Sly & The Family Stone: Family Affair - One Hour Radio Special

Another informative and entertaining radio documentary produced under the auspices of Sony Music, this one from 2007, promoting that year's release of the box set and individual reissues of Sly and The Family Stone's seven classic albums for the Epic label. (See here for our post of an earlier, withdrawn CD version of Sly's Fresh album that mistakenly featured alternate mixes.) Any fan of the band's will be interested in the insights herein from Family Stone members Rose Stone, Larry Graham, Gregg Errico, and Andy Newmark, alongside oral historian Joel Selvin and legendary musicians Isaac Hayes and Chuck D. The special is hosted by longtime Rolling Stone journalist Ben Fong-Torres. Sly's own viewpoint is conspicuous by its absence, but that's just the way of the world.

Enjoy the latest in these radio special posts. Some of the artists still to come in our series (not necessarily in this order):

Bob Dylan (yep, another one!), The Clash, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, R.E.M.,
Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Ani DiFranco, Rickie Lee Jones, Dolly Parton, and more! These posts have been a little slower in coming than I'd like, due to some computer issues on my end, but do stay tuned.

Plus, if this series isn't exactly your bag, don't fret -- more non-radio-special music posts are are on the horizon too, such as Rare Stuff from The Waterboys, and more material from the lovely Mary Margaret O'Hara,

Happy October!

Link in comments, so why not leave one?

Sly & The Family Stone: Fresh (Withdrawn 1991 "Demo" Version)

In 1991, Sony/Columbia issued Sly & the Family Stone's last great album, Fresh, on CD. But it soon became apparent that something strange had transpired. Here is the current Wikipedia entry's take on what happened:

"...Stone held on to the Fresh masters well beyond the record's official release, constantly remixing and re-recording the tracks. As a result, alternate and significantly different versions of at least ten songs from the album are known to exist. In 1991, Sony Music, by then owner of the Epic catalog, accidentally issued a sequencing of Fresh on CD featuring alternate takes of every song except "In Time", which remained unchanged. Sony allowed the alternate version to remain in stores to be bought up by fans and then later issued the standard 1973 version of the album. However, the mix-up sparked debate among fans over which release was superior. When Sony BMG reissued Fresh in CD and digital download formats for Sly & the Family Stone's 40th anniversary, five alternate mixes were included as bonus tracks. These tracks are extremely similar, if not identical, to the alternate, accidental 1991 release. The alternate version is known to be very accessible in Japan, while it is very scarce in the U.S.."

The tracks from the '91 release duplicated (or nearly so) as bonus tracks on the new version are Let Me Have It All, Frisky, Skin I'm In, Keep On Dancin', and Babies Makin' Babies. The other six tracks here are unavailable elsewhere. I searched for this version online and only found it at one blog, and one which hadn't been updated in two years, at that. It's listed there as "Fresh (Alternate Demo Version", too, which I think may not identify it clearly enough for some to find it. So, while I prefer to post items unavailable ANYwhere else on the web, I think all the above qualifies this disc as some of The Rare Stuff. Granted, it can be had for cheap on Amazon, but for that matter, so can the remastered version from last year. Meanwhile, enjoy!

UPDATE: Link removed when it became clear that the standard version had been uploaded by mistake. I'm sorry for the confusion, all who have downloaded it from here!