The Essential 2003 Album

Sly & The Family Stone

This 2-disc set nicely stitches together the more accessible version of Sly from the late 60's with the complicated misfit who struggled with stardom in the early 70's. Nowhere is this more evident than midway through the second disc, where you encounter "Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa", Stone's painfully biting and forlorn mockery of his 1970 hit "Thank You Fallettin Be Mice Elf Agin", complete with backing vocals and moans straight from a haunted house. Arguably the most compelling artist who emerged from the late 60's - simply because there was so much momentum behind him - Essential accurately documents the rapid rise and fall of the group, and Sly.