this is the one album out of their catalog that seems to get written off the most whenever i read up on sly and the family stone's music but it's 1 of my top 3 favorite albums by them

my top 3 sly and the family stone albums:

fresh
there's a riot goin' on
small talk


anybody here really love this album?

it's soulful, pop, funky, gospel, and all that.

i love the violins on "better thee than me"

another thing, sly's got a really unique voice. it's got that grit but yet it's still smooth

i don't love it nor do i agree it's great, let alone one of Sly's greatest.

but it's a pleasant listen.

as a general matter i don't like strings in my Funk. i dig what Isaac Hayes did w/full orchestral arrangements on cuts like 'Ike's Mood' and 'Shaft'. and Barry White has several funky uptempo cuts w/string arrangements. but that lil worn out violin all over Small Talk doesn't move me for the most part. except on 'Better Thee Than Me'.

out of that period, imo.

I actually like that more than the official version. As a Sly fanatic, I can't say I hate it,
but I prefer all four albums after that album over it on most days.

you prefer those and Back on the Right Track and Ain't But the One Way? over Small Talk?

ESPECIALLY "Heard Ya Missed Me" and "Back On The Right Track"

I'm gonna talk about it. This most likely ain't for you, specifically, but someone who
enjoys talking actual music.

What I like most about the albums after Small Talk is that he sounds comfortable with
where he is musically. Imo, Small Talk sounds like he's still grabbing for.... something.
Still trying to find his way without Larry or something. He did the damn thing with "Fresh",
but "Small Talk" is like leftover tracks from that session. It was time to move on from it.
Think Radiohead... If Fresh is Kid A... Small Talk is Amnesiac.
It wasn't Sly's style to rehash if you pay attention to his progression. He always made
something you weren't expecting. "Life" might take the basic framework of DTTM, but
it adds a new dimension of songwriting and does things that DTTM didn't do with experimentation
and arrangement. Small Talk did go anywhere with the previous framework. As a matter of fact,
it was LESS creative than its predecessor. Notice "Stand" sounds nothing like "Life"
and "TARGO" sounds nothing like "Stand". You only run into that repetitive period
with these two albums in his whole career. The next 4 albums switched it up in
typical Sly fashion.


Back On The Right Track >>>>> Small Talk
High On You >>>> Small Talk

I understand how one could objectively disagree with the other two.
"Heard Ya Missed Me" has some questionable joints, although I think the title track,
"Blessing In Disguise", "Everything In You", and "Mother Is A Hippie" alone stand up to "Small Talk"
as an album. "Let's Be Together" is the same sound that Jamiroquai gets so much love
for straight up copying. Throw in "The Thing" and it's a wrap. Main problem with the
album is that the weakest tracks are 2,3, and 4. Let me reiterate that the title track is
pure genius and severely under-appreciated.

And even as an unfinished album "Ain't But The One Way" comes together very nicely.
I actually like the fact that it sounds more "polished" than alotta Sly's other work, as it's
just nice to hear his work in a new light. His genius and basic musical framework is still
there as well.

He came back with a vengeance with "High On You". That was Sly with energy again
and writing good music.
He got creative and left again with "Heard Ya Missed Me"... but with an updated sound.
"Back On The Right Track" is just a collection of good ass songs.
"ABTOW" finds him doing some styles we'd never seen from him much like "Heard Ya Missed Me"
but we get that Steward Levine gloss since he was brought in to salvage what Sly
and G.Clinton left after the Warner split. But yeah I can understand why some
wouldn't be into that. I just personally happen to enjoy it and think it's what Sly's
music needed at that point.

the good stuff was so few and far between i wasn't moved to return to them. meanwhile Small Talk has more stuff on it that worked w/me.

IMO Sly's work produced diminishing returns.

I bought those years ago and there was very little that grabbed me the way the early records do, I barely remember any songs beyond "Remember who you are" and a few others... Maybe time for a revisit after the writeup

Anyway, Small Talk is good but calling it his best alongside TARGO and Fresh kind of justify that dude who made the point regarding Sly's 60's stuff being forgotten and ignored which I didn't agree with. Whatever, Stand!, Life and even A whole new thing are better to me but I like music from the late 60's as well as music from the 70's; I can see people primarily into 70's funk prefering Small Talk since it has that vibe more just like Fresh and complete with strings and all...

i'm gonna have to go back and listen

and i felt he was still in the groove with it.
dug the arrangements and groove. he didn't veer as off as he would after that.