Partway through this new Questlove documentary about Sly Stone, his band, the Family Stone, and the joyous, urgent funk they made, I got a little sad. Not for Stone, per se, and not for fame’s warping effect on his personality and relationships or for the serious drug addiction that maybe helped him cope with being that recognizable.

Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back, Sly Stone's ninth album for Epic, features a reunited Sly & the Family Stone. Sly's previous album, the funk-filled High on You (1975), had been a solo effort.

A new bass player and drummer signaled a toned-down Sly & the Family Stone sound. Partially in keeping with changes in much of popular music in the early '70s, and maybe the result of marriage and a child, Sly became more introspective, quieter, and calmer, even employing a string section on various cuts. A less exhilarating album than earlier efforts, there is still much of merit here, including the Top Ten R&B hit "Time for Livin'."

Fresh expands and brightens the slow grooves of There's a Riot Goin' On, turning them, for the most part, into friendly, welcoming rhythms. There are still traces of the narcotic haze of Riot, particularly on the brilliant, crawling inversion of "Que Sera, Sera," yet this never feels like an invitation into a junkie's lair. Still, this isn't necessarily lighter than Riot – in fact, his social commentary is more explicit, and while the music doesn't telegraph his resignation the way Riot did, it comes from the same source. So, Fresh winds up more varied, musically and lyrically, which may not make it as unified, but it does result in more traditional funk that certainly is appealing in its own right. Besides, this isn't conventional funk – it's eccentric, where even concise catchy tunes like "If You Want Me to Stay" seem as elastic as the opener, "In Time." That's the album's ultimate charm – it finds Sly precisely at the point where he's balancing funk and pop, about to fall into the brink, but creating an utterly individual album that wound up being his last masterwork and one of the great funk albums of its era.

"High On You" is the first album attributed to Sly Stone rather than Sly and the Family Stone. One of the better straight-up funk albums of the 70's even though it's his most underrated. The title track, a career highlight, was an impressive single peaking at number three on the R&B chart.

There's a Riot Goin' On is the fifth studio album by American band Sly and the Family Stone. The album was recorded during 1970 and 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California, with sessions dominated by band frontman Sly Stone during a period of drug use and intra-group tension. There's a Riot Goin' On embraced a darker and more challenging sound than the optimistic style of the group's previous records, making use of hard funk rhythms, primitive drum machines, extensive overdubbing, and unconventional mixing techniques. The album's planned title was Africa Talks to You, but it was retitled in response to Marvin Gaye's album What's Going On, released six months before.

"There's a Riot Goin' On" has been declared by critics as one of the greatest and most influential albums ever recorded, predating sounds found in future groundbreaking albums such as "Exile on Main St." and "Velvet Underground and Nico". It was a complete change in directino from the high-energy pop-funk singles that were found on earlier records like "Stand!". It has been considered to be one of the first instances of the type of funk music later popularized by George Clinton/Funkadelic and the Ohio Players.

Released in 1970 during the stopgap between Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On, Greatest Hits inadvertently arrived at precisely the right moment, summarizing Sly & the Family Stone's joyous hit-making run on the pop and R&B charts.

"Live At The Fillmore East" on October 4th & 5th, 1968 is a never before released live album set by Sly & The Family Stone which was recorded in 1968 at Bill Graham's legendary New York City venue The Fillmore East where the band performed for 2 nights. Epic Records recorded all four of these concerts (two shows per night) with plans to release a live album that would consist of selections from these performances but the release was shelved until now.

Stand! is the pinnacle of Sly & the Family Stone's early work, a record that represents a culmination of the group's musical vision and accomplishment. Life hinted at this record's boundless enthusiasm and blurred stylistic boundaries, yet everything simply gels here, resulting in no separation between the astounding funk, effervescent irresistible melodies, psychedelicized guitars, and deep rhythms…

Greatest Hits is the 1970 compilation album by Sly & The Familty Stone. This is taken from the UK 8-track tape and is an ISO file for the DVD-Audio format. (NOTE: The photo used for the cover is definitely not Sly & The Family Stone but that is what was used.)