1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 150. Sly and the Family Stone – Stand! (1969)

 

Some more funky goodness – odd that the Temptations album was basically made in response to the sound of Sly and the Family Stone, but that we got that one first in this list.

Sly Stone and co, however, are a more gritty sound, I think. Lots of vocals as an instrument, with the “boom-lakka-lakka" refrain on I Want To Take You Higher, or what is either a vocoder or just clever ability with a voice mimicking wah-wah guitar on the (you can’t play this on the radio) Don’t Call Me N*****r, Whitey.

The big hit off this album is Everyday People, which is one of the smoother songs, and is a little bit less shiny because it’s the one that gets played all the time. To me, it’s usually the ones I haven’t heard before that are the exciting ones. Somebody’s Watching You has some glorious organ work on it. Sex Machine (not the James Brown one) is the obligatory lengthy jam. What I love about these soul groups is the variety in the vocals. Here, it’s the other members of the Stone family, Rose and Freddie who I think provide the counterpoints and answers to Sly’s main vocal, although the three of them switch around. Rose providing the female pitch, Sly somewhere in the middle, Freddie hitting the bass notes. It’s one of those groups, though, where the members switch around on instruments sometimes, everyone does a bit of backing vocal, and so it sounds, well, like a “family” and joyous it is indeed.

Stone’s songs address social injustice and are often a call for unity in the counter-culture movement. Stand! Is about joining together, Everyday People is about “different strokes for different folks” (Whatchu talkin’ ‘bout Willis?), Don’t Call Me N-r has two racially divided groups insulting each other while telling the other not to insult them. I think counter-culture is always going to be at the disadvantage. Grabbing and keeping power and money only really requires a level of sociopathy and narcissism to pursue, whereas fighting against injustice – do you do this with peaceful protest? From within the system? With violent revolution? With civil disobedience? With strikes? With education? Stone tries to lead by example, calling for people to put aside their differences while presiding over a group of men and women of varied ethnicities, all getting together to make glorious music.

(Side thought: I know Diff’rent Strokes tried to be ground-breaking in race relations, but wasn’t the concept of the Rich White Man “saving” the Poor Black Boys somewhat problematic? Not to mention the “punchline” often being a bit of street speak and a funny expression from Gary Coleman. Ah well.)