Life

By late 1968, the third album by Sly & the Family Stone absolutely blew the roof off the building. Life sounded so tangibly real it almost seemed like it was cut live. The title track, along with "Love City," "Plastic Jim," "Into My Own Thing" and especially "Dynamite!" signaled a perfect alliance between Sly's multi-influence, far-reaching musical vision and the burgeoning hippie ballroom community, already spreading like lawn daisies throughout the land. Never before had juicily syncopated beats dovetailed so perfectly with distortion-laced rock guitar. "You don't have to die before you live," sings Sly on "Life" and he's not kidding! The lyrical content of Sly's music becomes even more graphic with detailed workouts like "Jane Is A Groupee," a riveting description of this fascinating rock 'n' roll sub-culture. Then, on the other hand, you have the full-bore party numbers like "M'Lady" and "Fun," songs fully capable of launching anybody's weekend with reckless abandon!