Sly and the Family Stone
Dance to the Music

We are in 1967, the so-called "Summer of Love" takes off from San Francisco, and the Hippie counterculture begins to spread throughout the rest of the United States and Europe, preaching peace, love, brotherhood, and absolute freedom while, in the meantime, the Vietnam War and, in the background, the Cold War continue incessantly under the command of American President Johnson. Despite a decidedly difficult context, 1967 will be a particularly fruitful year for music: during that period albums like "The Piper at The Gates of Dawn" by Pink Floyd, "The Who Sell Out" by The Who, the first two albums by The Doors, and many, many other masterpieces are released.

In 1967, however, the debut of Sly & The Family Stone is also published, the band led by Sly Stone (real name Sylvester Stewart), a multi-instrumentalist and the principal composer of the band. The album in question, entitled "A Whole New Thing," did not achieve particular commercial success nor was it very well received by critics and thus went unnoticed. Despite this false start, Sly Stone was encouraged to get back to work immediately and, on the advice of record producer Clive Davis, he decided to take the basic features of the first album (funk/soul with psychedelic traits) and make them more commercial and appealing to the public. The result was this "Dance To The Music."

Despite the unwilling attitude of composer Stone, who, after the debut flop, was not very convinced of a possible success of a follow-up, "Dance To The Music" had a great and unexpected reception: propelled towards commercial triumph by the title track, the band's first real hit, this album contains several priceless pearls, both in quality and historically; whether it is the aforementioned title track, the explosive 12 minutes of "Dance To The Medley," the seminal "Higher" (which will have a follow-up in "Stand!" with the track "I Want To Take You Higher"), or any other track, one is faced with an absolutely top-level work, especially considering that in these pieces one can notice the first signals of the funky trend that will see its most flourishing period in the '70s and of which Sly & The Family Stone, along with other artists like James Brown and Funkadelic, will be the pioneers and leading figures. The almost crazy guitar of Freddie Stone (Sly's brother) and the pulsating and decisive bass of Larry Graham (inventor, by the way, of the slap technique) form a perfect combination with the various keyboards, pianos, organs, trumpets, and saxophones, a complete and inspired base on which the voices of the Stone family and, occasionally, Graham unfold; this blend made of soul and R&B with hints of psychedelia gives life to 40 minutes of the highest level and without a single idle moment, fascinating and compelling. Regarding the lyrics, one can notice how Stone had not yet fully developed the pacifist and "messianic" claims that, instead, will be protagonists in later works. No fundamental message is filtered through the songs, no attempt is made to spread the philosophy and ideas prevailing during the Summer of Love, rather the album is infused with a general lightness and a sort of detachment from the events of that period, a surprising fact considering the particular historical context in which "Dance To The Music" was conceived.

This record therefore represents the first true step of the group on the path that will lead Sly Stone and his "family" towards the Olympus of modern music, a milestone that will be reached and even surpassed by subsequent works, with the more well-known "Stand!" and "There's a Riot Goin' On" leading the way. Although it is qualitatively inferior to its renowned successors, this album does not deserve to be forgotten, on the contrary, "Dance To The Music" remains a fundamental and praiseworthy work, whose only fault is, if we will, to be a masterpiece less "masterpiece" compared to other albums that are difficult to surpass. A fault that is easily forgiven.

Get on up, music is alive!