By dvdmike (65.208.234.61) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 07:14 am:

Sony Music just recently released this 2-CD compilation and it's great. It contains all of the Epic singles from 1967 to 1975, plus some of the better album cuts. Also included are the true stereo mixes of "Hot Fun In The Summertime", "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin") and "Everybody Is A Star". There's a little story that goes with those three songs. Their first album appearances were on "Sly & The Family Stone's Greatest Hits", first released on Epic in 1970. When they were gathering the tapes for mixing of the album, the multi-tracks for those three songs were nowhere to be found, so they used the 1/4 mono singles masters. The songs appeared on the LP in fake "rechanneled stereo", a process in which mono tracks have a so-called "stereo" effect. When quadrafonic sound became the rage in the early seventies, many LPs were being remixed for the four-channel sound, especially the CBS catalog. So, in 1974 Epic decided to reissue "Sly & The Family Stone's Greatest Hits" in quad. Again, they began an exhaustive search for the multi-tracks for "Hot Fun", "Thank You" and "Everybody Is A Star" and it was discovered that Sly had them at his house all along. So Sly let Epic borrow the tapes so that they could be remixed for multi-channel sound, and so for a long time, the only source to find stereo mixes of those three songs (for those who did not have quad receivers, the effect would be regular stereo) was on the quad version of the "Greatest Hits" LP. "Hot Fun" was released in true stereo on Volume 1 of Sony Music's "Rock Artifacts 4 volume series in 1991. "Thank You" appeared in stereo on Rhino's "Hot Soul Hits: 1970" and on a Warner retrospective for 1970. But this is the first time since 1974 that "Everybody Is A Star" has surfaced in true stereo. Also included in this compilation is the group's debut single, "Underdog", originally released in 1967. Check it out.

By Livonia Ken (136.2.1.153) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 08:58 am:

I mentioned in another thread that I think this is a great release. It is also mastered fairly straight without a lot of heavy digital limting or other processing that is fairly common on reissues these days. The remixes of "Thank You...", "Everybody is a Star", and "Hot Fun..." don't quite catch the "lightning in a bottle" of the original mono singles, but they sound waaay better than the fake stereo stuff that was on previous CD and LP compilations.

Cutting through the audiophile gobbledy gook of the above paragraph and summing up: Me like-a. Me think-a you like-a too.

Regards,
Ken

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 10:33 am:

dvdmike:
Thanks for the report. I wondered how this collection was going to sound.

Who was the reissue/compilation producer?

Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Livonia Ken (136.2.1.153) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 10:39 am:

Produced by Bob Irwin and Jerry Goldstein
Mastered by Vic Anesini
No explicit credits for the remixes

Regards,
Ken

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 10:52 am:

Ken:
Thanks. Bob Irwin remastered & helped Sony reissue DANCE TO THE MUSIC, LIFE & A WHOLE NEW THING years ago as well as operating the Sundazed label. He usually does a good job.
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By BCNYC (64.12.97.7) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 06:28 pm:

Sly comp has FANTASTIC sound, unbelievable...a must have, right this very minute.

P.S. The recent U.K. reissue of "Dusty in Memphis" is also very good sonically; it was CEDARized, which scared me, but the orchestra sounds very natural now, and the edge is off Dusty's sibilants. And the original eight mono single As and Bs are bonuses, and a good little booklet of almost all new informational material.

By Uptight! (24.55.6.144) on Monday, March 17, 2003 - 06:40 pm:

I must get this "Essential Sly/Stone" CD when I scrape some funds together. It will go alongside my "Sly/Stone Anthology" and "Essential Santana" CDs. I thought "Sly/Stone Anthology" was good--much better than the Greatest Hits album.

I loved listening to the Quadraphonic version of the "Sly & The Family Stone G.H." in stereo. I knew it was the only way I could hear certain songs in stereo.

By john richards from river rouge (152.163.189.235) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 05:25 pm:

sly and the family stone had a tune called somebody's watching you is this tune included on the anthology album?

By ErikT.O. (64.228.108.109) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 06:07 pm:

It's on 'Stand' which is like a greatest hits comp insofar as every cut is excellent, not a note of filler with the possible exception of the last 4 drum beats or so of 'Sex Machine'... my question on this topic is I'm guessing the great 'In Time' is on this comp-on my lp & cd of the 'Fresh'lp. there's an inexplicable drop out- has this been corrected?

By dvdmike (12.84.111.28) on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 06:29 pm:

Yes, "Somebody's Watching You' is included in the compilation.

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 02:06 pm:

Finally picked up the Essential Sly...EXCELLENT collection.
DVDMike pretty much descirbed how this collection sounds. Kudos to Sony & Bob Irwin for releasing this fine collection.
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Livonia Ken (136.1.1.33) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 02:19 pm:

Essential Sly and the Family Stone track List:

Underdog
I Cannot Make It
Dance to the Music
Are You Ready?
Fun
M'Lady
Life
Love City
Stand!
Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey
I Want to Take You Higher
Somebody's Watching You
Sing a Simple Song
Everyday People
You Can Make It If You Try
Hot Fun in the Summertime
Everybody Is a Star
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Family Affair
Luv N' Haight
Poet
(You Caught Me) Smilin'
Runnin' Away
Brave and Strong
Just Like a Baby
Thank You for Talkin' to Me, Africa
In Time
If You Want Me to Stay
Frisky
Skin I'm In
Babies Makin' Babies
If It Were Left Up to Me
Time for Livin'
Loose Booty
I Get High on You

By Michael/Cleoharvey (160.79.83.208) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 03:21 pm:

KevGo:

I was hesitating about the collection but if you recommend it, I will buy it. Sly had the most incredible band and singers (to think Larry Graham was with him). I always wondered where he might be now, musically, if the drugs had not taken over his life.

By Common (209.2.55.171) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 03:48 pm:

Hello everyone,

Another Sly fan here! :o) Sly's music was so uplifting & bold at a time when the country was in so much turmoil. Matter of fact, I find his message quite relevant today! What a great compliation this one is! It has all of Sly at his very best. My favs are "Running Away", "Stand", "You Can Make It (If You Try)", etc. Sly was an excellent lyricist. Is he inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame? If not, he deserves to be!

Peace!

PS: I, too, am wondering what has happened to Sly. The last I read about him, he had done some tracks on an Hawaiian rap artist, but this was in the early nineties.

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 04:34 pm:

Cleo/Michael, Common, etc:
I haven't removed this Sly CD from my Discman since I bought it Friday night. The double CD from start to finish is wonderful to hear. Lyrically, Sly was so on point with his message of peace,love, unity and conviction. The lyrics to "Stand" has a message that I try to live by on a daily basis.

Last time I saw Sly was at the band's induction to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame almost ten years ago, which surprised many who attended. He looked healthy and had his trademark smile.

If we ever need to hear his message & the wisdom of his words, now is the time.

Kevin Goins - KevGo