Sly Who The Funk

Sly and the Family Stone was an American band from San Francisco. Active from 1967 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of funk, soul, rock, and psychedelic music. The group's core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and featured Stone's brother and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone, sister and singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Gregg Errico, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham. Formed in 1967, the group's music synthesized a variety of disparate musical genres to help pioneer the emerging "psychedelic soul" sound.

Collection of live tracks, possibly from various TV broadcasts. Very good soundboard? This collection is the bomb, simply put. It was lovingly prepared by the same kind soulsters at Big Fro who were responsible for the Curtis Mayfield 1972 Rarities collection, and the Otis Redding Soupcon of Soul collection… It’s a fascinating document of the group at the height of their powers, and every performance is a gem. The sound quality is varied, but predominantly very good. For the perfectionists, be warned, these recordings do have some limitations, and the occasional minor analog artifact.

Sony/BMG's Legacy imprint decided to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock by issuing a slew of double-disc deluxe packages by catalog artists who played the festival…

Those who became aware of Robert Randolph's considerable musical gifts on either the awesome Live at the Wetlands or on the underrated Unclassified are in for a surprise. Colorblind expands the Robert Randolph & the Family Band's palette – on tape anyway, they've been doing stuff like this on the stage for years – stretching out from the blues ledge into gospelized, gritty funk and soul, and expanding those genres in the process. Using a group of producers from cut to cut, the Family Band takes no prisoners in this wildly crazy and utterly joyous mix of musical forms and flavors. Sure, it's a bit slicker than Live at the Wetlands, but not in any detrimental way. This is what these cats have been laying down for awhile now. It's been their vision and they've finally brought it into the studio. The opening joint is a stomping wail called "Ain't Nothing Wrong with That" that features the Family Band chanting a refrain, handclaps, and killer female backing vocals as well as Jason Crosby's B-3, as Randolph's pedal steel hovers above before coming in for the killing groove.