Small Talk (Sly and the Family Stone album)

Small Talk
Studio album by Sly & the Family Stone
Released July 1974 (1974-07)
Recorded 1974
Genre Funk/Soul
Length 40:30
Label Epic (PE 32930)
Producer Sly Stone
Sly & the Family Stone chronology
Fresh
(1973)		 Small Talk
(1974)		 High on You
(Sly Stone)
(1975)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Austin Chronicle [2]
Robert Christgau (C)[3]
The Guardian [4]
Let It Rock (favorable)[5]
Rolling Stone [6]
Uncut [7]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Small Talk is the seventh album by Sly & the Family Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records in 1974. This album was the final LP to feature the original Family Stone, which broke up in January 1975.

Small Talk's singles were "Time For Livin'" (the band's final Top 40 hit) and "Loose Booty", an up-tempo funk track which uses the names of Bible characters Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as a chant. Loose Booty was sampled extensively by the Beastie Boys for the song "Shadrach" on their album Paul's Boutique and the Beastie Boys also loosely reworked the track Time for Livin in an punk rock format on their album Check Your Head. Pictured on the album cover with Sly are his then-wife Kathleen Silva and his son Sylvester, Jr. Stone and Silva would divorce within months of this album's release, after being wed at a June 5, 1974 Sly & the Family Stone concert at Madison Square Garden.

Besides its standard stereo release, Small Talk was also released in quadraphonic sound.

Contents

Track listing

All songs written by Sylvester Stewart, save for "Small Talk", written by Sylvester Stewart and W. Silva. All songs produced and arranged by Sly Stone for Fresh Productions.

Side one

  1. "Small Talk" – 3:22
  2. "Say You Will" – 3:19
  3. "Mother Beautiful" – 2:01
  4. "Time For Livin'" – 3:17
  5. "Can't Strain My Brain" – 4:09

Side two

  1. "Loose Booty" – 3:47
  2. "Holdin' On" – 3:39
  3. "Wishful Thinkin'" – 4:26
  4. "Better Thee Than Me" – 3:35
  5. "Livin' While I'm Livin'" – 2:58
  6. "This is Love" – 2:54

CD bonus tracks

Added for 2007 limited edition compact disc reissue:

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Small Talk (Sly and the Family Stone album) at Allmusic
  2. ^ Austin Chronicle
  3. ^ Robert Christgau
  4. ^ The Guaridan
  5. ^ Let It Rock
  6. ^ Rolling Stone
  7. ^ Uncut
Sly and the Family Stone
Studio albums
A Whole New Thing (1967)  • Dance to the Music (1968)  • Life (1968)  • Stand! (1969)  • There's a Riot Goin' On (1971)  • Fresh (1973)  • Small Talk (1974)  • High on You (Sly Stone, 1975)  • Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back (1976)  • Back on the Right Track (1979)  • Ain't But the One Way (1982)  • I'm Back! Family & Friends (Sly Stone, 2011)
Live albums
Compilations
Greatest Hits  • Ten Years Too Soon  • Sly & the Family Stone Anthology  • Who in the Funk Do You Think You Are: The Warner Bros. Recordings  • Rock and Roll  • The Essential Sly & the Family Stone  • Different Strokes by Different Folks  • Higher!  • The Collection
Singles
"Underdog"  • "Dance to the Music"  • "Dance à la Musique"  • "Life"  • "Everyday People"  • "Stand!"  • "Hot Fun in the Summertime"  • "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"  • "I Want to Take You Higher"  • "Family Affair"  • "Runnin' Away"  • "(You Caught Me) Smilin'"  • "I Ain't Got Nobody"  • "If You Want Me to Stay"  • "Frisky"  • "Time for Livin'"  • "Loose Booty"  • "I Get High on You"  • "Le Lo Li"  • "Crossword Puzzle"  • "Blessing in Disguise"  • "Family Again"
Additional personnel
Vet Stone  • Mary McCreary  • Elva Mouton  • Gerry Gibson  • Rustee Allen  • Pat Rizzo  • Andy Newmark  • Bill Lordan  • Vicki Blackwell  • Jim Strassburg  • Dennis Marcellino
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