Sly & The Family Stone: Dance To The Music (Remastered + Expanded) CD Track Listing

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Sly & The Family Stone Dance To The Music (Remastered + Expanded) (1968)
Dance To The Music (Remastered + Expanded)\n2007 Epic/Legacy\n\nOriginally Released April 27, 1968\nCD Edition Released July 18, 1995\nRemastered + Expanded CD Edition Released April 24, 2007\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: After the commercial flop that was 1967's A Whole New Thing, Sly Stone came back to San Francisco and decided-however reluctantly-to give Epic Records what they wanted: a record that could be played on the radio, because both "Underdog" and the ballad "Let Me Hear It From You," couldn't be slotted comfortably anywhere. Sly having been a wildly successful radio DJ, producer (Beau Brummels, Mono Men, Bobby Freeman) and well aware of the possibilities of the new burgeoning FM scene, delivered the big single and he delivered it big. "Dance TO the Music," the album's single and opening cut summed up so much of the history of black music with its references to early rhythm and blues, the big horn charts of Louis Jordan, gospel-'s repetitive phrasing, and the use numerous lead voices in a single tune the way Motown did with its male groups like the Temptations and Four Tops. Add to this the driving funk of James Brown and the sonic elements of the psychedelic era and he had a record that could not miss. The message itself was positive, exuberant and wonderfully memorable. IN addition to the single, which he couldn't quite let go of for the entire album, was "Higher," an early version of "I Want To Take You Higher," and the recycled "Dance To the Music in a 12-minute psychedelic funk jam "Dance To The Medley." In "Ride The Rhythm," the endless references to the pumped up basslines of Larry graham and drummer Greg Errico pointed tot the other obsession of the recording: dancing. In The Summer Of Love, Sly as providing the soundtrack to an endless party. Even in the album's slower moments, such as "Are You Ready," Freddy Stone's absolutely stellar guitar playing against the bassline and drums provided the horns room to slip, pop, and hum in the breaks. There is "filler," but even this stuff is high, quality material. The entire thing is a recording for celebration and deep rhythmic invention. Where black music from the bar walking honks and squawks of R&B saxophonists to the newer more sophisticated sounds of Quincy Jones were being bent and shaped into something entirely new. Listening to it in the dark beginnings of the 21st century as part of Legacy' series of superbly remastered and expanded editions, Dance To The Music brings new directions and points to others. It may be flawed in terms of its insistence on repetition, but there is plenty here to chew on, especially when considering it preceded the true arrival of the band as a whole on Life. -- Thom Jurek\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: (Collector's Box Set) Sly & the Family Stone: The Collection contains the seven albums the group released on Epic Records between 1968 and 1974 (which were recorded between 1967 and 1971). Sony BMG has simply packaged these discs -- A Whole New Thing, Dance to the Music, Life, Stand, There's a Riot Goin' On, Fresh, and Small Talk -- all of which have been completely remastered and contain bonus material and liner essays, all in a slipcase box. They've all been released separately in digipack, so there isn't anything additional to be had. The price point isn't really different either, and given the wildly varying quality of some of these sides, buying the box is for a very specific kind of fan or collector. -- Thom Jurek \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThe foundations of funk..., June 9, 2005\nReviewer: Kyle Mole "Fingers" (U.K.)\nWe put this on @ carnival in 2003 and the whole street came down to us! \n\nThat's the power of this music. The gumbo of RnB/Soul/Gospel/Rock n Roll/the advent of funk/acid swillin' platform stompin' grooves that just won't lay down! \n\nThe whole cd is like one movement. it comes it at around 40 mins, so just stick it in and hit the floor! \n\nThe transfer is crisp and clean, too, making it sound as fresh today as it did almost 40 years ago! Essential funk theories. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nSly, July 26, 2003\nReviewer: Nikki "Silly" (USA)\nSly & The Family Stone are my favorite artist of all time. I have everything they made. I was disappointed at this album only because mostly every song on here sounded to much like the title track. If you are a big Sly fan then get this album, people who don't know where to start, I'd start with the album "Stand!" first.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Pure classic funk album, September 4, 1999\nReviewer: gavinturner@gav2001.freeserve.co.uk (London, UK)\nSurely the best Sly & The Family Stone album ever released? Every track a stomping funk masterpiece. The unbelievably timeless, pounding, grooving, relentless, uplifting funk that is "Dance to the Medley" alone makes the album essential. I listen to that song every day - a true party tune. Get those hands in the air, and wave them like you just don't care. Buy it!\n\n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nSly & The Family Stone: Sly Stone, Larry Graham, Rose, Freddy Stone, Jerry Martini, Cynthia Robinson, Gregg Errico.\n\nProducer: Sly Stone.\nReissue producer: Bob Irwin.\nIncludes liner notes by Al Gee and Sly Stone.\n\nNo group epitomized the turbulent social upheaval of the late '60s more than Sly & The Family Stone. This gender-integrated, multi-ethnic band was led by 23-year-old Sly Stone (aka Sylvester Stewart), a former DJ/producer. On DANCE TO THE MUSIC, whose title track became a Top Ten hit, the group utilized heaping amounts of horns, fuzz guitar, and bottom-heavy bass for a form of modern soul-rock that influenced contemporaries from Miles Davis and George Benson to The Temptations. Sly's legacy later steered the course for funk in the '70s and was a major influence on Prince.\n\nIndustry Reviews\n3 Stars - Good - ...Overall the album is uneven, but its highs are intense, prolonged, ecstatic. Earthy bass and drums put a spring in your step while seductive melodies and horn lines tickle your mind...\nRolling Stone (09/21/1995)\n\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nThe reissue of these long-out-of-print late-'60s albums documents the birth of funk -- the bastard offspring of gutbucket soul and psychedelic rock. The collected early works of Sylvester Stewart, a k a Sly Stone, provide a musical bridge between James Brown's bedrock grooves and George Clinton's cosmic slop. A former DJ and veteran music-biz hustler, Sly is a supernaturally gifted band leader, arranger, player, producer, songwriter and onstage instigator. The lyrics of his catchy choruses tempered uplifting messages with urban reality; his flashy persona and streetwise cool set the style standard for the superbad, superslick early '70s.\n\nThe Family Stone were a comfortable rainbow coalition: Sly's brother Freddie Stone on guitar, sister Rosie on electric piano, cousin Larry Graham on bass and Greg Errico on drums, plus saxophonist Jerry Martini and trumpeter Cynthia Robinson. Their sound was democratic, too: Each instrumental voice was carefully articulated, always in step with the others. Everybody in the group sang, as one crucial Life track puts it, in perfect "Harmony."\n\nA Whole New Thing, the group's 1967 debut, isn't quite the genre-busting exercise its title promises. To contemporary ears, it more closely resembles a slightly. different thing: straight-up, pumping R&B flavored with some freaky trimmings -- a fuzz-tone guitar blurt here ("Run, Run, Run," "Trip to Your Heart") some pointed protest lyrics there ("Underdog," "Dog"). Even when these trappings feel a bit dated, the Family Stone's boundless high energy, tight musicianship and soulful convictions get the motivating message across loud and clear.\n\nTwenty-seven years later, the title track of Dance to the Music provides a sure-fire jolt of pure adrenalin. Overall the album is uneven, but its highs are intense, prolonged, ecstatic. Earthy bass and drums put a spring in your step while seductive melodies and horn lines tickle your mind. Song titles like "Ride the Rhythm" and "Higher" are more than hooks -- they're statements of purpose. And Sly's half-spoken and half-sung band introductions on "Dance to the Music" neatly prefigure the rise of rap. "All we need is a drummer," he declares, "for people who only need a beat."\n\nLife is where Sly's dazzling all-things-to-all-people vision snaps into full focus. "Dynamite!" explodes in a hailstorm of volatile, feedback-laced rock. "Plastic Jim," "Into My Own Thing" and "Love City" connect hippie idealism to wickedly syncopated rhythms. And the joyously hedonistic party numbers -- "Fun," "M'Lady" -- just won't quit. When Sly testifies on "Life," insisting that "you don't have to come down" and "you don't have to die before you live," the ebullient music supports his spiritual tightrope walk.\n\nThe rest, as they say, is history: Sly and the Family Stone's remaining career paralleled the rise and fall of the baby-boom counterculture. They peaked at Woodstock in '69, bottomed out after There's a Riot Goin' On in '71 and eventually broke up. Sly Stone remains a spectral presence on the contemporary scene, a troubling rumor at best, though his profound influence can be felt every time you turn on a radio. While the man may not have survived the '60s intact, surely his music has endured beyond all expectations. (RS 717 -- Sep 21, 1995) -- MARK COLEMAN
This rock cd contains 15 tracks and runs 58min 20sec.
Freedb: d80daa0f
Buy: from Amazon.com

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