Stone 1974

A new bass player and drummer signaled a toned-down Sly & the Family Stone sound. Partially in keeping with changes in much of popular music in the early '70s, and maybe the result of marriage and a child, Sly became more introspective, quieter, and calmer, even employing a string section on various cuts…

The post-Family band formed by Family masterminds Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney. Where their former band balanced art-rock and blues-rock, the Streetwalkers were a throwback, a blues-rock band that put Chapman's extraordinary voice front and center…

Joe Walsh's catalog by this point was two albums strong and of a consistently high quality. Despite a change of lineup for So What – a wide range of musicians is used, including the Eagles' Don Henley – the sound is very similar to previous releases. A number of classic Walsh tracks are featured, including a more polished version of "Turn to Stone," originally featured on his debut album, Barnstorm, in a somewhat more riotous style. "Help Me Thru the Night," Walsh's mellowest song to date, is helped along by some fine lead and backing vocals from the band. So What sees Walsh in top form as a guitarist. Most of the nine tracks feature solos of unquestionable quality in his usual rock style. The classic rock genre that the man so well defined with his earlier albums is present here throughout, and it is pulled off with the usual unparalleled Joe Walsh ability.

Small Talk is the seventh album by Sly and the Family Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records in 1974. This album was the final LP to feature the original Family Stone, which broke up in January 1975.
Small Talk's singles were "Time For Livin'" (the band's final Top 40 hit) and "Loose Booty", an up-tempo funk track which uses the names of Bible characters Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as a chant. Pictured on the album cover with Sly in a photograph by Norman Seeff are his then-wife Kathleen Silva and his son Sylvester, Jr.