I Want to Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly and the Family Stone
Page 19
Ain't but the One Way Warner Brothers, 1982
(1) L.O.V.I.N.U.; (2) One Way; (3) Ha Ha, Hee Hee; (4) Hobo Ken; (5) Who in the Funk Do You Think You Are; (6) You Really Got Me; (7) Sylvester; (8) We Can Do It; (9) High, Y'All
Sly Stone-vocals, keyboards; Pat Rizzo-saxophone; George Clinton-miscellaneous contributions
This proved a somewhat better showcase of Sly's eclectic talent than did the earlier Warner effort, but the overproduction rather quashed the superior quality of the songs. The lush arrangements evinced what was being borrowed from Sly by groups like Earth, Wind & Fire, and "Who in the Funk Do You Think You Are" sounded almost suited to the catchy, repetitive mode of disco, which had "died" a couple years earlier. The album could have used more of the sort of fun and funk abounding in Sly's imaginative cover of the Kinks' "You Really Got Me." The two Warner releases were the last to bear the Family Stone moniker (so far), though the band had no apparent connection with the final album other than the involvement of its former leader.
COMPILATIONS
Precious Stone: In the Studio with Sly Stone 1963-1965 Ace, 1994
What's precious here are some of the raw elements and skills that Sly assembled while working as an in-house songwriter, arranger, and producer for San Francisco's Autumn Records in the early 1960s. Assembled and meticulously annotated by Alec Palao, the singles, not all of which made it onto finished LPs, feature the singing and/or playing of Sly, siblings Freddie and Rose, George & Teddy (Jerry Martini's sometime employers), Billy Preston, and Autumn star Bobby Freeman. Sly deals easily in R & B, early soul, and pop modes, at one point laying down a bit of jazz scat. Just as Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page drew on his former life as a session guitarist, Sly's audible technical and musical discipline would go gold with the Family Stone.
The Essential Sly & the Family Stone Sony, 2002
For those not wanting to buy or to carry around the big Collection box, this is an excellent remastered two-disc, thirty-five-track alternative, including not only all the hits (with notation of their placement on the charts) but also some of the best of the other Epic tracks, dating back to A Whole New Thing and ahead to High on You. It's arguably the best way for a listener to grasp the scope of Sly and the band's history.
Sly & the Family Stone: The Collection Sony, 2007
The first seven LPs released by Epic under the Sly & the Family Stone moniker were collected in this box by Sony in 2007. All albums include bonus tracks and new liner notes by various contemporary rock commentators alongside the pleasingly remastered original tracks and notes. The bonus tracks feature singles versions of the hit songs, some of them in mono, and some good and revealing music not previously available to the public (accounted for in the discussion of the individual albums, above).
Sources
LTHOUGH THE FOLLOWING includes numerous magazine and newspaper articles written about the Family Stone and/or Sly in a broad or specific context, there have been only two previous books dealing with the band with any biographical significance. Joel Selvin's Oral History, part of a series of similar books edited by Dave Marsh, is a collection of quotes from all band members except Sly and from related parties, and Miles Marshall Lewis's There's a Riot Goin' On focuses on the album of its title, with brief biographical material about Sly.
BOOKS
Amende, Coral. Rock Confidential. New York: Plume, 2000.
Bacon, Tony. The Bass Book: An Illustrated History of the Bass Guitar. San Francisco: Miller Freeman, 1995.
Braun, Eric. Doris Day. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1991.
Clifford, Mike, ed. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Black Music. New York: Harmony, 1982.
Davis, Miles, with Quincy Troupe. Miles: The Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989.
Denyer, Ralph. The Guitar Handbook. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
Herman, Gary. Rock 'n' roll Babylon. London: Plexus, 1994.
Jonnes, Jill. Hep-Cats, Nares, and Pipe Dreams: A History of America's Romance with Illegal Drugs. New York: Scribner, 1996.
Larkin, Colin. The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music. London: Virgin, 1998.
Lewis, Miles Marshall. Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On. New York: Continuum, 2006.
Marcus, Greil. Mystery Train: Images ofAmerica in Rock 'n' roll Music. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1975.
Marsh, Dave, and Kevin Stein. The Book of Rock Lists. New York: Dell, 1984.
Miller, Jim, ed. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll. New York: Random House, 1976.
Santana, Deborah. Space Between the Stars: My Journey to an Open Heart. New York: One World/Ballantine, 2006.
Selvin, Joel. Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History. New York: Harper, 1998.
Verna, Paul, ed. The Encyclopedia of Record Producers. New York:
Billboard, 1999.
Vincent, Rickey. Funk: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1996.
Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Albums. New York: Billboard, 1987.
Wills, Maury, and Mike Celizic: On the Run: The Never Dull and Often Shocking Life of Maury Wills. New York: Carroll and Graf, 1991.
FILMS
Dance to the Music. Willen Alkema and Edwin and Arno Konings, 2008. The Skin I'm In (rough cut). Daedalus Productions, 2000.
MAGAZINE ARTICLES
Aletti, Vince. "There's a Riot Goin' On (review)." Rolling Stone, December 23, 1971.
Blashill, Pat, et al. "Fresh: Sly and the Family Stone." Rolling Stone, December 11, 2003: 138.
Bozza, Anthony. "Sly and the New Family Member." Rolling Stone, August 6, 1998: 31.
Edwards, Gavin. "The Essential Sly and the Family Stone" Rolling Stone, April 17, 2003: 109.
Fong-Torres, Ben. "Everybody Is a Star: Travels with Sly Stone." Rolling Stone, March 19, 1970.
Gore, Joe. "Old School Cool: A '70s Funk Lesson." Guitar Player, September 1994: 47-54.
Graff, Gary. "Sly and the Family Stone: Stand!" Guitar World, June 1999: 61.
Hiestand, Jesse. "Backstage at the Grammys." The Hollywood Reporter, February 9, 2006: 37.
Jisi, Chris. "Sly & the Family Stone's `If You Want Me to Stay'-Rus- tee Allen's Complete Bass Line." Bass Player, October 2006: 78.
Kamp, David. "Sly Stone's Higher Power." Vanity Fair, August 2007: 136-184.
Keegan, Rebecca Winters. "Reclusive Star Emerges, Has New Haircut." Time, February 20, 2006: 71.
Leslie, Jimmy. "Larry Graham: Trunk of the Funk Tree." Bass Player, May 2007: 30-37.
Marcus, Greil. "There's a Riot Goin' On: Muzak with Its Finger on the Trigger." Creem, April 1972: 14.
Novak, Ralph, and Todd Gold. "The Decline and Fall of Sly Stone." People, June 17, 1996: 139-143.
Orth, Maureen. "A Family Affair-for 23,000." Newsweek, June 17, 1974: 62
Selvin, Joel. "Lucifer Rising." Mojo, August 2001: 80-9 1.
"Sly's Arena Wedding." Rolling Stone, May 19, 2005: 26.
"Sly Stone's Heart of Darkness." Spin, December 1985: 44-67.
Trow, George W. S. "The Biggest Event This Year." The New Yorker, August 26, 1974: 30-45.
Was, Don. "Sly and the Family Stone." Rolling Stone, April 15,2004:132.
Wilkinson, Peter. "Sly's Strange Comeback." Rolling Stone, March 9, 2006: 17-20.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
"Arrest Warrant Issued for Rock Singer Sly Stone." The Vancouver Sun, December 10, 1987: F-4.
Bracelin, Jason. "Sly Comes in from the Cold." Las Vegas ReviewJournal, April 2, 2007.
Carey, Derek. "Sly Stone Takes Stand for Comebacks." Reuters News Agency, November 22, 2007.
Concert review. De Standaard (Gossetlaan, Belgium), July 16, 2007.
Concert review. Free! (magazine), July 21, 2007.
Concert review. TV5 Monde (Nice, France), July 20, 2007.
"Daley Says Rioting at Rock Concert Was Planned." New York Times, July 29, 1970.
Du Lac, J. Freedom. "Sly Stone's Surprise." Washing
ton Post, January 27, 2006.
Kaliss, Jeff. "Stone Is at Work but He Keeps It on the Sly." Los Angeles Times, January 9, 2007.
Katsilometes, John. "How George Wallace Aligned the Stars to Coerce One Big Star to Perform at Flamingo Las Vegas." Las Vegas Sun, April 2, 2007.
Lacey, Liam. "Sly's Abortive Concert a Sad Embarrassment." Toronto Globe and Mail, March 6, 1982: E-3.
O'Hagan, Sean. "I Want to Take You ... Lower" The Observer (London, England), July 15, 2007.
Pond, Steve. Concert review. Los Angeles Times, November 13, 1987.
Quillen, Shay. "Sly Stone Shows Up, Goes Nowhere Fast in San Jose Concert." San Jose Mercury-News, July 8, 2007.
Saneh, Kelefa. "For $103.35, You Take What You Can Get." New York Times, November 22, 2007.
Schmitter, Blaise. "Sly's First European Club Performance: Overwhelming!" Funk-U (magazine) (Paris, France), July 24, 2007.
Selvin, Joel. "Sly Stone Takes the Stage, but the Flair Is a No-Show." San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 2007.
Senff, Boris. Concert review. Le Temps (Geneva, Switzerland), July 15, 2007.
"Sly and the Family Stone Plays to a Sell-Out Crowd at Garden." New York Times, September 12, 1971: 94.
"Sly Opens Series at Radio City to an Unimpressed Audience." New York Times, January 18, 1975.
"Sly Stone Jailed on Drug Charges" The Ottawa Citizen, February 19, 1987: E-2.
"Sly Stone Jailed for Illegal Gun." Toronto Globe and Mail, February 10,1983:23.
"Stone Jailed on Theft Charge." Toronto Globe and Mail, August 20, 1983: E-2.
"3 Shot in Chicago During Rock Riot." New York Times, July 28, 1970: 1.
Wallace, George. "Sly Joins the Family Stone for His First Show in Two Decades, As Wallace's Special Guest." PR Newswire, April 2, 2007.
WEB SITES
Acknowledgments
HE BEST THING ABOUT WRITing about music, apart from the music and the writing themselves, is meeting and talking with musicians, and with the people inside their lives and the business. There were challenges in assembling this book, but it was tugged along the long route to publication by the following people, for whom mention here is my way of saying thank you.
Some of you not only went on the record, but also provided info and recommendations that connected me with others. Gratitude for that goes to Jerry Martini, the earliest of my Family Stone contacts, and to Neal Austinson, who helped prompt my interview with Sly, his first in ages, and our second talk more than a year later. The Neal Austinson Archives were the source of much valuable material and information, and Neal helped put me in touch with a couple of other admirable archivists, known fondly as "The Dutch Twins" by many in these pages. Those indefatigable brothers, Edwin and Arno Konings, provided much in the way of general and specific info while continuing work on their own magnum opus, Thank You, due out within the next year or so. Closer to home, San Franciscan Joel Selvin supplied transcriptions, recordings, and a revealing personal interview, alongside his own Oral History, heretofore the only interview-based book about Sly and the band.
It was Ric Stewart, with his fine eclectic web site therel.com, who first got me writing about Sly, and that's what attracted the attention of literary agent Robert Lecker, who connected me with the book's publisher. My dear friend Jann Moorhead provided informal legal counsel during the launch of the project and the occasionally rough waters later on. For background on the inspiring history of African Americans and Sylvester Stewart's roots in Denton, Texas, there were Denton denizens Lynette and Betty Kimble, Sly's cousin Christine McAdams, and the tireless Kim Cupit. Professor William Issel and his graduate student Richard John Figone moved the history forward and westward to midcentury Vallejo, California. Tender memories of that time and place were voiced by several dear souls, including venerated teacher Dave Froehlich and Ria Boldway Douglas, whose honesty and passion are a model for us all. My fortuitous flat tire at the side of a Marin County freeway led to a chance meeting with drummer James Henry, who later led me to singer Skyler Jett, who in turn led me to little sister Vet Stone. Appreciation for similar serendipity goes to hairstylist Eric Hooten, who led me to fellow stylist Bobby Gomez, who led me to Mario Errico.
The Errico family shared two generations of hospitality and garrulousness passed down from parents Jo and Nick to brothers Mario (another of my links to Sly) and Greg (the second of my cooperative veterans of the Family Stone). A similarly generous Italian American, Rich Romanello, told me of the Family Stone's early days and arranged for valuable accommodations in South ern California. The spirit of hospitality extended to the island of Maui, where Nancy and George Kahumoku Jr. put me up during my extended interviews with the magical David Kapralik (and sourced my side story on slack key guitar for Guitar Player magazine).
To those who wouldn't talk openly or at all for this book, some due to residual resentment over perceived past misrepresentations by writers and journalists, I can only express regret that you weren't able to appear more directly in this story. I hope that I'll have more to share with you some day. To all, including Sly, who shared their stories, I hope you feel properly accounted for.
The staff of the Art, Music, and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library helped keep me informed, and Susan and the wizards at Castro Computer Services kept my cybermill turning. My collection of Sly & the Family Stone sides was bolstered by Streetlight Records, Amazon, John Hagelston of Rhino, and Tom Cording of Sony/Legacy. Invaluable detail and opinions about music, and the Family Stone in particular, came from rock and funk scholars Ben Fong-Torres, Alec Palao, and Rickey Vincent, as well as developmental editor George Case, and more informally from Bay Area music veteran Anthony Reginato of Mission Market. The book has been illuminated by multiple suppliers of photographs, both professional and amateur, among them the artful Jim Marshall and Steve Paley. Seth Affoumado and Beverly Tharp took useful portraits of the author. Alongside Neal Austinson, continued contact with Sly was facilitated by his other devoted helpmates, Charles Richardson and Rikki Gordon.
On the opposite coast, at mission control, aka Hal Leonard/ Backbeat Books, acquiring editor John Cerullo somehow managed to keep me in orbit, with reassuring words in my telephone earpiece and my e-mail inbox, and manuscript editor Mike Edison guided me in making my own written words look like a rock book, ready to be polished by copy editor Godwin Chu. Production editor Bernadette Malavarca completed the assembly, and Diane Levinson and Aaron Lefkove helped position the result in the public eye.
I bear a long and deep personal debt to my hometown and college papers, the Bar Harbor Times and the Boston University News, for first turning me on to journalism, and to the Noe Valley Voice for much later sparking a flashback that turned into a career, faithfully supported in more than one sense by my wife and conscience, Louise Whitlock. Our dancing and singing children, Natalie and Nicholas Kaliss, and our cat, Tula, have made the Kaliss Family Affair into a wonderful way to work hard while staying in touch with the other duties and delights of the world.
Index