Date: 1973
Release: EPIC #EK 32134
Cover Art: view / download
Buy the Album
In many ways 1973 was the golden year of funky music, with classic hits produced by Berry Gordy, Curtis Mayfield, Philly masterminds Gamble & Huff, George Clinton, James Brown, and of course, Sly Stone. Admired as a genius among his contemporaries, Sly had really pushed the frontiers of American music across racial lines, capturing the hearts and ears of the Woodstock generation in the process. His legendary performance at the Woodstock festival kicked open the door for other African-American artists, and less than a decade later white kids would be dancing to “black music” in discos across the country.
Read more »
Date: 1969
Release: EPIC
Cover Art: view / download
Buy the Album
When it comes to Sly albums, MustHear.com opinion is torn between Stand! and Fresh. Sure, Fresh’s grooves show the band at its tightest and most mature while epitomizing the glorious “free your mind and your ass will follow” spirit of ’70′s funk. But, Stand!, which draws its foundations from the disparate musical styles of the ’60s while paving the way for that funk revolution, is, for my money, the more inventive album. Released in 1969, it makes the closing statement on the music of one decade and the opening remarks on the music of another. The album opens with “Stand!,” a booty-shakin’ number that embodies the energy and confidence of 1960′s individual, social, and political self-expression. The soulful James Brown–inflected rhythms energize the song’s optimistic lyrics.
Read more »
