Sly & The Family Stone - The Woodstock ExperienceIt’s pretty safe to say that just about everyone at Woodstock was high, but I don’t think anyone was higher than Sly Stone on Sunday August 17, 1969. That includes Jimi and Jerry “Captain Trips” Garcia. Sly was riding high on the charts with the incredible Stand! album and was starting to get really carried away with cocaine and his ego.
Listening to the full performance of Sly & The Family Stone’s full set from Woodstock, it’s easy to see why he got so nuts. Here’s a band at their peak kicking ass at 3:30AM waking up all the hippies and forcing them to boogie. If you could control over half a million people you’d get a little weird, too.
If this had been released in the aftermath of the Woodstock festival it would be rated as one of the greatest live albums ever. It’s not that the performance is flawless, far from it, but the band has such incredible groove, power and exuberance that make up for any mistakes musical or technical. Engineer Eddie Kramer has often spoke about what a logistical nightmare it was to record Woodstock. He was in a hut behind the stage in the mud trying to keep all the equipment working during the storms, drugs and humanity. Sly’s band must have been even more challenging because of the horns, voices and keyboards.
After a brief tune up, Sly fires up a chant of “hey hey hey” and the band comes crashing in with a ferocious version of “M’Lady.” What a blast of fresh air it must have been to hear this music after a full day of psychedelic rock guitar solos. Music like this forces you to stand up and get down and forget all about the silly hippy dancing. There’s never been a band that sounds like this before or since. Sly’s mix of pop, rock, soul, gospel and funk caused everyone from Miles Davis to The Beatles to stop and rethink their shit. Larry Graham’s bass playing revolutionized the instrument and the way he locks in with the incredible drumming of Greg Errico is unmatched to this day. Sly, his sister Rose on keyboards, brother Freddie on guitar blend their voices like the Staple Singers on acid. Add to that the simple but effective horns of Jerry Martini and Cynthia Robinson and you’ve got the sound that changed the world.
“Sing a Simple Song,” “You Can Make It If You Try,” “Everyday People” and “Dance To the Music” are faster and louder than the studio versions but sacrifice none of the groove. Turn it up loud enough and you can literally hear all the brain cells exploding in harmony. They run all the songs into each other building it up to the climax of the “Music Lover/Higher” medley that’s one of the stand outs of the original Woodstock movie. Sly brings the band down and starts up a call and response saying “I wanna take you higher” and the crowd roars “HIGHER!” When the band comes back in the crowd goes nuts. This is all a set up for an insane 10 minute version of “I Want To Take You Higher.”
Where do you go after that? “Love City,” of course. It’s a great performance but it’s almost anti-climactic after the frenzy of what came before. They wrap it up with “Stand!” and they sound a little tired. Maybe it was an unplanned encore or the coke was wearing off. Still, a fatigued Sly & The Family Stone has more energy than 1000 Grateful Dead concerts.
Buy here: Sly & The Family Stone: The Woodstock Experience (2CD)
Johnny Winter - The Woodstock ExperienceSly was a huge star when he played Woodstock, but Johnny Winter was relatively unknown at the time. He had just signed to Columbia Records for the huge sum of $300,000. Back in the late 1960’s you could get away with being a freaky looking Albino blues guitarist from Texas if you actually had talent.
Leading a loud power trio of Tommy Shannon on bass (later of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble fame) and drummer Uncle John Turner they launch into a potent “Mama Talk To Your Daughter” that must have cleared out everyone’s ears. They went on after a long Blood, Sweat & Tears set. Johnny’s tone is biting and nasty but very smooth at the same time and the rhythm section complements him perfectly. The bump & grind of “Leland Mississippi Blues” probably got the ladies excited.
Johnny puts on the slide for the rollin n tumblin boogie workout of “Mean Town Blues.” This is pure Texas roadhouse groove that English bands could only dream of. Johnny’s voice has always been a little too growly for most people but he keeps it in control on BB King’s slow blues “You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now.”
Halfway through the show Johnny brings up his brother Edgar to jam on the organ for Bo Diddley’s “I Can’t Stand It,” a 10 minute workout of “Tobacco Road” and Ray Charles’ arrangement of “Tell The Truth.” Johnny rips leads with his thumb pick effortlessly while the band cooks underneath him. The show wraps up with a high energy take on “Johnny B. Goode.”
Not long after that Johnny Winter became a big star, a heroin addict, got sober, made some great albums with Rick Derringer and then had career resurgence in the 1980’s thanks to a string of albums on Alligator Records. Despite some health problems and a horrible manager that ripped him off, Johnny is still playing the blues. It’s a shame that he’s overlooked by a lot of fans of the blues rock style. His Woodstock set should help remedy that.
--Woody
Buy here: Johnny Winter:The Woodstock Experience (2CD)
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