Stand!
Thursday, 23 April 2009 09:55 | 
Author: The Grouch | 
Back in 1969 there was a band called Sly and The Family Stone. They were headed up by a dude named Sylvester Stewart who went by the moniker Sly Stone.
What kind of music is this? Bad Ass R&B Funk
If you like:
Bass guitar
Horns
A drummer who can groove
Killer piano and fantastic voices
You may dig Bad Ass R&B Funk as done by Sly and The Family Stone.
Simply put they have soul. Maybe its growing up in Detroit, there was a very high Motown consciousness in my family, I dig these guys a lot. You won’t find many guitar solos. You will find great bass and excellent horns which back some fantastic voices – absolutely killer vocal tracks that alternate from singing words to harmonizing to supplementing the bass and drums. It’s so infectious.
You can feel a lot of the energy of Gospel music in this music.
I like every song on the album. The title track Stand! comes in two versions on this album the album version and the single version. The single was released in mono. On either version the really cool funk jam starts at 2 minutes 17 seconds into the 3:08 minute song.
Track 2 – Don’t Call Me Nigger Whitey – The second best example of funk guitar jamming is this track. It is a 5 minute 57 second demand for respect. The guitar screams and the vocals rock – I like the call back vocals in particular. Check out the trumpet that plays a scale in the background. She definitely puts emotion into every long note.
Well I was down, across the country
And I heard two voices ring
They were talkin' angry to each other
And neither other could change a thing
Don’t Call ME Nigger Whitey. Don’t Call ME Whitey Nigger
The one lame spot is that on the iTunes version of this LP. The Politically Correct Fascists have changed the name of the song to Don’t Call Me N****r, Whitey. Give me a break!
Track 3 – I Want to Take You Higher – Dig the horns and that refrain of Boom Shak-a-laca-laca just calls for solidarity in the Tribe. Then that killer harmonica jam begins as different members of the band come to the forefront to show off their chops – that groove and those horns keep chugging away. The fervor is almost religious in intensity.
Track 4 – Somebody’s Watching You – Again I find myself tuned into the vocals. Sly has a great voice. The horns on this song are really good then at the 1:40 mark the guitar and harmonica break into a short jam. The piano, bass and horns all provide a nice envelope for the vocals to trade runs. The whole thing is just such a jam which transitions nicely into Track 5 Sing A Simple Song – another tilde wave of call and response GROOVE. Two words sum up this song: Micro Dot
I’m talkin talkin talkin talkin/I’m walkin walkin walkin walkin/I’m livin livin livin lovin/I’m livin love/I’m livin lovin know about lovin?/ haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Track 6 – Everyday People – is a Stoner’s guide to better race relations. We got to live together/ There is a blue one who can’t accept the green one for living with a fat one trying to be a skinny one/ Different strokes for different folks and so on and so on Scooby Doobie Doo. This song strays perilously close to Hippy crap – however idealistic the lyrics are the music, particularly the vocals make this song a winner.
Track 7 – Sex Machine – At 13 minutes and 46 seconds this is the consummate Funk jam – the guitar is absolutely wicked. Before Prince there was Sly and The Family Stone. The song ends with a really cool drum solo that runs for about two minutes which ends with the only vocals drunken laughter followed by “We blew your mind out.”
Track 8 – You Can Make It If You Try – Horns start off the song as the bass comes in heavy and the guitar plays a rhythm on the outside. The interchange between Freddie, Cynthia and Sly rocks – I dig Cynthia no matter what the words are she always sounds so pissed off. All together now!!**
Tracks 9-11 are bonus tracks consisting of the above mentioned Stand! and I Want to Take You Higher followed by You Can Make It If You Try in each case the only difference I can find between the album and bonus versions is that the bonus version was done in mono as a single. The single version for You Can Make It If You Try was not released.
Track 12 - Soul Clappin’ II – primal funk soulful jam that you can easily imagine Slaves singing in the field – well OK maybe only in Disney’s cartoon Song of the South. I can’t see any slaves allowed enough free time to work out the difficult harmonies and only the most progressive of the plantations allowed the field slaves to have horn sections. All joking aside – this song rocks!
Track 13 is an instrumental called My Brain (Zig-Zag) I think they are just jamming – but it sounds good. Highly repetitive but good.
Believe it or not kids – this old Punk gives Sly and The Family Stone’s LP Stand! 5 out of 5 scowls.
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Last Updated (Thursday, 23 April 2009 10:20)