Sly & The Family Stone – Life

Did they manage to pump up the low end on this version? I’ve got a nice copy but the sound is so wimpy.

Album Revolution # 1:

At first, I thought I wasn't going to put "Sly & The Family Stone's" "Life" in the Album Revolution, but after finding this on Vinyl, I had to retract that thinking....This album, honestly have the group expanding their sound a little more than the first 2 albums (even though the songs are still short)...

The album starts with the fantastic 1st Crown Jewel in, "Dynamite!"...It is hard edged, with some straight up "Soul" and "Rock" fused together....

"Chicken" (straight up funny!!!) shows the group has a crazy sense of humor...

"Fun" (2nd Crown Jewel) is labeled as it is....

"Into My Own Thing", the 3rd Crown Jewel, is putting the world on notice on how things were going to be from then on...

These groups killed me back in the day about this, but the 4th Crown Jewel "Title Track", should have started the album....I just feel like that would set off the album PROPER!!!!

The Ultimate, Ultimate Crown Jewel, "Love City" is hands down the best song on the album, with the BUMPIN' Drums, and Super Punchy Horns....

"M'Lady", the last Crown Jewel, follows the script of the album to the tee....

I have to admit that the rest of the album is filler, but it did not diminish it at all...With "Sly" Writing every word and note, you can tell he was ready to take the group to new HEIGHTS!!!! And believe me, the Public was waiting.....

While Sly and the Family Stone were kicking it out from the get go, they also built it up quickly from really good to the apogee of amazing, with this album clearly taking a trajectory toward the top. If this is not their strongest album, it's pretty close, and it's better than nearly every album ever recorded on this planet. At their best, this band offered pointedly protest songs and celebratory party songs, sometimes at the same time. This one starts off with a blast with "Dynamite," lighting the fuse with the opening electric guitar licks and getting into the hand-clapping celebration, the perfect introduction to this classic album. This opener ends with a trail out call back to their previous album, and then launches into the finger licking "Chicken," going into a focus on poking pointed sticks at the squares, chickens, and plastic people, before launching back into full celebratory, both modes fairly bold considering the time, the targeting a bit more comical, direct, and unique than the typically protest songs of this era, and the party tunes simply bold considering the times, far from the first time music offered celebration in trying times, but clearly having some influence on the directions of music of the coming decade. While Jimi Hendrix was almost single handedly creating and setting a standard for the hard rock of the 1970s, at the same time with songs like "Fun," Sly and the Family Stone were doing the same for 1970s hard funk. Sure, when someone makes such sweeping claims, it's bound to open room to interject the names of other artists, but all those other names don't weaken the claims--Sly Stone's claim to fame. The set kicks to the front of the stage from the get go and remains there for the duration. While Hendrix was effectively stretching out the songs with Electric Ladyland in 1968, even with all the innovation, Sly and the Family Stone were keeping the songs punchy and concise, almost all the songs clocking in under the 3 minutes, and the other two clocking in under 3 1/2, songs like "I'm a Animal" weaving into designs that seem custom made for songs that stretch way past the length of the 7" single format, but Sly and the band still cut to the quick, and while so many of these songs seem ready for extended workouts on the stage, they manage to keep it packaged tight, into sticks of dynamite. And that word sums this up quite accurate: this is bundle of DYNAMITE! -- winch (green noise)