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).
