Stand!

Stand! was recorded after Life, a commercially unsuccessful album. Although the Family Stone's single "Dance to the Music" was a top ten hit in early 1968, none of the band's first three albums reached above 100 on the Billboard 200. Stand! reached number thirteen and launched Sly Stone and his bandmates Freddie Stone, Larry Graham, Rose Stone, Cynthia Robinson, Jerry Martini, and Greg Errico into the pop music mainstream.

Much of the album was recorded at Pacific High Recording Studios in San Francisco. The band's A&R director and photographer Stephen Paley recalled how "together" Sly Stone was while working on Stand!, constantly referring to Walter Piston's Orchestration textbook,Selvin, Joel (1998), pp. 69–71 unlike his erratic behavior and work after he became dependent upon cocaine within a year of the album's success.Selvin, Joel (1998), pp. 113–115

Stand! begins with the title track on which Sly sings lead, a mid-tempo number launching into a gospel break for its final forty-nine seconds. Most of the Family Stone was unavailable for the session at which this coda was recorded: Sly, drummer Gregg Errico and horn players Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini were augmented by session players instead. Errico recalls that many liked the gospel extension more than they did the song proper, and that; "People would always ask, 'why didn't you go there and let that be the song?'" The second track, titled "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey", has few lyrics save for the chorus Don't call me "nigger", whitey/Don't call me "whitey", nigger and a single verse sung by Rose Stone. On "I Want to Take You Higher" Freddie Stone, Larry Graham, Rose Stone, and Sly Stone take turns delivering the lead vocal and all seven band-members deliver the shouted backing vocals. Sly Stone, Robinson, Freddie Stone, Graham, and Martini all play instrumental solos.{{Listen

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| description = The title track and album opener features gospel overtones.

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On "Somebody's Watching You" Sly Stone, Graham, Freddie Stone, and Rose Stone deliver the vocal in unison. The song's slightly pessimistic tone would be expanded upon later in the band's career with "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and the There's a Riot Goin' On LP,{{cite web|title=Somebody's Watching You - Sly & the Family Stone {{!}} Song Info|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/somebodys-watching-you-mt0011796050|last=Greenwald|first=Matthew|website=AllMusic|access-date=5 February 2007}} and would be a hit for the Family Stone's vocal group Little Sister, the first Top 40 single to use a drum machine.{{cite web|title=Introduction to Sly, Little Sister and the Family Stone|url=https://www.slyslilsis.com/intro.cfm|website=Sly's Lil Sis/Little Sister Website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170407043409/https://www.slyslilsis.com/intro.cfm|archive-date=7 April 2017|access-date=18 January 2007}} "Sing a Simple Song" urges the audience to "try a little do re mi fa so la ti do". Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Temptations and The Jackson 5 all recorded cover versions of the song. The track's guitar riff is heard on Ike & Tina Turner's "Bold Soul Sister" (from The Hunter, 1969), Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys (1970) and Miles Davis' A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971).{{Original research inline|date=July 2022}}

"Everyday People", already a number-one hit single in the United States by the time of the album's release, opens Side B. The most familiar song on the album, "Everyday People" popularized the expression "different strokes for different folks".{{cite web|title=Different strokes for different folks|url=https://www.there1.com/browse_articles.php?action=view_record&idnum=109|last=Kaliss|first=Jeff|website=There1.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212060616/https://www.there1.com/browse_articles.php?action=view_record&idnum=109|archive-date=12 February 2006|access-date=18 January 2007}} Sly Stone, Rose Stone and Cynthia Robinson sing lead and Larry Graham introduces the slap-pop style of bass he expanded on "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)". "Sex Machine" is a thirteen-minute jam that features Sly scatting through amplified distortion and allows each band member a solo. Gregg Errico's drum solo closes the song and the band members are heard bursting into laughter during the final seconds. Stand! concludes with "You Can Make It If You Try", sung by Sly Stone, Freddie Stone, and Larry Graham. Sly Stone instead of Larry Graham played the bass.Selvin, Joel (1998), pp. 132 It was, at one point, planned for a single release in mid-1969, following up "Stand!", but this was dropped in favor of the non-album track "Hot Fun in the Summertime". The unused mono single mix was later included on the 2007 CD reissue.

{{Music ratings

| title = Retrospective professional reviews

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web|title=Stand! - Sly & the Family Stone {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits {{!}}|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/stand!-mw0000195756|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|website=AllMusic|access-date=18 January 2005}}

|rev2 = The Austin Chronicle

|rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2007-05-04/471773/|title=Sly & the Family Stone: The Collection Album Review|website=www.austinchronicle.com}}

|rev3 = The Guardian

|rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/apr/06/urban.shopping|title=CDs: Sly and the Family Stone, back catalogue|first=Alexis|last=Petridis|newspaper=The Guardian |date=5 April 2007|via=www.theguardian.com}}

|rev4 = Tom Hull

|rev4Score = A{{cite web|url=http://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/notes/rmeta2007.php|title=2007 Year End List Mentions: Anthologies/Reissues|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|website=tomhull.com|access-date=7 April 2020|date=n.d.}}

| rev5 = MusicHound R&B

| rev5Score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite book|chapter=Sly & the Family Stone|editor1-first=Gary|editor1-last=Graff|editor-link1=Gary Graff|editor2-first=Josh Freedom|editor2-last=du Lac|editor3-first=Jim|editor3-last=McFarlin|year=1998|title=MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|isbn=1578590264|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/musichoundrbesse00graf}}

| rev6 = PopMatters

| rev6score = 10/10{{cite web|title=Sly's the Limit|url=https://www.popmatters.com/slys-the-limit-2495802586.html|last=Lundy|first=Zeth|date=1 April 2007|website=PopMatters|access-date=3 May 2020}}

|rev7 = Q

|rev7score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tower.com/stand-sly-family-stone-cd/wapi/106148243|title=Q review}}

| rev8 = Rolling Stone

| rev8score = {{rating|4.5|5}}{{cite news |newspaper=Rolling Stone |issue=1025/1026 |date=3 May 2007 |page=151 |first=Robert |last=Christgau |author-link=Robert Christgau |title=Extended Family |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rs/sly-07.php |access-date=16 August 2008 |ref=RS}}

|rev9 = Stylus Magazine

|rev9score = A{{cite web|last=Stouthall|first=Nick|title=Sly & The Family Stone|url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/sly-the-family-stone/a-whole-new-thing-dance-to-the-music-life-stand-theres-a-riot-going-on-fresh-sm.htm|website=Stylus Magazine|access-date=16 August 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070427095030/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/sly-the-family-stone/a-whole-new-thing-dance-to-the-music-life-stand-theres-a-riot-going-on-fresh-sm.htm|archive-date=27 April 2007}}

|rev10 = Uncut

|rev10score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Shapiro|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Shapiro (journalist)|date=March 20, 2007|url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/sly-and-the-family-stone-reissues-10122/|title=Sly And The Family Stone – Reissues|magazine=Uncut|access-date=7 April 2020}}

}}

Reviewing for Rolling Stone in July 1969, Alec Dubro observed a "very evident sense of moral purpose" in the content and a rawness in its brand of soul music, which he said "depends on sheer energy more than anything else". Overall, he found the album provocative and "effective", recommended "for anyone who can groove on a bunch of very raucous kids charging through a record, telling you exactly what they think whether you want to hear it that way or not."{{cite magazine |last=Dubro |first=Alec |date=26 July 1969 |title=Sly & the Family Stone Stand! |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/stand-19690726 |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=38 |pages=37 |location=San Francisco |publisher=Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. |access-date=10 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002000114/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/slythefamilystone/albums/album/98189/review/6068018/stand |archive-date=2 October 2007 |ref=RSorig}} In the same magazine, covering Epic/Legacy's 2007 reissue of the band's catalogue, Robert Christgau said that "Stand! revealed the magnificence of which this band would all too briefly be capable. 'Sex Machine,' which precipitated James Brown's, wah-wahs on a bit, but everything else is etched in Stone, from the equally precipitous 'Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey' to the Chaka Khan fave 'Somebody's Watching You' to, yes you can, 'You Can Make It If You Try.'" Also appraising the reissue campaign, Peter Shapiro wrote in Uncut that Stand! was "the group’s true breakthrough" as its "seamless blend of rock, funk and soul, and the soaring mix of black and white voices, made crossover seem like Utopia." Commenting on the music's historical context, Shapiro added:

{{blockquote|At a time when the civil rights coalition was breaking apart, when flower power was mutating into armed struggle, the Family Stone clung desperately to the belief that 'You Can Make it If You Try' and had the gall to deliver the decade's most powerful message of unity as a singsong nursery rhyme. Of course, maybe 'Everyday People' was believable as a nursery rhyme because, on songs like 'Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey' and 'Somebody’s Watching You', Sly watches the '60s dream disintegrate before his eyes.}}

The Jackson 5 covered both "Stand!" and "Want to Take You Higher" on their soundtrack album Goin' Back to Indiana (1971).

Primal Scream sampled "Sex Machine" on their cover of the 13th Floor Elevators' "Slip Inside This House" from their album Screamadelica (1991).

Rapper Ice-T, Body Count, and Jane's Addiction performed "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey" during the 1991 Lollapalooza tour and in the 1993 Perry Farrell film Gift.{{cite web |url=http://disinfo.com/2013/06/perry-farrells-gift/ |title=Perry Farrell's film Gift |last=Nolan |first=Joe |date=25 June 2013 |website=Disinformation |publisher=Disinformation.com |access-date=8 October 2013}}

All songs written, produced and arranged by Sly Stone for Stone Flower Productions.

1. "Stand!" – 3:08
2. "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey" – 5:58
3. "I Want to Take You Higher" – 5:22
4. "Somebody's Watching You" – 3:20
5. "Sing a Simple Song" – 3:56

1. "Everyday People" – 2:21
2. "Sex Machine" – 13:45
3. "You Can Make It If You Try" – 3:37

• "Stand!" (mono single version)
• "I Want to Take You Higher" (mono single version)
• "You Can Make It If You Try" (mono single version)
• "Soul Clappin' II" (previously unreleased)
• "My Brain (Zig-Zag)" (previously unreleased instrumental)

;Sly and the Family Stone

• Sly Stone – vocals, organ, guitar, piano, harmonica, vocoder; bass guitar on "You Can Make it if You Try"
• Rose Stone – vocals, piano, keyboards
• Freddie Stone – vocals, guitar
• Larry Graham – vocals, bass guitar (except on "You Can Make it if You Try")
• Greg Errico – drums, background vocals on "I Want to Take You Higher"
• Cynthia Robinson – trumpet, vocal ad-libs; background vocals on "I Want to Take You Higher"
• Jerry Martini – saxophone; background vocals on "I Want to Take You Higher"
• Little Sister (Vet Stone, Mary McCreary, Elva Mouton) – background vocals on "Stand!", "Sing a Simple Song", "Everyday People" and "I Want to Take you Higher"

;Technical

• Don Puluse, Brian Ross-Myring, Phil Macey – engineering

• "Everyday People"
• Epic single 10407, 1968; B-side: "Sing a Simple Song"
• "Stand!"
• Epic single 10450, 1969; B-side: "I Want to Take You Higher"
• Later reissued in 1970 with sides reversed.

{{Reflist}}

• Selvin, Joel (1998). For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History. New York: Quill Publishing. {{ISBN|0-380-79377-6}}.

• [http://music.yahoo.com/release/59105 Lyrics] at Yahoo! Music
• [https://www.discogs.com/Sly-The-Family-Stone-Stand/release/813168 Sly and the Family Stone - Stand! (1969) album releases & credits] at Discogs
• [https://open.spotify.com/album/7iwS1r6JHYJe9xpPjzmWqD Sly and the Family Stone - Stand! (1969) album to be listened] as stream on Spotify

{{Sly & the Family Stone}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Sly and the Family Stone albums

Category:1969 albums

Category:Albums produced by Sly Stone

Category:Epic Records albums

Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings

Category:United States National Recording Registry albums

Category:Progressive soul albums

Category:Psychedelic soul albums