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"...Different Strokes For
Different Folks..."
I
loved this clever series – five cracking studio albums from 1969 given a tie-in
with the most notorious love-in of 1969 – three days in August that was the legendary
Woodstock Festival. This time up is
the Funk-meisters themselves Sly Stone and his Family of (well) Stoners giving
it different strokes for different folks (shooby dooby-dooby). And a winner it
is too. It wants to take you higher - here are the details...
UK
released August 2009 - "Stand! The Woodstock Experience" by SLY and THE FAMILY
STONE on Epic/Legacy 88697 482412 (Barcode 886974824121) is 2CD Limited Edition Set with the "Stand!"
album on CD1 (no Bonus Tracks) and the Previously Unreleased complete Sly and
The Family Stone Woodstock Performance on Sunday, 17 August 1969 on CD2. Inside
a Card Slipcase (a Series of Five Releases, see list below) – you get two Mini
LP Oversized Card Repro Sleeves – the Live Set being new and a fold-out poster
for The Woodstock Festival. It plays out as follows:
CD1 "Stand!" (41:42 minutes):
Side
1
1.
Stand! (3:10 minutes)
2.
Don't Call Me N*****, Whitey (5:59 minutes)
3.
I Want To Take You Higher (5:24 minutes)
4.
Somebody's Watching You (3:21 minutes)
5.
Sing A Simple Song (3:57 minutes)
Side
2
6.
Everyday People (2:22 minutes)
7.
Sex Machine (13:48 minutes)
8.
You Can Make It If You Try (3:43 minutes)
Tracks
1 to 8 are their fourth studio album "Stand!" – released April 1969 in the USA
on Epic BN 26456 (Stereo only) and July 1969 in the UK on Direction 8-63655
(Stereo only). Charting 3 May 1969 and Produced by SLY STONE – the album peaked
at No. 3 on the US Billboard R&B charts and No. 13 on the US Billboard Rock
LP charts (didn't chart UK).
CD2
(50:18 minutes):
"Recorded
Live At The Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Sunday, August 17, 1969"
1.
M' Lady
2.
Sing A Simple Song
3.
You Can Make It If You Try
4.
Everyday People
5.
Dance To The Music
6.
MEDLEY: Music Lover/Higher
7.
I Want To Take You Higher
8.
Love City
9.
Stand!
Tracks
1 to 4 and 7 to 9 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED; Tracks 5 and 6 first appeared on
the original 1970 US 3LP set "Woodstock: Music From The Original Soundtrack And
More" on Cotillion SD 3-500.
Visually
all five of these celebrationary 2CD sets are properly gorgeous. The impact of
the two oversized Mini LP Card Sleeves in their thick Matt feel covers (each
has an inner too with new liner notes) is immediate and pleasing. You kind of
wish Sony would have done the same with other important releases on their
impressive roster. The two-sided fold out poster is the same in each issue –
the artist on one side with a generic Woodstock crowd photo on the other side –
still it looks the part. VIC ANESINI did the tremendous Remasters – a name
across huge swathes of the Sony catalogue – Santana, Paul Simon, Blood, Sweat
& Tears, Aerosmith, Carole King, Mott The Hoople, Elvis Presley, Stevie Ray
Vaughan and many more.
Niggles
- immediately you notice with the album that the rather tasty Five Bonus Tracks
that were on the April 2007 Legacy Edition CD Reissue and Remaster are AWOL
from CD1 – three Mono single versions – "Stand!", "I Want To Take You Higher" and "You Can Make It If You Try" (unissued Mono mix) plus the then Unreleased
outtakes "Soul Clappin' II" and the Instrumental "My Brain (Zig-Zag)" – shame
that when there was obviously room. I can understand however the need to keep
the album sans embellishments.
But
that said – the album still impresses. Has there every been a more impressive
social statement vs. fun vs. booty-shaking 45-single like "Everybody People"
– its socially conscious lyrics reflecting the turmoil of America 1969. May 2016
saw Playing For Change do one of their famous star-laden videos for "Everybody
People" with Musicians Jack Johnson, Keb Mo, Paula Fuga, Jason Mraz, Bernie
Williams and Paula Abdul aided by Actors Tim Robbins, Alfre Woodard, Forest Whittaker and
more. It's clocked up nearly 3-million views in 2023 and comments of
being moved to tears are frequent. Back to the music...the near 14-minute instrumental "Sex Machine" that dominates Side 2 feels like a James Brown
funk-showcase – the band showing off as they go from smooth Soul to P-Funk in one
long chunk. But I prefer the LP-ender "You Can Make It If You Try" – melody,
smart lyrics, the whole vibe just great and still cool after all these decades.
With
feedback and equipment issues (Sly talks of this on stage), it is not
surprising that the first four tracks on CD2 remained in the can. But make no
mistake – the Remaster has brought out the tightness, confidence and sheer
stage-storming power of the band. "Sing A Simple Song" has them cooking as they
yah-yah and big mama the crowd into submission. Given this notorious concert, the
audio on the live "You Can Make It If You Try" is shockingly good – the brass
and funky Bass and Drums hitting your speakers with as much clarity as you
could hope given the setting of August 1969. At last the 2:22 minutes of "Everybody
People" on the album (always been too short) gets stretched out to 4:25 minutes
live with enthusiastic crowd clapping. The album had been released in April
1969 on Epic Records to acclaim and the "Everyday People" 45-single issued in February 1969 had instantly
climbed to No. 1 R&B and made huge impacts. So without a break, Sly takes
no stopping chances and segues the song immediately into a MEDLEY where he does
his slick-showman damnedest to get the crowd throwing up peace signs.
The
band is cooking by the time they get to the boom-lakka-lakka call and response
of "I Want To Take You Higher" – Harmonica Funk shaking the stage while the
brass and guitars of "Love City" from their November 1968 album "Life" talks of
long hair and people singing – a message that chimes with the audience. Sly
brings it all home with a near Gospel rendition of the album's title track "Stand" – a nice version
that brings out the sheer musicality in the song.
I
bought all five of these "Woodstock Experience" twofers and am so glad I did. Take me higher baby...
The five 2009 titles in "The
Woodstock Experience" Series
1.
Jefferson Airplane - uses the "Volunteers" album and has an 8-track
live album recorded 17 Aug 1969
Catalogue
No: RCA/Legacy 88697 48240 2 (Barcode 886974824022)
2.
Janis Joplin - uses the "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!" debut
album and has a 10-track live album recorded 17 Aug 1969
Catalogue
No: Columbia/Legacy 88697 48243 2 (Barcode 886974824329)
3.
Santana - uses the "Santana" debut album and has an 8-track live
album recorded Saturday 16 Aug 1969
Catalogue
No: Columbia/Legacy 88697 48242 2 (Barcode 886974824220)
4.
Sly & The Family Stone - uses the "Stand!" album and has a 9-track
live disc recorded 17 Aug 1969
Catalogue
No: Epic/Legacy 88697 48241 2 (Barcode 886974824121)
5.
Johnny Winter - uses the "Johnny Winter" album and has an 8-track
live disc recorded 17 Aug 1969
Catalogue
No: Columbia/Legacy 88697 48244 2 (Barcode 886974824428)
