Sly & The Family Stone - 1969 - Stand

Sly & The Family Stone

1969

Stand

01. Stand! 3:10

02. Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey 5:59

03. I Want To Take You Higher 5:24

04. Somebody's Watching You 3:21

05. Sing A Simple Song 3:57

06. Everyday People 2:22

07. Sex Machine 13:48

08. You Can Make It If You Try 3:43

Bonus Tracks

09.Stand! (Single Version In Mono) 3:09

10. I Want To Take You Higher (Single Version In Mono) 3:02

11. You Can Make It If You Try (Unissued Single Version In Mono) 3:40

12. Soul Clappin' II 3:27

13. My Brain (Zig-Zag) 3:18

Bass, Vocals – Larry Graham

Drums – Gregg Errico

Guitar, Vocals – Freddie Stone

Keyboards, Vocals – Rose Stone

Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards – Sly Stone

Saxophone, Vocals – Jerry Martini

Trumpet – Cynthia Robinson

The testament of any historically important work of art is that its impact transcends time. By this measure, “Stand” by Sly and the Family Stone is one for the ages. Originating from the San Francisco Bay Area, Sly and the Family Stone was led by Sylvester “Sly Stone” Stewart and featured Rose Stewart (vocal/keyboards), Freddie Stewart (vocals/guitar), Larry Graham (vocals, bass), Greg Errico (drums), Cynthia Robinson (vocals, trumpet), and Jerry Martini (saxophone). The band had already reached the top of the charts in 1967 with the song “Dance to the Music” and although Sly could have taken the sure path to continued commercial success, his consciousness had been awakened by the political environment and social transformation upending the country during the countercultural and civil rights movements.

Being a band of musicians who were black and white, men and women, Sly and the Family Stone embodied the promise and the pain of the country during the Sixties. They encountered racism in many places they performed. They exemplified the youth of the countercultural movement in embracing peace and empowering women. They witnessed the stride toward the New Frontier in 1960 and the lights going out in Camelot in 1963. They watched Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. share his dream with thousands on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 and reeled from the nightmare of his assassination in Memphis in 1968. 

“Stand” was a soundtrack for these turbulent times. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation as a matter of law but integrating the county and ensuring everyone’s equal treatment was easier said than done. Riots erupted in dozens of American cities in 1967 and, in 1968, the Kerner Commission (appointed by President Johnson) detailed the sobering reality of what was happening to the country: “We have visited the riot cities; we have heard many witnesses; we have sought the counsel of experts across the country. This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal.” “Stand,” released in May 1969, was an exhortation to American society to change direction. The album’s opening salvo, the title track, begins with an attention-grabbing drum roll and calls for people to move from the sidelines to the front lines, from being bystanders to agents of change. “Everyday People” called out the class and color lines that were long overdue to be erased with a shout of “we got to live together.” “Stand” was also a salve for the nation’s shell shocked psyche with songs like “Sing a Simple Song” and “You Can Make It If You Try” encouraging people to hold on to hope and persevere.

Musically, “Stand” is a blend of infectious dance, swampy blues, and gospel inflections brewed in a potent funk that calls forth ancestors and a new generation alike. Listeners took to the message and the music. “Everyday People” was the number one song in America for four weeks in 1969 and “Stand” went on to sell two million copies. “Stand” sounds so familiar today because Sly Stone influenced everyone who came after him (most notably Michael Jackson and Prince, who in turn influenced everyone from Beyoncé to Bruno Mars). Sly and the Family Stone laid the foundation for interracial, mixed gender, genres panning bands from the Jimi Hendrix Experience to Fleetwood Mac; from Prince and the Revolution to Alabama Shakes. “Stand” was a revolutionary leap forward in artistry and it’s an album we are still learning from today.

By the tail-end of the Sixties, Sly and The Family Stone were riding about as high as anybody could. The group topped the American pop charts (no mean feat), performed for many the show stealing performance at Woodstock and were continually lauded for their grounbreaking synthesis of Soul/Funk and Rock, releasing songs that were irresistably catchy, lyrically savvy and dancable. For whatever reason, though, the Family Stone (especially in Britain) are a footnote in many people's musical history, whereas they should have chapters dedicated to them straight after Elvis, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Their music is rich, deep and complex and I don't think any other album by the band depicts the truth of this more immediately than 'Stand'.

Right from the off we are assaulted with this wonderful combination of soul, funk, pop, rock, etc not coming at us seperately or diversely, but all at once in that blended way that the best and most inventive bands offer. Just Listen. 'Everyday People' is still one of the freshest sounding, upbeat, cheerful songs ever recorded. It bounces along in a spirit of optimism and the chorus hits us like a blast of sunshine. 'Stand' is also imbued with a sense of positivity before morphing into a funk-fest during the coda. 'Don't Call, Me N****r, Whitey' is a brutally funky, lyrically inventive song that looked at things from both sides of the racial divide. It would have acted as a real musical jolt at the time and is still surprising today. The band can hit hard ('Sing A Simple Song'), do playful sounding (albeit lyrically sinister) pop, ('Somebody's Watching You') and build a groove so relentless that you won't even notice until your trance breaks ('I Wanna Take you Higher').

Sly Stone hit his songwriting peak at this point and the album was shortly followed by a couple of fantastic singles and b-sides in 'Everybody Is A Star', 'Hot Fun In the Summertime' and arguably the group's finest and most influential moment with 'Thank You...'(listen to the bass). Those songs aren't here but are essential to what the group did at the time. What they recorded after this period was just as groundbreaking with the slower, bubbling, complex rhythms and grooves of 'There's A Riot...'and 'Fresh', but it's the far ranging sounds and sheer excitement imparted in this record that sets it (barely) just above those others. It's influence on black music for the following decade is as profound as that of James Brown and as a piece of music in it's own right, deserves to be sat alongside all those records of the period (Sgt Pepper, Let It Bleed, Blond On Blonde, Electric Ladyland, etc, etc, etc) that are afforded the position of 'classic' in our shared musical consciousness. It is criminal that this album has to be sought out, it should be rammed down our throats. It's that good.