Sly & The Family Stone

The tumultuous hitmaking career of Sly & The Family Stone continues to reverb¬erate in every single genre of contemporary music – from pop and R&B to hip-hop and jazz – more than three decades after the group’s last appearance on the Top 40 charts.

The groundbreaking saga of Sly & The Family Stone was played out over the course of their seven original studio albums on Epic Records, recorded and released between 1967 and 1974: A WHOLE NEW THING (1967), DANCE TO THE MUSIC (1968), LIFE (1968), STAND! (1969), THERE’S A RIOT GOIN’ ON (1971), FRESH (1973), and SMALL TALK (1974). Those albums are considered the Rosetta Stone of funk, the big bang of psychedelic soul, and the seminal foundation of Black Rock. And now, 40 years on from Sly’s original signing to Epic, the catalog is being upgraded to a level worthy of these timeless classics.

For the first (and last!) time, newly remastered, numbered expanded editions will be issued of all seven albums – with multiple (four to seven) bonus tracks on each CD (a total of 33 bonus tracks, 21 of them previously unreleased) and brand new liner notes written by some of today’s top music journalists. The seven albums will be manufactured in a strict limited edition run of custom digipaks, and they will not be re-pressed when they sell out. All seven albums will arrive in stores April 10th on Epic/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. Additionally, the seven titles will be available as a numbered, limited-edition box set.

All seven albums were produced for reissue by Bob Irwin, and were mastered by Vic Anesini at Sony Music Studios in New York. An overview of the seven albums’ contents is as follows:

• A WHOLE NEW THING (released late-1967), with “Trip To Your Heart,” “Run, Run, Run,” five bonus tracks including mono single versions of the B-sides “Let Me Hear It From You” and “Underdog,” plus a previously unreleased instrumental track; with original liner notes by San Francisco-Oakland DJ John Hardy and new liner notes by Bud Scoppa;

• DANCE TO THE MUSIC (1968), with the Top 10 title hit, six bonus tracks including mono single versions of “Dance To the Music” and “Higher,” and three previously unreleased tracks (including Otis Redding’s “Can’t Turn You Loose”); with original liner notes by Sly and New York DJ Al Gee, and new liner notes by Greg Tate;

• LIFE (1968), with the title tune single b/w “M’Lady,” four bonus tracks including a mono single version of “Dynamite!” and three previously unreleased tracks; with original liner notes by New York DJ Rosko, and new liner notes by Ben Edmonds;

• STAND! (1969), breakthrough album with the string of hits “Every¬day People,” “Sing A Simple Song,” “Stand!” and “I Want To Take You Higher,” five bonus tracks including three mono single versions and two previously unreleased tracks; with new liner notes by England’s Barney Hoskyns;

• THERE’S A RIOT GOIN’ ON (1971), landmark #1 album with “Family Affair,” “Runnin’ Away,” and “(You Caught Me) Smilin’,” four bonus tracks including one mono single version and three previously unreleased instrumental tracks; with new liner notes by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Joel Selvin;

• FRESH (1973), with “If You Want Me To Stay,” “Frisky,” “If It Were Left Up To Me,” and “Que Sera, Sera” (the only cover in Sly’s entire original album catalog), five bonus tracks – all alternate mixes of unreleased album masters; with new liner notes by Toure;

• SMALL TALK (1974), the group’s final Epic album, with “Time For Livin’” and “Loose Booty,” four previously unreleased bonus tracks including three alternate versions; with original liner notes by Steve Lake of Melody Maker, and new liners by Alex Stimmel

The eternal appeal of Sly & The Family Stone’s music was reconfirmed most recently on Different Strokes By Different Folks, an all-star tribute-cum-remix project released on the Starbucks Hear Music label in 2005, and in an expanded edition with two bonus tracks on Epic/Legacy in February 2006. The CD’s s re-grooved version of “Family Affair,” featuring John Legend and Joss Stone with Van Hunt, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. The nomination follows up the all-star tribute performance, at which Sly performed, which took place at the Grammy Awards broadcast in February 2006.