Life (Sly and the Family Stone album)

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.

Life
Studio album by Sly and the Family Stone
Released	September 1968
Recorded	May 1968
Studio	Pacific High (San Francisco)
Genre	Psychedelic funk^[1]
Length	30:33
Label	Epic
Producer	Sly Stone
Sly and the Family Stone chronology
Dance to the Music (1968) Life (1968) Stand! (1969)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Austin Chronicle	^[3]
The Guardian	^[4]
PopMatters	^[5]
Rolling Stone (1968)	(Favorable)^[6]
Rolling Stone (2007)	^[7]
Stylus	(B)^[8]
Uncut	^[9]
Yahoo! Music	(Favorable)^[10]

Music

Unlike its predecessor, Dance to the Music, Life was not a commercial success, although it has received mostly positive reviews from music critics over the years. Many of its songs, including "M'Lady", "Fun", "Love City", as well as the title track, became popular staples in the Family Stone's live show. A middle ground between the fiery A Whole New Thing and the more commercial Dance to the Music, Life features very little use of studio effects, and is instead more driven by frontman Sly Stone's compositions. Topics for the album's songs include the dating scene ("Dynamite!", "Chicken", "M'Lady"), groupies ("Jane is a Groupee"), and "plastic" (or "fake") people (the Beatlesque "Plastic Jim", which references "Eleanor Rigby" in its chorus). Of particular note is that the Family Stone's main themes of unity and integration are explored here in several songs ("Fun", "Harmony", "Life", and "Love City"). The next Family Stone LP, Stand!, would focus almost exclusively on these topics.

Much of Life has been heavily sampled for hip hop and electronica recordings, particularly Gregg Errico's drum solo on "Love City". The opening riff on "Into My Own Thing" was sampled for Fatboy Slim's 2001 hit "Weapon of Choice".

Track listing

All tracks written by Sylvester Stewart, and produced and arranged by Sly Stone for Stone Flower Productions.

Side one

1. "Dynamite!" – 2:44
2. "Chicken" – 2:13
3. "Plastic Jim" – 3:29
4. "Fun" – 2:23
5. "Into My Own Thing" – 2:13
6. "Harmony" – 2:51

Side two

1. "Life" – 3:01
2. "Love City" – 2:43
3. "I'm an Animal" – 3:21
4. "M'Lady" – 2:46
5. "Jane Is a Groupee" – 2:49

CD bonus tracks

• 1995 limited edition CD reissue
  • "Only One Way Out of This Mess" (3:51, added for 1995 compact disc rerelease)
• 2007 limited edition CD reissue
  • "Dynamite" (mono single version)
  • "Seven More Days" (previously unreleased)
  • "Pressure" (previously unreleased)
  • "Sorrow" (previously unreleased)

Personnel

Sly and the Family Stone

• Sly Stone – vocals, organ, guitar, piano, harmonica, and more
• Freddie Stone – vocals, guitar
• Larry Graham – vocals, bass guitar
• Rosie Stone – vocals, piano, keyboard
• Cynthia Robinson – trumpet, vocal ad-libs
• Jerry Martini – saxophone
• Greg Errico – drums
• Little Sister (Vet Stone, Mary McCreary, Elva Mouton) – backing vocals

Technical

• Marty Wekser - editing supervisor
• Don Puluse, Fred Catero, Roy Segal - engineer

References

1. Hanson, Michael Stephen (2004). People Get Ready: Race, Place and Political Identity in Post-civil Rights Black Popular Music, 1965-1975. UC Berkeley. p. 124.
2. link
3. link
4. "CDs: Sly and the Family Stone, back catalogue". The Guardian. 2007-04-05. from the original on 2023-04-30.
5. link
6. 1968^{[dead link]}
7. 2007
8. link 2008-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
9. link 2007-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
10. link 2005-08-28 at the Wayback Machine