160. Sly & The Family Stone - Stand!

Artist: Sly & The Family Stone
Album: Stand!
Year: 1969

Here's an album that really feels like a melting pot of styles. There's a heaping dose of soul, some R&B, some jazzy horns, some pop, some psychedelia (particularly in the Hendrix-like guitar parts)--all of which combine to make one of the first proper "funk" albums.

For me, there were some things that worked well here, and others that fell completely flat. The hippie anthem "Everyday People" finds a nice groove with a solid pop melody--even if its message is extremely facile by today's standards. "You Can Make It If You Try" succeeds even more...it's bursting with catchy little melodies and every member of the band gets a turn to shine. "Stand" follows a similar formula with a high level of success. So for me, the pop moments are the ones that worked best on this record.

I cannot recommend this album to anyone, however, due to the fact that most of the rest of the album was so appallingly awful. "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey" might be the single worst "song" I've heard in 160 albums. It's basically 6 minutes worth of the title line being repeated over and over again, with the last two words of the title being flip-flopped sometimes. It devolves into some kind of jam that goes absolutely nowhere. It is insanely annoying. There are few songs out there that flat out annoy me, and that I can't find any redeeming quality in. This is one of them. But that's not even the worst on the album. "Sex Machine" is even worse. For a full fucking fourteen minutes this thing meanders aimlessly and repetitively. C'mon man. I got 841 more albums to listen to. I can't be blowing 15 minutes on this useless crap.

Overall, I think I've made myself clear on this one. The poppy stuff on this album is good, adding a new sort of sound to the musical landscape, which helps make up for the lyrics (which could have been penned by your average third grader). The jams here are insipid and even worse, extremely dull and repetitive. I like droning music every now and then, but it's gotta actually work at bringing me under its spell to actually like it...which this did not do. I really, really hope this is the last I've heard from this band, because I really don't think I can make it through another "Sex Machine" again.

Rating: Avoid