Sly and the Family Stone
Stand!

THE REVIEW

What is "Stand!"?

"Stand!" is Sly Stone's attempt, the first real attempt and perhaps the most accomplished. It is the dream, the attempt to spur a people. It is the call to lift your head, not to be discouraged by the daily woes, because all ordinary people must carry crosses at some point. Sly Stone's music is always aimed at the final explosion, a primal crescendo that must end in a resounding burst, shaking the listener. As in the title track, with that stunning funk section and the scream "staaand!!" that blasts loudly, or in the famous "I Want To Take You Higher", where even the brief final instrumental solos stand out. But what matters most is the constant social commitment that echoes in all the songs, disguised as funky soul with largely psychedelic parts, showing us how Sly and company have finally found their way. No more experiments, no more the "completely new thing" of the beginnings, which perhaps was too new even for themselves. It took a few years for the group to focus on its enormous potential, amidst moments of revelry and phases of full creative storm: already in "Life" one could see glimpses of the flashes to come.

But here we are faced with a company of splendid musicians, who have assumed the role, the cross of flag-bearers of black pride (how many times has this definition been overused), against the many injustices that raged in those troubled late '60s. Perhaps after extending an acid ("Don't Call Me Nigger", "Whitey"), or with seemingly innocuous lullabies proclaiming equality - "Every Day People".

What else can be said? That it's impossible not to move your butt when they strike up "I Want To Take You Higher", "You Can Make It If You Try", and "Sing A Simple Song". That Sly sings divinely, like a possessed man on the brink of the end of the world... and Larry Graham, always the same and always perfect, is no less. It's impossible to describe here the drive, the energy, and the conviction, the inspiration that oozes from this album. Rarely has there been such a blend of militant spirituality supported by such a devastating "drive" at certain points. Perhaps only the best Stevie Wonder succeeded, or in some works by Funkadelic; but Sly & the Family Stone stand exactly in the middle between these two giants, and together they represent the triad of funk titans. Anticommercial and musically extreme Funkadelic, excellent in its "commerciality" and its sunny optimism towards the masses Stephenie: thus, we can see Sly Stone as their ideal meeting point.

"Stand!" was released in May 1969, anticipating by four months the furious, fiery performance at Woodstock by the group: a very tight "I Want To Take You Higher", now an almost unrecognizable cousin of the distant "Higher" from "Dance to the Music". It was perhaps the peak of the group, even though the successor "There's a Riot..." may have more punch and immediacy. "Stand!" necessarily requires more listens, but that's because it hides a diffused spirituality, radiates a social commitment that few other works have demonstrated.