Life (Sly & the Family Stone album)
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| Life | ||
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| Studio album by Sly & the Family Stone | ||
| Released | September 1968 | |
| Recorded | San Francisco Bay Area, California; summer 1968 | |
| Genre | Psychedelic soul/funk | |
| Length | 34:16 | |
| Label | Epic BN 26397 |
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| Producer(s) | Sly Stone | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| Sly & the Family Stone chronology | ||
| Dance to the Music (1968) |
Life (1968) |
Stand! (1969) |
- For other uses, see Life (album).
Life was the third album by Sly & the Family Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records in 1968.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Unlike its predecessor, Dance to the Music, Life was not a commercial success, although it has received mostly positive reviews from music critics over the years. Many of its songs, including "M'Lady", "Fun", "Love City", and the title track became popular staples of the Sly & the Family Stone live show.
A middle ground between the A Whole New Thing and the more commercial Dance to the Music, Life features very little use of studio effects, and is instead more driven by frontman Sly Stone's compositions. Topics for the album's songs include the dating scene ("Dynamite!", "Chicken", "M'Lady"), groupies ("Jane is a Groupee"), and "plastic" (or "fake") people ("Plastic Jim"). Of partiular note is that the Family Stone's main themes of unity and integration are explored here in several songs ("Fun", "Harmony", "Life", and "Love City"). The next Family Stone LP, Stand!, would focus almost exclusively on these topics.
Much of Life has been heavily sampled for hip hop and electronica recordings, particularly Gregg Errico's drum solo on "Love City". The opening riff on "Into My Own Thing" was sampled for Fatboy Slim's 2001 hit "Weapon of Choice".
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Sylvester Stewart, and produced and arranged by Sly Stone for Stone Flower Productions.
[edit] Side one
- "Dynamite!" – 2:46
- "Chicken" – 2:14
- "Plastic Jim" – 3:31
- "Fun" – 2:23
- "Into My Own Thing" – 2:15
- "Harmony" – 2:52
[edit] Side two
- "Life" – 3:02
- "Love City" – 2:44
- "I'm An Animal" – 3:20
- "M'Lady" – 2:46
- "Jane is a Groupee" – 2:50
[edit] CD bonus track
- "Only One Way Out Of This Mess" (3:51, added for 1995 compact disc rerelease)
[edit] Personnel
- Sly Stone: vocals, organ, guitar, piano, harmonica, and more
- Freddie Stone: vocals, guitar
- Larry Graham: vocals, bass guitar
- Rosie Stone: vocals, piano, keyboard
- Cynthia Robinson: trumpet, vocal ad-libs
- Jerry Martini: saxophone
- Greg Errico: drums
- Little Sister (Vet Stone, Mary McCreary, Elva Mouton): background vocals
[edit] Sample
- "Life" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
