Sly & The Family Stone interviews, articles and reviews from Rock's Backpages

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, November 1974

BY SLY'S SLUGGISH standards, it's not that long since the last album, Fresh; maybe married life has given him a creative surge. ...

Sly and the Family Stone: Bournemouth Opera House

Live Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, August 2007

YOU'RE A LIFE-LONG fan of a band that fell apart long before you were old enough to see them play. Suddenly, you hear that the ...

"The Topless Came In So I Quit, Says Sly.."

Interview by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, August 1968

IT’S NOT every group that can boast a girl trumpeter, but Sly and the Family Stone can — and do. An unusual feature in what ...

The Isle of Wight Festival: 5 Days of Peace, Music and Love

Report by uncredited writer, Mick Farren, International Times, September 1970

2011 note: this report on the 1970 IoW festival is led off by Mick Farren but includes contributions by other, unnamed IT writers. The title ...

Sly & The Family Stone: Lyceum Ballroom, London

Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, October 1970

THE APPEARANCE in London of the much-heralded exponents and instigators of psychedelic soul – only their second ever British date; the first being at the ...

Soul reviews

Review by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 1971

Ike and Tina Turner: Hammersmith Odeon, LondonSly and the Family Stone: Greatest Hits (Epic) ...

Soul Brothers: Al Green, Sly Stone, Van Morrison

Review by Charlie Gillett, Cream, January 1972

IS THE REVIEWER supposed to come to each record as an objective analyst? Or, if he isn’t one, must he pretend he is? Impossible for ...

Sly & The Family Stone: There's A Riot Goin' On (Epic)

Review by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972

SYLVESTER STEWART and Sly Stone (OK so you know they're one and the same but the sleeve credits insist this album was written, arranged and ...

Sly Stone & the Family Stone: There's A Riot Goin' On (Epic)

Review by John Morthland, Creem, February 1972

AS MANY HAVE noted, Sly Stone's style revolves around so many factors that it may, paradoxically enough, be as limited as it is ground-breaking. Combine ...

Sly & The Family Stone: Fresh (Epic)

Review by Jonh Ingham, NME, May 1973

SLY IS an interesting enigma. Top soul dj-turned-musician, he singlehandedly influenced the course of soul music with a sound that owed more to acid than ...

Sly & The Family Stone: Fresh (Epic)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, June 1973

Sly (just being mice elf again) ...

Wet City: Sly and Company Live in London

Report by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, July 1973

LIKE THE WEATHER, the music at London’s White City on Sunday was a mixture of fair and foul. ...

Sly & The Family Stone: White City, London

Live Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, August 1973

"SLY STONE to appear at White City Festival". After reading various articles concerning Sly Stone, you imagine the feeling of reading this headline. ...

Sly & The Family Stone: The Palladium, Los Angeles

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, November 1973

HOLLYWOOD: Will he? Won't he? Will he? Won't he? Sly Stone's reputation is too firmly etched for these questions not to be asked when he's ...

Sly Stone: Super Sly

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, June 1974

HE EXTENDED A HAND but looked elsewhere. Who could tell where his eyes focused beneath those silver shades? He gripped and I felt pain through ...

Sly Stone: Small Talk (Epic)

Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, August 1974

THIS RECORD IS more to be appreciated in the mind than enjoyed by the ears – at least when this particular mind and set of ...

Sly Stone Finds Domestic Bliss with Small Talk

Profile and Interview by Michael Gross, Circus, September 1974

Two years ago, Sly Stone's future looked bleak. Now, after an acclaimed album, a woman, and a son have come his way, Sly's entire life ...

Larry Graham: Platform For Station

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, January 1975

OAKLAND: Few people can ever have listened to a Sly Stone record without experiencing a gut feeling as the bass guitar runs through its paces, ...

Sly Stone: Back On The Right Track/Sly & the Family Stone: Ten Years Too Soon

Review by Paul Rambali, NME, November 1979

FILED SIDE by side, those titles read like the bookends of a wasted decade. In their predictably loud, plain language they seem to say that ...

Stone Free: Sly Stone

Profile by Simon Witter, i-D, December 1987

Sly Stone, one of the first and greatest international black superstars, has survived unimaginable amounts of sex and drugs to be with us today. As ...

The Pink Hippopotamus, The Ferry Godmother and Ilili (A Non-Fiction Fairy Tale): David Kapralik in 1996

Profile by Al Aronowitz, Blacklisted Masterpieces of Al Aronowitz, The, 1996

THE DAY HE GETS OUT of the hospital from his third suicide attempt, Dave Kapralik is ready to try to snuff himself again. He's got ...

On The Record: Sly & the Family Stone