Why indeed.

I feel like a lot of people - OKPs included treat Sly & the Family Stone's "Stand!" the same way they treat anything Marvin Gaye recorded before 1970 (which includes, mind you, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "How Sweet it Is", and "I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE", among others) - it's tolerated rather than revered, and pushed aside for discussion about what they _really_ wanna talk about.

While this is often excused with Gaye's stuff with lines about "well, he didn't write it" (oh, and Marvin wrote "What's Going On"?), "he didn't have creative control" (the only one I'll allow), etc. None of those excuses work with Sly & the Family Stone.

I think part of it is a general lack of taste for anything too "rock" sounding, and everything the Family Stone did pre-"Riot" was heavily rock influenced. There's also the unstated idea of praising an auteur over an ensemble - the pre-"Riot" Family Stone albums were actually _Family Stone_ albums, and that they turned out as good as they did depended upon a group effort. The same can't be said of "Riot" and can be said even less about everything that followed.

Maybe it's just the cynicism of the culture that appreciates the cynicism of "Riot" over the optimism of "Stand!" I've heard it said that "Riot" is more "honest", but at the time "Stand!" was put together in late 1968/early 1969, Sly believed in every word of the ideals he sang about on that album. He _was_ that positive, happy person. It was PCP and an increasing delve into coke during the two years that separated the releases that flipped him into the cadaver that appears on later releases. Not that hearing a man who sounds near suicide or overdose can't be fascinating - because on "Riot" and a good bit of "Fresh", it is - but why praise it so much over actual intended achievement?

In the interest of full disclosure, I would like to point out some things:
1. I do own all of the Sly & the Family Stone albums - including original vinyl copies of "Dance to the Music", "Stand!", "Riot", and "Small Talk".

2. Unlike many of you, apparently, I came in to Sly via "I Want to Take You Higher" and "Sing a Simple Song". I never cared much for "Family Affair".

3.The first Family Stone album I heard all the way through was "Stand!", then "Riot", then "Dance", "Life", "Fresh", "A Whole New Thing", "Small Talk". The other stuff I've heard at various times after hearing "Dance".

4. I've read two, going on three, books on Sly & the Family Stone, and I realize reading the history of the band makes me look upon "Riot" and the other post-PCP albums differently than someone who only knows the music alone.

5. I'm a fan of Sly & the Family Stone, not just Sly. I like Freddy, Larry, Rose, Cynthia, Jerry, Gregg, and Little Sister too.