![\"SLY-AND-THE-FAMILY-STONE-M-Review-No28\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SLY-AND-THE-FAMILY-STONE-M-Review-No28.jpg\")
\u00a0BOX SET<\/b><\/p>\n\u00a0BOX SET<\/b><\/p>\nSLY AND THE FAMILY STONE<\/b><\/h1>\n
Higher!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
[Epic\/Legacy]<\/p>\n
Is it possible, after all these years, there\u2019s more to the story of Sly and the Family Stone? Apparently so, as the groundbreaking interracial, mixed-gender, funk\/soul\/rock juggernaut left behind enough loose ends to fill these four CDs. Much of Higher!<\/i> consists of mono masters of singles and album tracks, some significantly different (more punch, less air) than their stereo counterparts, others not. Hardcore fans jonesing for the mono masters of 1967\u2019s \u201cDance to the Music\u201d or \u201971\u2019s \u201cLuv N\u2019 Haight\u201d now know where to find them, and key (if marginal) album tracks from throughout the group\u2019s run round out the track list.<\/p>\n
But the real fun\u2014as is often the case with such comprehensive collections\u2014is in discovering that which was previously unknown. Sly Stone and company recorded prolifically, especially early in their career, and what\u2019s surprising\u2014or maybe not, considering the level of talent\u2014is that virtually none of the cutting-room-floor material feels slight or tossed off. Of the four previously unreleased tracks on disc one, \u201cI Remember\u201d proves particularly monumental, as bars of naked vocals and lonesome gospel organ alternate with blaring psychedelic soul-rock. \u201cWonderful World of Color\u201d and \u201cFeathers,\u201d a pair of 1968 instrumentals found on disc three, are the work of a band capable of writing crisp arrangements and yet wailing with abandon when they felt like it. A sprinkling of live tracks reinforces the notion that this was one of the most dynamic performing outfits ever, and a handful of Sly\u2019s\u00a0\u201964-\u201965 pre-Family Stone singles suggest big ideas were already percolating in the mind of the genius then known\u00a0as Sylvester Stewart. \u2013Jeff T.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0BOX SET SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE Higher! [Epic\/Legacy] Is it possible, after all these years, there\u2019s more to the story of Sly and the Family Stone? Apparently so, as the groundbreaking interracial, mixed-gender, funk\/soul\/rock juggernaut left behind enough loose ends to fill these four CDs. Much of Higher! consists of mono masters of singles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[196,7022,7021,6978,7020],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10585,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10583\/revisions\/10585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}