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Sly Stone

High On You

With this release being a solo effort of sorts, High on You has become a record that remains one of Sly's best latter-day efforts for his star-crossed career. This effort is certainly better than his previous release, Small Talk, and while that album was seemingly good, it gave the overall feel of slight indifference and complacency within its songwriting quality and performance. High on You has Sly utilizing his talents to his advantage, despite the commercial fall-out that emerged on the previous "Talk" set, this album shifts the influence of funk even further.  The title track opens the album, featuring a strong, dynamic feel and is upbeat, catchy and contains a definitive groove to its composition. Crossword Puzzle, the following number, continues the funk overtones and although it maintains the general quality of the record's sound, the number itself seems a bit stifled by its arrangement (Check the Small Talk remaster, bonus track for a better version, in my opinion). That's Lovin' You contains the presence of a string section which adorned most of the previous Small Talk set, but thankfully, Sly chose keep the use of this musical seasoning to a minimum on this album; a critical complaint which affected some of the material on the "Talk" release. 

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Who Do You Love is another dirty, funky number continuing the love of the groove that recalls a bit of the best moments of the original Family Stone era material such as the vocal harmonies and horn arrangements contained to its composition. Green-Eyed Monster Girl is an instrumental driven by organ with a definitive drum pattern featuring a peppering of horns outlining this funky little ditty, along with a downright, nasty bass line for added rhythm impact.  Le Lo Li was another single chosen for this release and although, it did little impact on the charts, it's a nice, carefree number which is uplifting and has a sunny undertone implied to its positive vibe.  My World and Good to Me are lower key tracks that round out the record successfully and offer a nice balance of light, shade and color to the record's funky, R&B flavor. Accordingly, Organize and the album's closer, Greed, maintain consistency of the presence of funk and R&B that has dominated the recording, resulting in solid numbers that give Sly a few aces up the sleeve and are solid tracks to close out the album on a powerful and satisfying note. 

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For serious Sly fans, this release is absolutely essential and even casual fans would probably enjoy this album too. High On You is ultimately, Sly's last hurrah at capturing his greatness, even though at this point in his career, his fame and talent began to go downhill. In spite of dwindling sales, critically and artistically, this album is a personal triumph for him and it deserves to have a close reevaluation. 

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Rating Grade- A-

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