Sly And The Family Stone - Stand!

This ain't no disco chic, this is when funk got serious, this shit's dangerous. This is Sly And The Family Stone. Stand! was the family Stone's last albums of their 'psychedelic period', before they went into a much harsher, grittier, urban sound, and for a band as influential as Sly And The Family Stone, this album manages to stand tall as a masterwork. This also saw the band fracture, with drugs, ego and personality clashes, as well as their adoption by various black nationalist groups(something Sly didn't like at all) and the sense of hopelessness prevalent in early 70's black culture after a turbulent end to the sixties, Stand! was their last cry for optimism. But, does Stand! stand up as an album worthy of such importance? Let's find out!

A drumroll kicks off the title track, Stand!, a song that picks up a soul groove with an optimistic sound, and an amazing chorus of 'STAND! STAND! OOOOH!'. It's a call to stand up for your life, stand up for what's right. Lyrically, it's straight forward but pretty poetic in it's simplicity, and Sly's singing goes perfectly with his music. The track only gets funkier, branching into P-Funk style (P-Funk was heavily influenced by these dudes) and then fades out into track number two, Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey. Protesting against the racial discrimination from both sides (Sly And The Family Stone were a massive multi-racial band) over a heavy dirty beat, like Hendrix from the back alleys. There's a badass instrumental break and this dark funky dirty beat just continues, highlighting the band's future direction. The beat allows some psyche weirdness to kick in, an organic liquidic sound, a collage of singing and sounds, before that dirty chorus is reprised. "Don't call me Nigger, Whitey! Don't call me Whitey, Nigger!" I'm sensing something Beefheartian in this track, from Sly's menacing voice, to various elements in the rhythm and the heavy harmonica solo. Abba Zabba. With such an extended instrumental groove, it's in the fucking zone in this nasty way that the likes of James Brown could never achieve. It's dangerous music.

I Want To Take You Higher is a total psychedelic funk-rock track of epic proportions, and was a massive hit. The groove is totally where it's at and the guitar oozes charisma in a way that's Hendrix-y, but also of it's own. To be honest, this song is as pure funk as you'll ever get. Optimistic, hopeful, and damn right where it's at. It shows a band that's so tight and working so well, the drum beat keeps up with such a pace and the duelling male/female vocals carry such character. It's impossible to feel down when listening to this track! Somebody's Watching You is the title of the fourth track, more traditional soul like, a traditional groove with a horn section over the top. It's groovy and a neat quieter downside after the loudness of the previous tracks. It's got a nice instrumental break, but generally doesn't carry it's weight as much as other tracks. It's a good singalong though. The next track asks you to Sing A Simple Song, and a great guitar lick and female vocals kick off another great track, a neat dirty groove, a simplistic chorus carried up by amazing singing, and a wailing funkster. This brings all different elements together from awesome vocal harmonies, Arthur Brown style wailing singing, talking, great dirty vocals and a call and response approach to the verses, over an amazing James Brown beat and groove, and a great funk-meets-ska horn section in the middle eight. It's a very busy song despite it's misleading title, over a repetitive beat. It works great.

Track six is Everyday People, a soul track, with a more subdued Sly Stone, a great piano-driven repeating groove, backing vocals tacking the lead. Sly is far more soulful here yet still manages to carry his usual energy. This is a far more commercial track, again like the title track, calling for a more open and enjoyable society. It's the shortest of the tracks but still great. Guitar and drums lead into Sex Machine, a slow groove draws us in, bringing forward the staple funk staccato guitars. A very organic liquid harmonica plaing through an early vocoder returns once again, creating a surreal atmosphere. This is an extended jam over a great beat leading to such a funky guitar solo, more groovier than Hendrix could reach, similar to that of Eddie hazel from Funkadelic. I am a massive massive fan of jam tracks, so this just works fantastically for me, a nice walking beat, a funk solo what's not to like? It's so easy to see why Miles Davis took this as his inspiration for his jaw-droppingly amazing Tribute to Jack Johnson and On The Corner albums. Needless to say, this one track seems to resonate so much amongst prettymuch every instrumental funk-influenced track made afterwards, even European bands such as Can and Brainticket. Sly's bizarre sound kicks back in over the amazing guitar and then the bass takes over as the lead, something quite rare, and then a heavily distorted guitar powers and screams through the music a great dirty sound, before returning to the main rythm now accompanied with a saxaphone solo and a heavier drum beat/solo that just rolls along amazingly, almost tribal, slowing down train-like. This track lets every player shine. Aparently the band where making fun of each other during the recording, resulting in them ending the track with laughter. It's great when a band has fun while playing. The album finishes with You Can Make It If You Try, returning to the album's starting style of upbeat optimistic P-Funk-esque funk. Interlocking vocals, ace instrumentation and a great fun playfulness of the melodies. This is a fun track indeed. Again it's hard to feel down when this great groove is playing. It goes into an instrumental break carrying on with the groove, and letting the soul-chorus singers get the feeling going. The album fades to silence. Ended with some backwards speaking.

Stand! truely is an album that not only lives up to it's reputation, but totally surpasses it, as a landmark of popular music and easily one of the must have albums of all time. I love funk, and I love jams, so this just makes me so happy. The group's later sounds became dirtier and minimalist compared to this orgasmic display of sheer over-the-top creativity, but are still great. You really do have to buy this album at the earliest opportunity!