Best Sly & The Family Stone/Sly Stone album (Poll ends 4th may)

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What do you think is the best Sly album (or your favourite).
No comps as usual.
Will ILM go for the canonical choice? Let's see.
And there's an option for those who have no funk in their soul.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
There's A Riot Goin' On	24
Fresh	10
Stand	8
High On You	7
A Whole New Thing	1
A Whole New Life	1
Ain't But The One Way	0
Back On The Right Track	0
Heard Ya Missed me, Well I'm Back	0
Small Talk	0
Dance To The Music	0
I don't like Sly Stone.	0

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 30 April 2007 20:36 (sixteen years ago) link

Voted "Stand" because of all the "hits" but might have gone for "There's a Riot" as well...

Pretty canonical choices, but I have the impression R&B and funk fans are likely to pick one of those two too (or "Fresh")

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 30 April 2007 21:44 (sixteen years ago) link

High On You is very underrated actually. But I think Geir is right about what the top 3 will be.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 30 April 2007 21:46 (sixteen years ago) link

I dig "Fresh" the most, followed by "Riot..." That cover of "Que Sera Sera" on "Fresh" kills me every time.

― novaheat, Monday, 30 April 2007 23:58 (sixteen years ago) link

Hmm. I WANT to say "Stand" because so much of it is so incredible, but that damn "Sex Machine" is pretty tedious - and I generally don't particularly mind those long instrumental filler things. Fresh and Riot are classic naturally, and very similar, altho "Riot" is a bit sloppier, which is part of its greatness; and "Fresh" has less obvious filler - too bad I've always hated "Que Sera Sera" no matter who sings it. "Small Talk" and "High On You" are consistent but unspectacular. Can't remember "Right Track"; never heard "Heard Ya..."

Y'know what? The hell with everything - I'm going for a dark horse: A Whole New Thing it is! (Sly's "Safe As Milk")

("A Whole New Life"?)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:07 (sixteen years ago) link

...and let me fantasize about A Whole New Version of "Stand!" in which "Hot Fun In The Summertime", "Thank You Falettinme..." and "Everybody Is A Star" take the place of "Sex Machine"

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:12 (sixteen years ago) link

Yeah, it's called Greatest Hits.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:26 (sixteen years ago) link

And what's the obvious filler on Riot?

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:26 (sixteen years ago) link

And what's the obvious filler on Riot?

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 02:26 (sixteen years ago) link

There's A Riot Goin' On. Only my favorite album ever.

― JN$OT, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 07:31 (sixteen years ago) link

I voted Stand! but I'd have totally picked Greatest Hits had it been on the list.

― Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 08:08 (sixteen years ago) link

"Riot" closely followed by "Fresh"

― Tom D., Tuesday, 1 May 2007 08:59 (sixteen years ago) link

... but it's a close thing!

― Tom D., Tuesday, 1 May 2007 09:00 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm torn between stand, riot and high on you.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 14:49 (sixteen years ago) link

Obvious filler on "Riot"? Well, many people would say "Spaced Cowboy" is a throwaway, but I happen to like that one. And some folks would say that redoing your big hit, re-titling it and slowing it down/stretching it to more than seven minutes is the very definition of filler. And yeah, I love that one too.

Don't get me wrong - I love basically the whole album, love its weirdness and can't imagine how much weirder it must have sounded in '71. I'm just saying that as songs - in terms of lyrics and chords and rhymes and all that stuff - the likes of "Poet" and "Spaced Cowboy" didn't exactly require as much effort as "Stand!" or "If You Want Me To Stay".

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:36 (sixteen years ago) link

life dudes, life.

― 69, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 18:47 (sixteen years ago) link

Underdog is a terrific song.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 22:22 (sixteen years ago) link

2nd last day to vote.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:12 (sixteen years ago) link

i want to say 'fresh', but it would be the 'other' mix of fresh released in europe on CD by accident - i've snored on abt this on other sly threads, but its so winningly, sensually stripped-bare and sleepy, its delicious. i on;y heard the proper 'fresh' with the recent reissues, and i don't like it as much.

i'm also tempted to vote for 'dance to the music', as dance to the medley is just insanely brilliant. but its 'Riot'. for 'running away' and 'you caught me smilin' mostly.

― stevie, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 13:47 (sixteen years ago) link

Yeah that different mix of fresh is great. My friend bought both cds and played them to me and you really could tell a difference.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 14:49 (sixteen years ago) link

Last day of voting is upon us. Get those votes in!

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Wednesday, 2 May 2007 23:36 (sixteen years ago) link

almost off the bottom of the page. Have we really ran out of chat on Sly Stone?

If you haven't heard High On You then I recommend tracking it down. It's an album really worth hearing (despite what the votes may or may not say)

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 10:27 (sixteen years ago) link

Yes, "High On You" is great

― Tom D., Thursday, 3 May 2007 10:30 (sixteen years ago) link

stand is overrated. dont call me nigger... gets a bit boring, as does sex machine. whole new thing is in fact the 2nd best sly album, after riot.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:35 (sixteen years ago) link

Whole New Thing is patchy though.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:37 (sixteen years ago) link

the Larry ballad on Whole New Thing ("Let Me Hear It From You") is terrible.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:38 (sixteen years ago) link

A shocker in that stand is beaten into third!!!

At least no one voted they didn't like Sly Stone. A moral victory?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 3 May 2007 23:48 (sixteen years ago) link

A good few votes for High On You. I hope some people now go and check that album out now.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 4 May 2007 02:03 (sixteen years ago) link

Who else voted for High On You?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 4 May 2007 11:01 (sixteen years ago) link

how is let me hear it from you terrible? that song is amazing! whole new thing is much stronger than stand. for such a short album, the fact stand has one blues dirge and one track so early on that gets boring after the agitational aspect of it (dont call me...) has been rinsed out doesnt work in its favour.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 4 May 2007 12:28 (sixteen years ago) link

cant believe fresh is in 2nd place. has no one here heard whole new thing properly?!

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 4 May 2007 12:29 (sixteen years ago) link

Well, I VOTED for the damn thing!

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 4 May 2007 13:40 (sixteen years ago) link

Fresh must just have a lot of fans. I just cant believe Stand didn't do better.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:18 (sixteen years ago) link

its only in the last decade or so i think that fresh has really usurped the other albums.
but stand is really what the family stone were all about. theres something i find a bit too perfected about it though.

― titchyschneiderMk2, Friday, 4 May 2007 15:38 (sixteen years ago) link

I voted for Fresh, because I love it... I guess I'm not surprised that Riot wins it, but I really don't like it as much as the others. I think Small Talk is great too, but no votes there.

― Keith, Friday, 4 May 2007 17:35 (sixteen years ago) link

i should investigate this.... shamefully i only know "riot...." which sounds like crap on the version i have.

― jed_, Saturday, 5 May 2007 01:15 (sixteen years ago) link

i mean it's a great record it's just hard to hear it :/

― jed_, Saturday, 5 May 2007 01:15 (sixteen years ago) link

That's the best thing about it!

That sounds shit. I mean that literally it sounds great because it sounds like there's a pillow over the speakers.

― Keith, Saturday, 5 May 2007 01:32 (sixteen years ago) link

yeah... the new remaster of Riot sounds no different to the old one to these ears. wonderfully mushy.

― stevie, Saturday, 5 May 2007 17:31 (sixteen years ago) link

Are the remasters worth getting?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Saturday, 5 May 2007 20:41 (sixteen years ago) link

Riot is great. The only other one I've heard so far, Stand, didn't really impress me at all.

― JN$OT, Saturday, 5 May 2007 20:49 (sixteen years ago) link

I have Riot on vinyl. It's a very clean-looking copy but at first I assumed someone had played it with a damaged needle or it was a bad pressing because it sounded so muffled and would often break up when Sly sang loudly.

― Mark Rich@rdson, Saturday, 5 May 2007 21:04 (sixteen years ago) link

Stand! was my first Sly album. Having heard all about Sly's influence on Miles Davis during the dense early fusion stuff (and having loved said fusion stuff), I was expecting Stand to be equally dark & dense. I was disappointed when it proved to be sparse, and even more disappointed when the purportedly "really dark" Riot failed to move me at first.

One morning though, after 53 hours without sleep and a variety of supplements to keep me up, I was giving it another try on the bus. Out It clicked: the space resonated, the fuzz & breakup sounded like burnout and I fell head over heels. Currently ranks among my all-time etc.

Still don't really like Stand!.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 5 May 2007 23:57 (sixteen years ago) link

I played Stand so much I actually sickened myself of it for ages so it gave me time to get into the other albums.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Sunday, 6 May 2007 00:01 (sixteen years ago) link

I think i'll pick up these remasters at some point. Hopefully cheap in FOPP!

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Sunday, 6 May 2007 15:35 (sixteen years ago) link

When do they come out in the UK?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 7 May 2007 13:47 (sixteen years ago) link

Are they limited edition releases like the eddie hazel?

― Boabie, Monday, 7 May 2007 22:06 (sixteen years ago) link

Right, I d/l one of these remasters (Stand)to check out if it's worth buying.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Tuesday, 8 May 2007 10:04 (sixteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

I think i'll pick up these remasters at some point. Hopefully cheap in FOPP!
-- Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Sunday, 6 May 2007 15:35 (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Link

And... GO! (£5)

I did revive that Mssr Fopp thread, but anyway..

The "Riot" CD sounds very clean/crisp. Was this a dramatic improvement over the original LP?

And where next should I go? Assuming the other cds are still there...

― Mark G, Tuesday, 29 May 2007 09:55 (sixteen years ago) link

... oh just buy all of them, keep Sly well, errrrrrrrrrrr, supplied

― Tom D., Tuesday, 29 May 2007 09:59 (sixteen years ago) link

i'd say Fresh is the next step. but they're all good.

― stevie, Tuesday, 29 May 2007 11:42 (sixteen years ago) link

Stand! and A Whole New Thing are musts.

― Jeff W, Tuesday, 29 May 2007 15:04 (sixteen years ago) link

I finally heard A Whole New Thing for the first time over the holiday weekend and holy shit! it's so good. Glad it's finally readily available,
I'd never even seen it in a record store until these reissues came out.

― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 29 May 2007 15:19 (sixteen years ago) link

two years pass...

picked up the 2007 remasters recently as several shops are clearly trying to clear backstock.
are these going to continue to be available, as the implication on amazon etc, is that these remasters are limited editions, and so once they are gone, then thats it ?
oh, and they are all brilliant.
absolutely brilliant.
suspect my next few weeks/months are going to be block booked while i just soak them up.
looking forward to reading the new interview in this months mojo.
anyone read it ?

― mark e, Thursday, 28 January 2010 14:56 (fourteen years ago) link

Yeah, he seems quite together in it.

― Mark G, Thursday, 28 January 2010 15:03 (fourteen years ago) link

hurray.
was worried the article would be a bit of fluff and little more.
love the fact that sooo many sample sources have revealed themselves as i make my way through these albums for the first time.

― mark e, Thursday, 28 January 2010 15:24 (fourteen years ago) link

The Essential Sly Stone is a very handy collection. It's got every track from Fresh and Riot.

― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 January 2010 15:25 (fourteen years ago) link

Yeah, he seems quite together in it.

lol

― The Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:13 (fourteen years ago) link

The Essential Sly Stone is a very handy collection. It's got every track from Fresh and Riot.
I'll bet it's even got "Thank You" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime," unlike any of the 2007 reissues.

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:16 (fourteen years ago) link

i think they reissued the classic 'greatest hits' too, but yeah, its mostly superfluous if you own the other reissues.

― ALIAS: Pete Townshend (stevie), Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:18 (fourteen years ago) link

Really? It wasn't in the box that had them all collected together.
I don't think that those single tracks are superfluous, either.

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link

don't know if it was in the box, but it was definitely reissued, with the same nice packaging as the albums i believe. i've had my old copy for years, it might be the best 'greatest hits' i've ever heard.

― ALIAS: Pete Townshend (stevie), Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:22 (fourteen years ago) link

that Greatest Hits is really something, he had a bunch of key non-album tracks (other one is "Everybody is a Star", yeah?)

― The Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:24 (fourteen years ago) link

They did reissue Greatest Hits; Sly's greatest record. Even if you own all the constituent parts, I'd recommend getting it - there's something fucking awesome about that sequencing.

― No, YOU'RE a disgusting savage (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:41 (fourteen years ago) link

Dance To The Music 0

madness, record is so happy

― cholula bankhead (m bison), Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:42 (fourteen years ago) link

xpost yeah it is probably one of the best greatest hits out there. and i agree, the essential is one of the few of those "essential" comps where you look at the tracklisting and say, "yep, they pretty much got it all ..." Remastering is phenomenal as well ...

― tylerw, Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:45 (fourteen years ago) link

madness, record is so happy

dance to the medley slays me every time

― ALIAS: Pete Townshend (stevie), Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:48 (fourteen years ago) link

esp that siren-like guitar break at about 00.05

― ALIAS: Pete Townshend (stevie), Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:48 (fourteen years ago) link

exactly!! every1 in the band recording that must have had gigantic boners or something, incredible energy

― cholula bankhead (m bison), Thursday, 28 January 2010 18:31 (fourteen years ago) link

Yeah, as I say, that "Greatest Hits" is £3 in Fopp.

― Mark G, Thursday, 28 January 2010 23:44 (fourteen years ago) link

eight years pass...

What an immense catalog these men and women hae.

― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 8 December 2018 05:39 (five years ago) link

That is great. And yes, Fresh is #1.

― Bênoit Balls (stevie), Saturday, 8 December 2018 08:37 (five years ago) link

yet I love that Small Talk sleeve.

― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 8 December 2018 13:24 (five years ago) link

I think "High On You" is better than "Small Talk"? I'd have to re-listen.

― Monica Kindle (Tom D.), Saturday, 8 December 2018 13:43 (five years ago) link

A Whole New Thing doesn't get enough love, and "I Cannot Make It" is one of the best things they ever did.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 8 December 2018 17:32 (five years ago) link

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