The Essential Sly & the Family Stone [Epic/Legacy] (CD - 2002)

Personnel: Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Freddie Stone (vocals, guitar); Jerry Martini (saxophone); Cynthia Robinson (trumpet); Rose Stone (keyboards); Greg Errico, Andy Newmark (drums).

Recording information: 1967-1975.

Photographers: Fred Lombardi; David Redfern.

The Essential Sly & the Family Stone does what a double-CD best-of/career overview should do: it packs a lot of career highlights into a two-disc set for listeners who want more than the basic greatest hits, but don't want every last album. Of course, all of those greatest hits are here, including a few from 1970 that didn't make it onto album releases at the time. As you'd expect, the fattest slice comes from Sly & the Family Stone's late-'60s/early-'70s peak: in fact, most of the tracks from the Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On albums are here. The fun extras come in the not-too-well-known tracks from pre-Stand! albums and Fresh (which is actually amply represented, with six cuts). This doesn't quite deserve the highest rating, as the post-There's a Riot Goin' On material doesn't keep up the momentum of the rest of the set. Small Talk and Sly Stone's 1975 solo effort, High on You, are wisely lightly plucked, though at least the hits from those albums are the three cuts selected. This deserves better annotation than the cursory liner notes, but otherwise it's an excellent summary of a major rock and soul band. ~ Richie Unterberger

For all the multi-cultural hippie freedom Sly and the Family Stone stood for in their pre-RIOT glory days, frontman Sly Stone was smart and talented enough to know that it was through catchy pop singles that his band's message would gain its widest dissemination. All 11 of Sly and the Family Stone's Top 40 hits are here (some of which, like "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" were never on LPs back in the day), along with nearly every track from both of the band's career high point albums, 1969's STAND and 1971's THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON. Six cuts from 1973's FRESH represent that excellent, underrated album (and the sophisticated down-tempo funk Sly was pioneering in the early '70s). Overall, Sly and the Family Stone's signature sound, a mixture of infectious energy, ebullient melodic hooks, and heavy funk beats, was one of the most distinctive of its era, and went on to directly influence everyone from Miles Davis to Prince. Moreover, the music on ESSENTIAL is celebratory, superbly crafted, and deeply enduring. It provides a vibrant retrospective of one of the most important artists of the '60s and '70s. minimize