Small Talk [Digipak]

Performer: Sly & the Family Stone
Engineer: Tom Flye; Sly Stone; Willie Greer; Roger Dollarhide; Lee Wong
Producer: Brother Freddie Stone; Sly Stone; Bob Irwin (Reissue)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Sly & the Family Stone: Freddie Stone (guitar); Sid Page (violin); Pat Rizzo (flute); Jerry Martini (saxophone); Cynthia Robinson (trumpet); Vet Stewart, Rose Banks (keyboards); Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart, Rusty Allen (bass guitar); Bill Lordan (drums). First released in 1974, by which time the name Sly Stone had become a byword for missed shows and drug dependency, SMALL TALK nevertheless contains some sparks of life. The album's sound is very much in the FRESH mold, with tightly recorded bass and keyboards to the fore, while Stone's vocals, though increasingly wasted-sounding and bolstered by the Little Sister vocal group, still have moments of authority.. As evidenced by the cover picture, and song titles like "Mother Beautiful" and "Time For Livin'," this is one of the artist's mellowest sets, and his gift for assembling uniquely funky tracks is evident on the vintage-sounding "Loose Booty" and the sing-song "Can't Strain My Brain," which carries echoes of FRESH's "If You Want Me to Stay." There's also the fine doo-wop-era throwback of "This Is Love," with Little Sister's vocals recalling a more innocent era, and though the title track's attempts at cutesiness sound a little creepy, there's still enough of the old Sly in these grooves for diehard fans to latch on to. First released in 1974, by which time the name Sly Stone had become a byword for missed shows and drug dependency, SMALL TALK nevertheless contains some sparks of life. The album's sound is very much in the FRESH mold, with tightly recorded bass and keyboards to the fore, while Stone's vocals, though increasingly wasted-sounding and bolstered by the Little Sister vocal group, still have moments of authority.. As evidenced by the cover picture, and song titles like "Mother Beautiful" and "Time For Livin'," this is one of the artist's mellowest sets, and his gift for assembling uniquely funky tracks is evident on the vintage-sounding "Loose Booty" and the sing-song "Can't Strain My Brain," which carries echoes of FRESH's "If You Want Me to Stay." There's also the fine doo-wop-era throwback of "This Is Love," with Little Sister's vocals recalling a more innocent era, and though the title track's attempts at cutesiness sound a little creepy, there's still enough of the old Sly in these grooves for diehard fans to latch on to.

Down Beat (p.68) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here's an overall reflective tone as Stone toys more with balladry."

Sylvester Stewart, known to the world as Sly Stone, had a musical vision that coalesced quickly in the late 1960s and sadly disintegrated after half a decade. As the leader of Sly & the Family Stone, he and his combination hippie commune/soul revue melded funk with psychedelia in a revolutionary manner. Sly's lyrical themes shifted from peace and love to scathing social commentaries that made for some of the strongest political statements of the era. Unfortunately, by the turn of the decade he began to lose himself in a netherworld of drug addiction from which he never really recovered.

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