Small Talk | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 1974 | |||
Recorded | 1974 | |||
Studio | The Record Plant, Los Angeles | |||
Genre | Funk, soul | |||
Length | 37:27 | |||
Label | Epic (PE 32930) | |||
Producer | Sly Stone | |||
Sly and the Family Stone chronology | ||||
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Small Talk is the seventh album by Sly and the Family Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records in 1974. This album was the final LP to feature the original Family Stone, which broke up in January 1975.
Small Talk's singles were "Time for Livin'" (the band's final Top 40 hit) and "Loose Booty", an up-tempo funk track which uses the names of Bible characters Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as a chant. Pictured on the album cover with bandleader Sly Stone in a photograph by Norman Seeff are his then-wife Kathleen Silva and his son Sylvester Jr.
In addition to its standard stereo release, Small Talk was also released in quadraphonic sound.
Beastie Boys sampled the words Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego from "Loose Booty" on their track "Shadrach" from the album Paul's Boutique (1989). Beastie Boys also recorded a hardcore punk version of "Time for Livin" for their 1992 album Check Your Head , along with an accompanying music video. [1]
The album is more mellow and restful than earlier efforts, critic Alex Stimmel observes. [2] Prominence of strings distinguishes the album from earlier recordings by the band, and violin player Sid Page is credited as a band member. According to critic Alex Stimmel, the string section is used to "cushion the mood, augment vocal lines, create melodies, or sting riffs once reserved for horns." [3] Stimmel writes that this aspect of the music shows Sly Stone as "the producer-genius that he was." Other than that, the album has a spare sound in comparison to the band's earlier records. More than half the tracks include studio chatter, which according to Stimmel makes for "an air of spontaneity from the sessions, as if the tape was just rolling and the band was finally having a good time again." [2] In addition to the single releases, other hard funk counterpoints to the mellow tunes are "Can't Strain My Brain" and "Better Thee Than Me". [2]
Some lyrics reflect familial love, Stone having been recently married, yet the message music characteristic of the band's '60s hits returns for the last time in the "raucous, vengeful 'Time for Livin'".
The cover of the album showed a picture of Stone, his wife Kathleen Silva, and baby Sly Jr. On 5 June 1974, the pair were married onstage at Madison Square Garden; the marriage lasted five months. [2]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
Austin Chronicle | [5] |
Christgau's Record Guide | C [6] |
The Guardian | [7] |
Rolling Stone | [8] |
Uncut | [9] |
Reviewing the original LP for Let It Rock in 1974, Pete Wingfield said Small Talk follows mostly in the vein of the band's previous album, Fresh (1973) – "a little mellower, happier, more together maybe. Certainly more so than on Riot – the sniffing self-pity of that period has mercifully gone; a couple of cuts even approach the 'up' feel of [Stone's] early hits." [10]
Less impressed was Village Voice critic Robert Christgau, who said, "Although you can hear different, you'd almost think Sly's sense of rhythm had abandoned him, because his first flop is a bellywhopper—its scant interest verbal, its only memorable song a doowop takeoff." [6] Years later in Rolling Stone , he rated the CD reissue somewhat higher, but wrote that the album marked for Stone "the beginning of an end that proceeded through many false comebacks to yesterday, today and tomorrow." [8]
All tracks written by Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart, except for "Small Talk", written by Sylvester Stewart and W. Silva. All songs produced and arranged by Sly Stone for Fresh Productions.
Added for 2007 limited edition compact disc reissue:
Loose Booty may refer to:
Funkadelic is the debut album by the American funk rock band Funkadelic, released in 1970 on Westbound Records.
Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, California in 1966 and active until 1983. They are considered to be pivotal in the development of funk, soul, R&B, rock, and psychedelic music. Their core line-up was led by singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and included Stone's brother and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone, sister and singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Greg Errico, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham. The band was the first major American rock group to have a racially integrated, mixed-gender lineup.
Sylvester Stewart, better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development of funk with his pioneering fusion of soul, rock, psychedelia and gospel in the 1960s and 1970s. AllMusic stated that "James Brown may have invented funk, but Sly Stone perfected it," and credited him with "creating a series of euphoric yet politically charged records that proved a massive influence on artists of all musical and cultural backgrounds." Crawdaddy! has called him "the founder of progressive soul".
The Brides of Funkenstein were an American soul and funk girl band, originally composed of singers Dawn Silva and Lynn Mabry.
Stand! is the fourth album by soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, released in April 1969. Written and produced by lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, Stand! is considered an artistic high-point of the band's career. Released by Epic Records, just before the group's celebrated performance at the Woodstock festival, it became the band's most commercially successful album to date. It includes several well-known songs, among them hit singles, such as "Sing a Simple Song", "I Want to Take You Higher", "Stand!", and "Everyday People". The album was reissued in 1990 on compact disc and vinyl, and again in 2007 as a remastered numbered edition digipack CD with bonus tracks and, in the UK, as only a CD with bonus tracks.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the American group Sly and the Family Stone. It was first released on November 21, 1970, by Epic Records. The album includes all of the singles from the albums Dance to the Music (1968), Life (1968), and Stand! (1969).
Vet Stone is an American soul singer. She is the sister of Sly Stone, Rose Stone, and Freddie Stone. She was also a member of Sly & the Family Stone and Little Sister.
A Whole New Thing is the debut album by funk/soul band Sly and the Family Stone, released in 1967 on Epic/CBS Records. The album was released to mixed criticism and failed to make an impact from a commercial standpoint and did not chart. CBS Records executive Clive Davis prevailed upon band leader Sly Stone to create a more commercial album; the result was the album Dance to the Music. Unlike later Sly and the Family Stone albums, A Whole New Thing was recorded live in the studio instead of being overdubbed and featured less of a pop feel than later releases such as Dance to the Music and Stand!. The lead vocals are shared between Sly Stone, Freddie Stone, and Larry Graham; Rose Stone would not join the band until they began work on Dance to the Music.
Dance to the Music is the second studio album by funk/soul band Sly and the Family Stone, released in 1968 on Epic/CBS Records. It contains the Top Ten hit single of the same name, which was influential in the formation and popularization of the musical subgenre of psychedelic soul and helped lay the groundwork for the development of funk music.
Life is the third studio album by funk/soul band Sly and the Family Stone, released in September 1968 on Epic/CBS Records. The album was titled M'Lady in the United Kingdom.
Fresh is the sixth album by American funk band Sly and the Family Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records in June 1973. Written and produced by Sly Stone over two years, Fresh has been described as a lighter and more accessible take on the dense, drum machine-driven sound of its landmark 1971 predecessor There's a Riot Goin' On. It was the band's final album to reach the US Top 10, entering the Billboard Album Chart on June 30, and their last of three consecutive number-one albums on the R&B chart. In 2003, the album was ranked number 186 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Second Helping is the second studio album by Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on April 15, 1974. It features the band's biggest hit single, "Sweet Home Alabama", an answer song to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern Man", which reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in August 1974.
High on You is the first solo album by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records in 1975. The Family Stone broke up in January 1975 after a disastrous booking at the Radio City Music Hall. At this point, the band members parted company with Stone, except for trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, his brother guitarist Freddie Stone, and backup singers Little Sister. With subsequent recordings, Stone returned to using the name of his former band, although they were largely solo recordings.
"If You Want Me to Stay" is a 1973 hit single by Sly and the Family Stone, from their album Fresh.
Osmium is the debut album of American funk band Parliament, led by George Clinton. The album has a psychedelic soul sound with a spirit of experimentation that is more similar to early Funkadelic than the later R&B-inspired Parliament albums. It was originally released in July 1970 on Invictus Records. The original vinyl release contained a glossy lyric sheet.
"Shadrach" is a song by American hip hop group Beastie Boys from their second studio album Paul's Boutique (1989). It was released as the album's second single on October 30, 1989, as a 7-inch vinyl backed with the non-album track "And What You Give Is What You Get". Both songs appear on the EP An Exciting Evening at Home with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (1989).
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are figures from chapter 3 of the biblical Book of Daniel. In the narrative, the three Jewish men are thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon for refusing to bow to the king's image. The three are preserved from harm and the king sees four men walking in the flames, "the fourth ... like a son of God". They are first mentioned in Daniel 1, where alongside Daniel they are brought to Babylon to study Chaldean language and literature with a view to serving at the King's court, and their Hebrew names are replaced with Chaldean or Babylonian names.
There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. It was recorded from 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and released later that year on November 1 by Epic Records. The recording was dominated by band frontman/songwriter Sly Stone during a period of escalated drug use and intra-group tension.
An Exciting Evening at Home with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is an EP by rap trio Beastie Boys. It was released on October 30, 1989.
Vrdoljak, Dražen. "Sly and the Family Stone". Džuboks (in Serbian) (10 (second series)). Gornji Milanovac: Dečje novine: 23.