic, growly scatting. There's bits of electric piano throughout which also bear Sly's distinctive fingerprint. The whole thing is sprawling, messy, there's an air of derangement.

179. Sly & the Family Stone - L.O.V.I.N.U. (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPTMCTPOsBM
Christgau adroitly noted of this album that Sly "often sounds as if he's not even there". This was supposed to be a triumphant return to form, with Clinton at Sly's side and solid backing from Warner Brothers, but all that fell apart and instead the album was finished up by industry vet Stewart Levine, who was fresh off producing Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes' "Up Where We Belong". Levine wasn't an entirely inappropriate choice, but if at times his more pedestrian ideas overwhelm Sly's, in his defense he was stepping into the breach to perform what must have been a truly thankless task, and Sly is likely not entirely without blame.

As a result, this album is analogous to "Heard Ya Missed Me" in the way Sly's musical approach is subsumed into a more mainstream pop/R&B format. This isn't exactly the dregs yet but it's getting close. It sounds like a Sly demo that's been thoroughly worked over and overdubbed by others. His vocal is present (albeit low in the mix and with a ton of reverb on it), as is his organ playing; and after the vamp of the verses the ascending chord changes in the chorus bear his stamp. But the rest is oddly static and lifeless. The rhythm section has no dynamics in it whatsoever, it's just steadily pumping all the way through. And the horns, clavinet, guitars and backing vocals are all pedestrian. Sly's vocal seems buried and without character; the lyrical hook of the chorus especially lazy.

180. Sly & the Family Stone - One Way (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8cwLHnwpJY
This mid-tempo pseudo-P-Funk groove isn't much of an improvement. Sly's involvement isn't even detectable until a minute in, the blandly voiced vocals and horns taking precedence. The bass player is plenty busy, and the drums are steady but the whole thing is just boring, with nothing particularly distinctive going on. The arrangement goes nowhere, just repeating the same phrases over and over, Sly's vocal and electric piano occasionally poking out.

181. Sly & the Family Stone - Ha Ha Hee Hee (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX2iFKOvj-0
There's a genuinely pretty song in here somewhere, Sly's compositional hand is evident in the mix of major 7th chords and deft transitions between verses, pre-chorus and choruses, as well as the self-referential callback to an older song (in this case "Smilin'"). The bland accompaniment, however, does the song no favors. It's not that the performance or production are bad, per se - no one's missing any notes or playing anything egregiously inappropriate - it's just that this post-Steely Dan, smooth R&B, type of sound runs counter to what makes Sly interesting, it's too glossy. At one point the rhythm section approximates the old Graham bass pattern against a standard open hi-hat disco beat, for example, but there's no heat to it. It's a lifeless formula by now. There's still some odd things here and there (references to Pasadena, the telephone operator voice towards the end).

The song is actually credited to Pat Rizzo though!

182. Sly & the Family Stone - Hobo Ken (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRKadm_8-18
This song likely dates back over a decade, the title is a reference to Sly's manager Ken Roberts (who took over after Kapralik's departure), and Paley claims there was an earlier, much superior version. Sly's organ is foregrounded, along with a familiar wah wah guitar, and in the middle Sly half-heartedly indulges in the old formula of calling out specific instruments for a couple bars apiece (ironically, only his own instruments - organ and harmonica). The mix is a little more open and forgiving, and structurally it's a straight, one-chord funk vamp, with a horn line and backing vocals layered in for detail. The rhythm section is again pretty formulaic and boring. Sly's half-assed lyrics and vocal delivery are merely functional.

183. Sly & the Family Stone - Who in the Funk Do You Think You Are (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsGk3ySxjqM
If Sly didn't have something to recycle (a la "Hobo Ken" from 1970 or so, "Ha Ha Hee Hee" from the "Small Talk" sessions), it seems like all he gave Levine to work with were underwritten scraps like this. The ascending chromatic scale in the intro aside, this is an unforgivably boring disco-rock hybrid built around a bog-standard blues progression, with vacuous lyrics to match. There's some ill-advised production choices, especially the electric guitar and thinly squeezed horns, and some snatches of Sly on electric piano. Sly's contempt for his audience and casual disdain for his gifts feel painfully clear.

184. Sly & the Family Stone - You Really Got Me (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHWLQs2JNNk
The second cover released under the "Sly and the Family Stone" moniker is something of a baffling choice. Maybe Sly just liked the novelty of Davies' II-I-V chord progression. There's some pretty entertaining vamping at the beginning of this track, including some distinctive electric piano from Sly, and then there's a terrible electric guitar slide and the questionable production choices start to creep in. Rhythmically this kind of works, especially towards the end, making reconfiguring the song as a slinky funk tune (including a talkbox in the middle) almost appealing, but it's sunk by the backing band and the mix; the electric guitar, strangled saxophone, and overbearing backing vocals get in the way.

185. Sly & the Family Stone - Sylvester (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8cwLHnwpJY
Driven by a guitar riff lifted from P-Funk and a straight 4/4 mid-tempo funk strut. Bass player also appears to be doing a very energetic Rodney "Skeet" Curtis impression with that bass tone. The vocal hook with the song/album title gets repeated ad nauseam by the generic backing vocals, the horns echoing their melody with some slight variations, but at it's core this is just a boring song with not much to it; the rhythm section throws in the occasional dropped beat to try and throw in some variety. Sly sits in the middle, and his piano playing and singing are generally fine, it's just clear he didn't give any thought to the arrangement. Nothing sticks out as specifically terrible, it's just a snooze.

Are you listening to a a different track? The “Sylvester” I’m listening to on Apple Music is a kind of cool 45 second solo snippet of Sly playing Rhodes and singing about fame and his mother.

Catching up …

Without really disputing anything you wrote, Shakey, I kind of secretly dig “One Way” … it’s just a really catchy little riff and the message of the lyrics are some kind of awesome defiance given what a shambles Sly’s life reportedly was by this point. And yes, you can 100% dream on what Clinton would’ve done with this.

This would appear to be the original of “Hobo Ken” referenced upthread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OLiZX4jMwI

It is a little better—it sounds more like Sly than the Levine arrangements, particularly the horns—but it’s also a minute longer and … I’m not sure it needed to be.

Agree that despite some of the awful production choices there are a few moments on “You Really Got Me” that kind of shockingly come together. But the “I can’t help it” refrain that beats the thing into the ground just kind of kills the momentum.

correction to yesterday's entry
185. Sly & the Family Stone - Sylvester (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovrdVeSrZj0
An unadorned 45-second scrap that sounds like it's mostly improvised, just some gentle piano chords, a drum tapping, and Sly talking about himself in the third person, musing on family and career. Obviously added to pad the album run-time, it nonetheless stands out as a brief callback to more nakedly personal tracks like "Time".

186. Sly & the Family Stone - We Can Do It (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1KcH5m0YlQ
Arguably the most interesting track on the album, just in terms of the playing and construction, although the mix and overall sound is too diffuse and reverb is slathered indiscriminately all over the place. The lyrics just come off as crass.

187. Sly & the Family Stone - High, Y'all (Ain't But the One Way, 1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLCp0SUqZy0
Have you heard that Sly liked to get high? Thankfully this song is a bit more than the tired retread the title and opening section suggest. Instead the track downshifts into a lurching, half-time groove that bears some resemblance to Funkadelic's "Funk Gets Stronger", and shifts back up for the choruses. This track seems to have gotten a little bit more attention in the songwriting department, while it's built around a straight vamp that is only briefly modulated for a bridge section in the middle, it's littered with little organ and synth riffs, vocal lines, and horn licks. Fortunately the poor production choices that mar so much of the album are kept to a minimum here, although whether or not the extended sax solo really adds much is debatable. For once the vocals are blended well, Sly in the lead, even if the lyrics are mostly nonsensical ("how could a would not could not if a would not could not would"? OK, Sly). Performance and mixing-wise this is near the top of the heap for this album, at least it ends on a relatively, er, high note.

Sly never completed another full length album of original material. As a bandleader and driving creative force, this is basically the end. The remainder of his output would find him often relegated to half-hearted walk-on roles in the work of others.

188. P-Funk All Stars - Catch a Keeper (Urban Dancefloor Guerillas, 1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMPxjm9K1-Y
At this point, no one in the industry - with the notable exception of George Clinton, who was beset by his own problems - had any real faith in Sly's artistry or judgment, including Sly himself. From here on out, it's a succession of one-offs, random collaborations, and scattered P-Funk appearances. When he does show up, Sly is basically a bystander, a curious figure on the margins. This song isn't bad, more or less a retread of "(Not Just) Knee Deep"/"Freak of the Week" with some retooled synth licks and vocals. Sly has a writing credit and it sounds like his voice pops in for a couple bars, maybe he threw in some lyrics or something.

189. P-Funk All Stars - Hydraulic Pump (Urban Dancefloor Guerillas, 1983)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3QOdzT6EI
Coming off his biggest hit ever, Clinton's 80s cut-n-paste synth funk formula was already in place, and while this starts out sounding fairly "live", by the time the record flips over various new wave touches start to take over the rhythm section and the synthesizers. The arrangement follows Clinton's tried-and-true approach of establishing a groove and throwing everything imaginable on top of it: scatological gang vocals, synth squiggles, heavy metal guitar, heavily processed percussion, weird sound effects, a trumpet line. Clinton may have been on crack by this point but his instincts and (perhaps most importantly) quality collaborators had not deserted him; this is a plenty absorbing dancefloor jam, and the constantly shifting details work to its advantage. Where is Sly on all this, and what did he do to merit his writing credit? Who knows. Apart from George and Philip Wynne, the dizzying mix makes it difficult to pick out individual voices, and it's entirely possible that's Sly on electric piano or some other combination of instruments. As it is, this song is great, but probably not because of Sly."

190. Sly Stone - Eek-ah-Bo-Static Automatic (Soul Man Soundtrack, 1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORH8RoKE6qs
Warner Brothers didn't know what to do with him and he didn't seem interested in or capable of doing a full album so they threw some soundtrack work at him. After a three year silence during which he has apparently heard rap music (possibly Schooly D? listen to that angel-dusted digital reverb), Sly diffidently tries his hand at approximating the feel and sonics of it. Clinton recounts the origin of this song in his autobio, which paints a generally sad picture of Sly freaking out in the studio because he was confusing playback in his headphones with an audio hallucination, which was the origin of the title/lyric. Digital production techniques have atomized conventional chord progressions, melodies, and conventional arrangement tricks by this point, so we get clusters of disconnected synth riffs, looped basslines, tons of hard-panned percussion, and lots of rambling vocal lines, everything overdubbed haphazardly. There's no real hook or center, and while it doesn't sound bad, really, it doesn't sound distinctive or exciting either, it sounds aimless. Parsing the lyrics feels like a fool's errand.

191. Sly Stone - Love and Affection (Soul Man Soundtrack, 1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMIYj05h-J0
With Martha Davis. To his credit, Sly's vocal doesn't sound phoned in, but the material and production are execrable. Every stupid cliché of 80s pop production makes an appearance, which might be forgivable if there was a decent hook or melody.

192. Jesse Johnson - Crazay (Shockadelica, 1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maHadudeqP4
As close as Sly got to Prince, and it at least sounds like it was fun to make. Of his post-P-Funk, 80s-onward appearances, this one is actually at least distinctive and sort of fun, even if it's just an attempt to shoehorn Sly into Prince's re-writing of R&B rules. His appearance in the video was pretty much the last time Sly would appear visibly engaged with music.

193. Sly Stone - I'm the Burglar (Burglar Soundtrack, 1987)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2IgeVl-2b4
Unlike "Soul Man"'s weirdly iconic status as a cultural low point, "Burglar" is mercifully forgotten. This tune is essentially Sly trying to repeat the formula of "Crazay" on his own, and as a result features all the signs o' the times - gated drum machine, orchestral pad sounds, synth bass, anonymous gang vocals, a bank of sound effects. It's a fairly standard gloss on Prince (or maybe Harold Faltermeyer) and Sly at least comes up with a credible vocal hook. The syncopated samples of locks breaking, doors being opened etc. in the middle is a bit much. Not good.

194. Bobby Womack - When the Weekend Comes (The Last Soul Man, 1987)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAAVOmIhJss
Womack, coming off a successful 80s run, throws his old buddy a bone. For some reason, Womack re-recorded this song (the original version was on his previous album "Womagic" from 1986) and turned it into something of a vocal duet with Sly. Sly does his thing, but his vocal range is narrowing and his inclusion comes off like an afterthought.

I have never heard most of this stuff. Supposedly, Sly peaced out in the middle of making the Jesse Johnson video? I can only imagine how difficult it must’ve been to work with him around this time.

The Burglar tune is produced (like the rest of the soundtrack) by Bernard Edwards – agreed it’s not very good and Sly doesn’t have a writing credit. But like the Jesse Johnson thing did putting him in the Prince universe, it’s interesting to hear Sly effectively fronting late-period Chic with the signature bass grooves and Tony Thompson whomp.

195. Ta Mara and the Seen - Everyday People (Blueberry Gossip, 1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMWpWUiikCk
Minneapolis-based band produced by Jesse Johnson. Sly's participation in this (a brief backing vocal track) seems very unnecessary. There's basically nothing to this cover, just a digital update of the original sonics, until it gets to the end and there's a detour that deviates slightly from the original.

196. The Brothers Johnson - Ball of Fire (Kickin', 1988)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PouL3YCWPg
Sly is credited with the horn arrangement (maybe this was some contractual A&M Records thing). The Brothers Johnson took a lot of cues from Sly, as is still audible here under the digital sheen of 80s-tastic drum programming and overdriven guitars/synths. The song isn't terrible; Sly's contribution again feels like a minor afterthought.

197. The Bar-Kays - Just Like a Teeter-Totter (Animal, 1989)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3umcQQnqqc
And then, somehow, Sly briefly musters the inspiration to deliver a tantalizing glimpse of an 80s discography that might-have-been. Updating the dry, skeletal arrangements of the Stone Flower/Riot-era with a claustrophobic mix of squiggly synths and digital percussion, Sly co-wrote and co-produced this surprising track with the Bar-Kays (uncharacteristically reduced to a trio at this point), who subsequently buried it on side two of this late career LP. Minimalism suits Sly. With the more bombastic tropes of the era stripped away, he scatters tiny details and embellishments across the track with a clarity and precision that would not have been possible in his analog days. A metronomic cowbell ticks its way through the whole song; super-compressed wah wah guitars and synth chords dance around the snare hits; comically nasal, airless vocals pop in and out. There's even a bridge with some spooky chords in the middle. It's not a masterpiece, and to be fair it isn't especially groundbreaking either, but it doesn't seem out of line to draw parallels with later, similar production work by people like Timbaland and the Neptunes.

This song rules.

This Bar-Kays track is wild. Like a weird "Parade" era Prince production with the pointillistic guitar and airy production. A relief to listen to after the last few utterly depressing guest star appearances from Sly.

Yes. The whole teeter-totter conceit and “Seeeeee/Sawwwww” call and response is very Sly.

Another notable connecting point: this track was produced by James Mtume of Miles’ 70s group and “Juicy Fruit” (and, by way of sampling, Biggie’s “Juicy”) fame – the latter of which shares a similarly skeletal arrangement and jittery beat.

198. Maceo Parker - Tell the World (For All the King's Men, 1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YYVbZmW9WA
Back to the bottom of the barrel. Sly co-wrote this with Bootsy and Maceo and is credited with piano/organ/synthesizer (along with another P-Funk alumnus, David Spradley). Some really questionable production choices going on here, the string synth patches and Maceo's vocal in particular don't do it any favors, and the balladry doesn't really come across. A snippet of this track would, for some reason, later appear on Bill Laswell and George Clinton's ""Funkronomicon"".

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/06/i-never-lived-a-life-i-didnt-want-to-live-sly-stone-on-addiction-ageing-and-changing-music-for-ever

The Axiom Funk version of this is a different, less wander-y mix (spoiler: Maceo’s vocal is still terrible). It also features studio chatter at the beginning and end with Sly – including him seemingly getting ready to comp over a double time rhythm box in the latter right before it cuts out.

Somebody needs to make a supercut of Sly studio chatter. Going back to Fresh, there’s a metric ton of it.

199. Earth, Wind and Fire - Good Time (Heritage, 1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSezf9GMOoQ
In a testament to just how many aging, big name R&B stars were willing to give him a shot, Sly wanders into the studio to provide some backing vocals for EW&F on this Cameo-endebted track. But as with many of these late-period collaborations he's not particularly prominent.

200. 13CATS - Thank You (March of the 13CATS, 1991)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBrbLb7KuNs
Wikipedia credits Sly with playing guitar on this, but no other information is available. A pointless retread with lots of 90s-era bells and whistles. This becomes common for subsequent releases with Sly's name in the credits, they generally slot into a post-90s G-Funk/Prince-post New Jack Swing sort of sound that updated 70s funk tropes with a digital production sheen.

201. George Clinton - Ain't That Peculiar (George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love, 2008)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zPVrKynudE
After almost 20 years of silence, Sly's voice audibly pops up towards the end (he trails off: "that's all I can do right now"). That's about it.

202. George Clinton - Fever (George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love, 2008)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQT8g2_TcPs
The noodling at the beginning sounds a bit like Sly, as do some of the autotuned vocals in the main body of the track. Otherwise the track sounds like studio scraps dressed up with some modern-ish overdubs.

203. BabyStone - Stonetro / Ask Me (BabyStone, 2008)
https://www.thefunkstore.com/Sounds2012/BabyMp3Stone.mp3
Recording project of one of Sly's daughters (Novena Carmel) that put out an EP in 2008. Full songs do not appear to be online, these links/clips from the website were all that seem to be publicly available. Sly's damaged voice opens the EP, dredging up some passably entertaining DJ patter from his days with KSOL and KDIA, and also shows up (about 1:30 in) for the brief track "Ask Me". The material and musicianship is not bad at all, credible and well produced post-G-funk throwbacks. Sly, however, is little more than a grunting shadow of his former self.

Memoir via Questlove is coming out it seems. Feature on CBS Sunday Morning on ot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpdlfVVLPQ4

*it*

205. Sly Stone - Plain Jane (I'm Back! Family & Friends, 2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP1b7zAe6RI
His latest and final(?) attempt at a comeback. This album was primarily remixes and covers of his old material, with a ton of (mostly regrettable) collaborators lending a hand. It also had a couple of originals, including this liquid, midtempo funk track. Who's doing what is not entirely clear. A talkbox and a phaser-enhanced bassline take the lead over some rather pedestrian drumming, burnished by female vocals and a scrappy horn part, with Sly's strained voice popping in on the choruses for a single line. Much of the lyrics are indecipherable, the song generally seems to address a girl who likes to party. It isn't terrible but it's also pretty generic, with little of Sly's compositional skills on display.

206. Sly Stone - His Eye Is On the Sparrow (I'm Back! Family & Friends, 2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Pop-sr7_w
Now this is a bit more interesting. Sly returns to an oft-covered gospel standard that dates back to 1905, an obvious instance of a career coming full circle. At a guess that's him leading the way on the organ, although he doesn't do much besides play sustained chords, and presumably that's his scratchy voice that briefly appears almost 2 minutes in. The song itself is a statement of faith and this take leans heavily on the refrain ("I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free / For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me"), with some added "change me / don't change me" lines (Sly, always hedging). The accompaniment is again fine if not particularly distinguished, and the arrangement does little but repeat the chord cycle over and over. Still, the poignant irony of the material itself goes a fair way towards making this resonate.

That comment at the end of the CBS Sunday Morning interview with Questlove was pretty profound - most of Sly's contemporaries died in their 20's, 30's and 40's indeed. The fact he's still kicking, after only just getting clean merely 4 years ago (at age 76?) is extraordinary. Dude's got some Keith Richards level resilience to chemical abuse, but in Sly's case it seems fueled by spite!

207. Sly Stone - Get Away (I'm Back! Family & Friends, 2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK1OLARof5s
Far and away the best of the lot, even if its just a plagal cadence over a drum machine. Did they actually did out a Rhythm Ace for this, or just re-use a bit of the "Family Affair" tracks? Barebones as the structure is, there's a spark of Sly's old arranging acumen; the mix of wah wah guitars, a bobbling bassline, suspended organ chords, crescendoing horns, and gospel backing vocals is both dreamy and propulsive. Sly's raspy voice, now little more than a whisper, is once again out front, plaintive but still melodically playful. The lyrics, just two verses and a refrain, return to familiar tropes - hesitancy about commitment, a faith in music ("You can get away from the guy who loves you / They'll break your heart in two / I can get away from the girl who feeds me / She don't need you like I need you" and "I would bet my pay for a year and a day / If I couldn't be wrong / About this melody written for you and me / And we might as well sing the song"). It's not an incredible song but it is fittingly wistful.

Agree, I like that song.

Based on what I’ve seen of Sly since that WTF Grammy’s performance I can almost hardly believe he is singing on this as well as he is. Can’t he almost barely speak at this point? How is he even carrying a tune? Is it possible this is actually an older cut?

208. Funkadelic - The Naz (First Ya Gotta Shake The Gate, 2013)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbPLMpgRc-o
Our final entry. While it would be foolish at this point to expect Sly to go out with a bang, he doesn't exactly go out with a whimper either, more like a giggle. This is thanks to George, who, 30 years on, is still trying to pull Sly out of his hole. His loyalty is remarkable. Sly delivers an abbreviated version of Lord Buckley's classic sermon recounting the life of the titular Nazarene over a decent digital funk groove. Clinton characteristically layers in a bunch of synthesizer and electric guitar details into a backing track that more or less works, and then lets Sly loose, looping bits of his monologue here and there. The connection between Buckley and Sly's vocabulary is made explicit, and there's obviously layers of significance woven in here in terms of Sly's life and career - the savior archetype, motormouthed hipster patter, funk. Lots of echoes here. (In one odd bit of symmetry, Buckley's lines: "if they can't straighten it they know a cat that knows a cat that's gonna get it straight", which is very close to Sly's henchman Hamp Banks' description of himself: "When it got to big for me, I knew the cat that knew the cat that could get it done.") Thankfully, Buckley's text does not extend beyond the loaves and fishes story, sparing the listener any implied parallel between Sly's own failings and Christ's demise.

Since further musical output from Sly seems unlikely at this late date, this serves as a strangely fitting capstone to his discography. Hopefully this thread has made the overarching arc of his career clear, even if it's a cliche at this point: a series of undeniable and monumental achievements, marred by a depressing capacity for self-sabotage that lasted for almost 50 years. Unlike Brian Wilson - whose own life and career is in many ways an inverted, white-bread, mirror image of Sly's (Sly loves dualisms but who knows if he would appreciate or acknowledge this one) - there hasn't really been any late-period redemption. Wilson, while still eternally haunted and damaged, got his shit together and appears to have achieved some measure of functionality and peace; the core of his musical talent has never left him, he still loves music, he needs it and believes in it and works at it. By contrast, when Sly attempted a similar comeback in the 2000s it was hampered by his all-too familiar problems and habits. In many ways it's just too late. The Summer of Soul doc and forthcoming QuestLove doc are a historical corrective, rightly emphasizing his massive talent and impact. Based on advance press and published excerpts, Sly's autobiography (which comes out tomorrow), will no doubt shed some light on the details of Sly's life and his perspective on it, but it seems unlikely to contain much in the way of critical self-examination. For an artist who claimed to write his songs while looking in the mirror, he seems to have spent much of his life running away from his own reflection.

*applause*

epic thread, ty One Child

Yeah, this was great, thanks so much.