My Groovy 45’s No.4: Sly & the Family Stone

Dance to the Music

Singles that survived from my time as ‘Funky Genghis’ at the LSE in the 70’s – and occasional events into the 80’s.

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I loved Sly and the Family Stone and I loved this song, which would have been played many times in the 3 Tuns bar at the LSE and at various gigs where I was providing the ‘disco’. Bass was always my thing so I was bound to be into Funk as well as soul, reggae, blues – anything with a capital ‘F’! On this particular single, almost every instrument is playing bass – drums, keyboards, vocals – and bass! This was psychedelic soul-funk that appealed to rock fans as well as funksters.

I suspect that almost everyone I know and have ever known will have at least one S&TFS recording in their collection. If not, you’d better have a bloody good reason!

Guaranteed dancefloor filler/keeper, but boy did it make my decks bounce!

This particular single (EPC 7070) was a UK re-release in 1979, and yet retained the original 1967 mono mix. The ‘b’ side was Stand. The song spent 14 weeks in the UK Top 40 singles chart, peaking at a very respectable No.7 in July 1968.

Top of the Pops

This song was featured on TOTP on 8th. August 1968 but sadly the entire episode was wiped by the BBC; I suppose it is remotely possible that it might have survived somewhere.

That particular TOTP was pretty good and included Fire by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown – featured in his set at the LSE in 1977. Also on the show were Long John Baldry, Dusty Springfield and a vaguely likeable if light The Equals – a sort of easy-listening reggae.