ALBUM: Anthology (1983)
MVC Rating: 4.5/$$$$$
Before there was Prince and the Revolution there was Sly and the Family Stone. They both had an integrated band black, white, female, male and played tight funk, rock and soul music.
Think of Prince singing ‘When Doves Cry’ and that opening just before the guitar beat when Prince goes ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’ in what can only be described as air pushed from his lungs through a vocal chord strung very tight. It sounds like he opens his mouth and out come the whirring sound of cicadas.
Sly sang a whole song in that mode: ‘If You Want Me to Stay.’ Well, maybe not the whole song but surely you remember Sly snapping out ‘got to get the message over to you now’ (in that cicada voice). He carries the voice down down before going way far back up to scat sing in a falsetto. Prince uses this technique a lot.
The point being. What does the point be? The point being that Prince was heavily influenced by Sly Stone and they both were influenced by Little Richard, James Brown, and to a degree Jimi Hendrix (especially in style and presence).
My album is an anthology in chronological order. It has their numerous hits –Everyday People, Family Affair, and Dance to the Music. But it also has some deeper album cuts that tend toward harder extended-play funk like ‘Sing a Simple Song.’
Music critic Joel Selvin wrote (according to Wikipedia): “..there are two types of black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly Stone.”
Sadly, in the 1980s Sly descended into darkness, drugs, and homelessness. Just like everyday people.