RECORDS

A Whole New Thing,
Sly and the Family Stone (Epic BN 26324)

Sly Stone, at one time the San Francisco Bay Area's top rated rhythm and blues disc jockey and also a former A&R man for a now defunct local label (Autumn), once composed a song with Tom Donahue, called "The Swim." Sly Stone is well-based in composition and production and he does have "a whole new thing."

The record represents the Bay Area's very first rhythm and blues group to go national. It reflects a combination of San Francisco's "new thing" and some standard R&B techniques, an approach which is interesting but not entirely effective. None of the tracks particularly stand out as strong. The production -- and it is more of a production than a performance -- is still in the experimentation stage and has not yet come to a satisfactory conclusion.

-ROLLING STONE: Nov. 23, 1967


Creator and Webmaster: Jon Dakss