Product Description:
Sly & The Family Stone: Brother Freddy Stone (guitar); Gerry Martini (saxophone); Cynthia Robinson (trumpet); Sister Rosie Stone (electric piano); Sly Stone (organ); Larry Graham (bass guitar); Greg Errico (percussion).
Recording information: 1968.
LIFE, Sly's follow-up to his commercial breakthrough, DANCE TO THE MUSIC, was very much in the same vein as its predecessor. An innovative blend of rock and soul, with large helpings of horns, fuzz guitar, and bottom-heavy bass, it was to become the sonic template for just about every funk act of the '70s.
The band is brash and palpably bursting with confidence, which may explain why Sly pulled a postmodern Beatles move, quoting "Dance to the Music" at the tag of the opening "Dynamite." (On the other hand, maybe Sly just had a thing for the Beatles--there's an "Eleanor Rigby" quote in "Plastic Jim.") Interestingly, despite the album's popularity, LIFE yielded no hit singles, although almost everybody assumed that the title song, an FM radio favorite, had actually charted.
Entertainment Reviews:
Rolling Stone - 9/21/95, p.85
4 Stars - Excellent - "...LIFE is where Sly's dazzling all-things-to-all-people vision snaps into full focus....When Sly testifies on `Life,' insisting that `you don't have to come down' and `you don't have to die before you live,' the ebullient music supports his spiritual tightrope walk..."
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