Boom-lakka-lakka-lakka … Damn! Sly & The Family Stone was an amazing group! WTTW was broadcasting musical performance portions of the Ed Sullivan Show last night during it’s pledge drive. They showed The Beatles, Stones, Supremes, Animals & several others. Lots of cool stuff. The sheer volume of the screaming girls during “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” by Herman’s Hermitts was hysterical … you could barely hear the band!
But the footage of Sly & the Family Stone was the best of the night (that I saw – I didn’t stay up to watch all the clips interspersed between the calls for donations). This morning I pulled out a recording of The Family at the Texas Pop Festival in 1969. So much positive energy! So much Groove! So much Rock! So much improv! So much Soul! Damnnnn I bet seeing Sly & The Family back in ’67-’70 was one of the most uplifting things you could do. Hey Music Lover! Dance to The Music! I Wanna Take You Higher! And my fave Sing a Simple Song!
Sorry … I’m still on a “Sly-High”.
Anyhow! Besides gushing over a band that has been a favorite of mine since 5th grade when I came across the double LP “Anthology” in my parents’ stack of records inside the hi-fi cabinet in the living room (yikes … run-on anyone?) I’d like to point out a few things I find remarkable about Sly & the Family. Sure ’67 was the Summer of Love and all that … but to form such a large band of men & women of different ethnicities was groundbreaking. To incorporate gospel, rock, blues, soul, country, etc. into such a vibrant sound that you could dance to and still get social & political ideas across was genius. The Family was also an integral part in taking Funk to the next level. I don’t want to start a “who’s the original” pissing match – but I really think Sly & The Family really opened up the world of funk. They made it more than raucous R&B “on the one” … they got down & dirty and rocked it and expanded the possibilities. Maybe it’s best summed up as they are the bridge from James Brown to P-Funk. Maybe that’s too simple … I dunno, but I really think that if “The Family” didn’t happen – alot of cool music wouldn’t have happened after them
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Yo D!! You didn’t ramble one bit…They were the connection…even Santanna points out how important some of their performances were & still are in the grand history of music-let alone America!!
Comment by Anthony StaggCandy December 10, 2009 @ 10:52 pmI love Sly too! We sort of checked in on that special last weekend among surfing other stuff. I was recording Rock n Roll Hall of Fame concert too.
What was the awards show where Sly came out in silver lame and awhite mohawk…unreal! Alll you said about them is true. Candy
Comment by Candy Minx December 11, 2009 @ 7:30 pm