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High on You

 
Album Review: High on You

  • Artist: Sly Stone
  • Rating: StarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: November 08, 1975
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rhythm & Blues

Review

The first album attributed to Sly Stone rather than Sly & the Family Stone, High on You didn't exactly resurrect the troubled artist's sinking career, but it does remain one of the better straight-up funk albums of the '70s. Released during the same mid-'70s era that spawned vibrant funk albums such as the Commodores' Machine Gun, Parliament's Up for the Down Stroke, and the Ohio Players' Skin Tight, along with the first Graham Central Station albums, High on You seems like a genre exercise for Sly -- rather than trailblazing new sounds like he did five years earlier, he's now embracing the sound of the times. Still, even though Sly isn't doing anything especially novel here, he performs an impressive series of succinct, well-crafted funk songs with plenty of pop accessibility. Indeed, High on You has the makings of a comeback album. It's worth noting that the album's title track was an impressive single, peaking at number three on the R&B chart and even making an appearance on the pop chart -- though fairly obscure nowadays, "High on You," remains one of Sly's career highlights. Elsewhere, "Crossword Puzzle" stands out with its distinct horn hook and numerous background vocals (it's become most famous for being sampled by De La Soul on 3 Feet High and Rising), while the gentle "That's Lovin' You," the album's sole ballad, cools down the proceedings for a moment. After these first three highlights, the album drops off a little, though the funk level remains well in the red. In fact, the upbeat nature of the album is perhaps its most satisfying attribute, given the downcast mood of Sly's previous few albums. High on You doesn't measure up to the best Sly & the Family Stone albums of the late '60s and early '70s, granted, but it's a step up in quality from Small Talk and certainly all that would follow. Long written off and long out of print, High on You is an underrated album that deserves re-evaluation. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
I Get High on You (Lyrics) Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (3:15)
Crossword Puzzle Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (2:57)
That's Lovin' You Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (2:58)
Who Do You Love? Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (3:42)
Green Eyed Monster Girl Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (3:55)
Organize Freddie Stewart, Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (3:22)
Le Lo Li Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (3:20)
My World Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (3:36)
So Good to Me Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (3:24)
Greed Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart Sly & the Family Stone (4:13)

Credits

Michael Samuels (Drums), Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart (Mixing), George Horn (Mastering), Jerry Martini (Saxophone), John Berg (Design), Dennis Marcellino (Saxophone), Roy Segal (Mixing), Rusty Allen (Bass), Andy Engel (Design), Bobby Lyles (Keyboards), Phill Brown (Mastering), Roy Segal (Engineer), Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart (Producer), Chris Stone (Engineer), Paul Stubblebine (Engineer), Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart (Instrumentation), Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart (Keyboards), Cynthia Robinson (Vocals), Cousin Gate (Guitar), Willy Sparks (Drums), Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart (Guitar), Jimmy Strassburg (Drums), Herbert Greene (Art Direction), Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart (Vocals), Rudy Love (Vocals), Freddie Stone (Vocals), Bobby Vega (Bass), Tom Flye (Engineer), Cynthia Robinson (Trumpet), Freddie Stone (Guitar), Dawn Silva (Vocals)
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Wikipedia: High on You
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High On You
Studio album by Sly Stone
Released November 8, 1975
Recorded 1974 - 1975
Genre Funk
Length 39:46
Label Epic
PE 33835
Producer Sly Stone
Professional reviews
Sly Stone chronology
Small Talk
(1974)
High on You
(Sly Stone)
(1975)
Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back
(1976)

High on You is the eighth album by Sly & the Family Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records in 1975. This album is credited solely to singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and reflects the beginnings of change in the concept of "Sly & the Family Stone". Formerly a tangible self-contained band, the Family Stone broke up in January 1975 after a disastrous booking at the Radio City Music Hall. At this point, most of the band members parted company with Stone, except for trumpetist Cynthia Robinson.

Contents

Overview

From this point on, each "Sly & the Family Stone" album would essentially be a Sly Stone solo recording, with contributions from a varying group of collaborators. Sometimes, members of the original Family Stone would participate in the sessions, and sometimes session players and new members would work with Stone as well. For the most part, however, Stone performed a large part of the instrumentation for each song on his own using multitracking (as he had been doing for Family Stone LPs since There's a Riot Goin' On in 1971). This album, like the others, includes a combination of all three types of recordings, plus a handful of songs recorded before the band's dissolution.

High on You's first single was the R&B number-three hit "I Get High on You". Stone, a known drug user, compares making love with a woman to "getting high". The LP's second single, "Le Lo Li", failed to chart within the R&B Top 40, as did the third, "Crossword Puzzle". All three singles missed the U.S. pop Top 40.

Besides its standard stereo release, High on You was also released in quadraphonic sound.

Track listing

All songs written by Sylvester Stewart and produced by Sly Stone, unless otherwise noted.

Side one

  1. "I Get High On You" - 3:15
  2. "Crossword Puzzle" - 2:57
  3. "That's Lovin' You" - 2:58
  4. "Who Do You Love?" - 3:42
  5. "Green Eyed Monster Girl" - 3:55

Side two

  1. "Organize" (Sylvester Stewart, Freddie Stewart) - 3:22
  2. "Le Lo Li" - 3:20
  3. "My World" - 3:26
  4. "So Good To Me" - 3:24
  5. "Greed" - 4:13

Personnel

  • Sly Stone: vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass, various instruments
  • Little Sister (Dawn Silva, Tiny Melton, Vet Stewart, Rudy Love): background vocals
  • Freddie Stone: vocals, guitar
  • Jerry Martini: saxophones
  • Dennis Marcellino: saxophone
  • Cousin Gale (Gail Muldrow): guitar
  • Bobby Vega: bass ("I Get High on You")
  • Rusty Allen: bass ("Organize")
  • Michael Samuels: drums ("Crossword Puzzle" and "Monster Girl")
  • Jim Strassburg: drums ("I Get High on You," "Who Do You Love," "My World," "So Good to Me," and "Greed")
  • Willie Wild Sparks: drums ("Le Lo Li")
  • Bill Lordan: drums ("That's Lovin' You")
  • Cynthia Robinson: trumpet, vocals
  • "Little Moses": organ ("I Get High On You")
  • Bobby Lyles, Tricky Truman Governor (Truman Thomas): keyboards
  • Sid Page violin
  • Karat Faye: Engineer

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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "High on You" Read more