The Psychedelic Funk/Rock/Soul band Sly & The Family Stone released “Life” as their third album in 1968. It was their second album of the year, and so saw minimal musical progression from the band that to this day still get sampled in the Hip Hop world and covered by R&B musicians.
1. “Dynamite!”
Getting the album underway you see that they get down to one which has them driving down something which was heard on their last album as you have one which appears to take on the style which was prominent in the Pop-based work coming out of Motown at this time. I wasn’t all that into it, but I can see the appeal in the uplifting song.
**Two Stars**
2. “Chicken”
Here you have the topic of the music continue through into this ne as they perform on which concerns what kind of girls they see and how they tend to be reluctant to get into relationships with people such as themselves. It has them performing in a style which was typical of the Blues Rock scene of the time, and again it wasn’t something I was
feeling as the music was pretty generic.
**Two Stars**
3. “Plastic Jim”
Here you find them going for an up-tempo one which has tem guiding by Gregg Orrico’s frantic drum work as they do one which has them going hard on the people in society who they would consider to be rather fake. The structure is quite rigid here, and opposed to the Psychedelic work they were known for, so it stands out, but wasn’t quite getting to the best of the album yet.
On this one you have them getting down for a freaky little jam which has them composition altered to some degree as you here that the musician who are most prominent tend to be those behind the brass wind seem to be the ones who bring life to the music, but it seemed to neglect the rest of the song with a song which didn’t really lift the mood in the way it should of and so prevented it from lifting at all.
**Two Stars**
5. “Into My Own Thing”
Although you probably won’t recognise the song itself, the opening hook it will certainly be familiar to you as it was used later by Fatboy Slim, and it cause you to take notice as they seems to get down to more of the Psychedelic work which was absent from all the others prior to it, and shows that they are very strong when in the freeform style, just as they have come with lots of more plainly-constructed ones.
**Four Stars**
6. “Harmony”
This one bring about immediate comparisons with the 1970 Jackson 5 song “ABC” as it appears that they took much of this for their own song with lots of the lyrics taken directly from this song as they perform one which has them doing one of the more exciting ones in the Motown-esque manner with Sly Stone singing one which could have easily been hear din a song by a key act from the Detroit label.
**Four Stars**
7. “Life”
The eponymous song to the album is one which has them letting loose with one which really stands out as they begin it with trumpeting which seems to get down to some circus-styled work where they do something much freer and it comes across in this way, but it doesn’t really make for that good of a song though.
**Two Stars**
8. “Love City”
This is a trakc which has them getting down to one which simply asks for unity. It is a powerful one, adn a felt that the energy from it came from the funky way in which Gregg Errico does his drumming and constructs and freaky solo piece midway through to bring up the moods of all and just get you to a state where you can’t dwell on past material which wasn’t really all that appealing.
**Four Stars**
9. I’m An Animal”
Despite being just over three minutes long, this is in fact the longest song on the album, and it appears that with this added to time in this one, you are able to get a much more complete recording where they are able to progress through it with a few different tempos and approaches through it as they get to some more Funk-based work.
**Four Stars**
10. “M’Lady”
This is a fun track form them and one which really gets them pulling out all that they failed to bring in the first half of the album as they do one which has them dealing with the same sort of topics as the opening songs, but does it to more modern production as they are backed by a many more instruments, including wah-wah to bring in the Funk elements.
**Four Stars**
11. “Jane Is A Groupee”
Ending the album, you see that for this one they perform one which, as the title indicates has them performing one where they focus in on talking about the kind of girls who just have no life and sped their time trying to chase after people such as themselves. I wouldn’t have said it was the best way to end the album, but it isn’t as weak as some of the others.
**Three Stars**
Just as with all of their early album releases, this is a hugely inconsistent album from the band and it really doesn’t have that much more to offer when compared to the last album which they brought out as it has them infrequently getting down tot he extremes (such as Rock and Funk) and making the more plain work more prominent within this album.
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Dynamite! Chicken Plastic Jim Fun Into My Own Thing Harmony Life Love City I'm An Animal ... more
M'Lady Jane Is A Groupee Dynamite! (single version mono) (bonus track) Seven More Days (previously unreleased) (bonus track) Pressure (previously unreleased) (bon...
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