sly & the family stone / albums

741,071 plays
267 SHARES
301 FAVS
17 fans

- Life
- - 2,294 plays
  - 0 favs
  - 0 shares
Sly & the Family Stone
Released 1968

Only One Way Out of This Mess [#][*]
03:52
63 plays

Dynamite!
02:43
318 plays

Into My Own Thing
02:13
279 plays

- Add to cart
- buy
- share

songs

- 1
- Dynamite!
- 02:43
- 318 plays

- 2
- Chicken
- 02:13
- 245 plays

- 3
- Plastic Jim
- 03:29
- 180 plays

- 4
- Fun
- 02:21
- 188 plays

- 5
- Into My Own Thing
- 02:13
- 279 plays

- 6
- Harmony
- 02:50
- 234 plays

- 7
- Life
- 03:00
- 147 plays

- 8
- Love City
- 02:42
- 213 plays

- 9
- I'm an Animal
- 03:20
- 199 plays

- 10
- M'Lady
- 02:44
- 125 plays

- 11
- Jane Is a Groupee
- 02:49
- 155 plays

- 12
- Only One Way Out of This Mess [#][*]
- 03:52
- 63 plays

album review

Just a matter of months after Dance to the Music, Sly & the Family Stone turned around and delivered Life, a record that leapfrogged over its predecessor in terms of accomplishment and achievement. The most noteworthy difference is the heavier reliance on psychedelics and fuzz guitars, plus a sharpening of songcraft that extends to even throwaways like "Chicken." As it turned out, Life didn't have any hits -- the double A-sided single "Life"/"M'Lady" barely cracked the Top 100 -- yet this feels considerably more song-oriented than its predecessor, as each track is a concise slice of tightly wound dance-funk. All the more impressive is that the group is able to strut their stuff within this context, trading off vocals and blending into an unstoppable force where it's impossible to separate the instruments, even as they solo. The songwriting might still be perfunctory or derivative in spots -- listen to how they appropriate "Eleanor Rigby" on "Plastic Jim" -- but what's impressive is how even the borrowed or recycled moments sound fresh in context. And then there are the cuts that work on their own, whether it's the aforementioned double-sided single, "Fun," "Dynamite!," or several other cuts here -- these are brilliant, intoxicating slices of funk-pop that get by as much on sound as song, and they're hard to resist. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide