Sly Stone turned 70 earlier this year, and Epic/Legacy is
celebrating his milestone with the first proper Sly and the Family Stone box
set. Higher! is four discs of Sly’s
freaky, funky fusion of soul, pop, psychedelia, jazz, and Rock & Roll, a
space-age sound that crossed racial and gender barriers in both the band’s ranks
and the charts. The Family released only six albums during their peak years,
but those records covered a lot of sonic ground—the undisciplined euphoria of A Whole New Thing, which suggested a
band trying to cram every idea they could onto their first record in case they
never got a chance to make a second one; the triumphant “we’re here to stay”
party of Dance to the Music; the
fully mature and unbelievably confident Life;
the stunning transformation from pop hit machine to insane jam troupe of Stand!; the drugged up, tuned in, and
fuzzed out masterpiece-despite-itself that is There’s a Riot Going On; and the slicker, more conventional Fresh. Those records are all represented
by choice cuts on Higher!, though the
versions are often unfamiliar: a big helping of mono single mixes; a snack of
wild live performances from the Isle of Wight 1970 concert (“Fun” is the only
major classic not here in any form).
That stuff is cool and relatively rare, but the meat and
potatoes of Higher! are its real
weirdos. The carnival starts with “I Just Learned How to Swim,” a primitive yet
energetic dance number Sly cut as a solo artist in 1964. It is bested by its
B-side, “Scat Swim,” which is like a prototype of the fusion the Family Stone
would stew up three years later. The B-side develops on the A-side’s Rock &
Roll boogie only to suddenly veer into a Big Band swing. There wasn’t anything
like this on the radio in 1964. There’s also “Silent Communications,” a totally
out-of-character jazzy torch song; “I Get High on You,” a crazy funk goof
presented in an expanded, experimental version from 1967 and a tighter,
radio-ready one from 1968 (they’re both fabulous for their own reasons); “I
Know What You Came to Say,” a dusky slow-burn with muted trumpet that reached
an anthemic climax; “What’s That Got to Do with Me,” a swirling soul waltz; “My
Woman’s Head,” an instrumental with superb guitar work from Freddie Stone; “Wonderful
World of Color,” an instrumental with moody horn charts darkening an
ass-shaking backbeat; and a pair of bizarre oddities by “The French Fries”:
“Danse a La Musique” (aka: “Dance to the Music” in French sung in chipmunk
voices) and the even weirder “Small Fries.” The review package I received
didn’t include the 104-page booklet you’ll get if you actually buy this set, so
I’m not sure what the deal is with The French Fries, and I received the package
as MP3s instead of lossless files, so I’ll refrain from assessing the sound
quality of this box set (I will confirm what you already know, though: MP3s are
shitty).
What I won’t refrain from saying is that Higher! does it right. A great box set
should give a satisfying perspective of the artist’s career without dwelling on the dreg years unnecessarily. It should offer enough familiar material to orient the listener and enough rarities to make the trip
unpredictable and enlightening. Higher!
is a great box set.
