Is Sly Stone's "Family Affair" the greatest soul/pop song ever?

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I think it just might be. Three minutes and five seconds of raspy-velvet bliss.

― James Jung, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

yes. yes it is.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

It is great.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 18:56 (twenty years ago)

This song is fantastic, one of my favorites on "Riot", but the correct answer is Isaac Hayes' "Walk On By."

― I DESIRE...MACARONI NECKLACES AND SOAP SCULPTURES (Matt Chesnut), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

I'm lovin' it!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 18:58 (twenty years ago)

I like Christian McBride's version.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

it is great. top 20. maybe top 10. not the best, though. not that i think at least prince and otis redding might have a couple better songs.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

it is great. top 20. maybe top 10. not the best, though. not that i can come up with many specific better examples. but, i think at least prince and otis redding might have a couple better songs.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:00 (twenty years ago)

I like pretty much all of their first greatest hits album (pre-Riot) better than this.

Still great, though.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

I too agree with the assessment of its greatness, but not the best ever. Close, though.

― Vic Funk, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

i heard "thank you falletinme..." for the first time in forever last night on the radio, and i was reminded of how much i love early sly. its goofy in places, and not as sonically dense as riot or anything, but the songs are all very very good. "family affair" might be my favorite sly song, though.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

It sounded bizarre coming out of the the car radio, scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. Great. Maybe too weird for best ever.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

"Hot Fun in the Summertime" is better, I think!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

This is a number one single by a hugely popular band that I don't think I have EVER heard on the oldies station once.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

I've heard it in Walgreens.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeah I think I heard it at the gas station or something recently. But gas station muzak stations are so much better than radio it's not even funny. Especially if it's got a '70s station.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

You Caught Me Smilin'

― charleston charge (chaki), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

It went to number one? That is awesome.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

I hear it on oldies stations relatively often, but nowhere near as often as the biggest tunes on Greatest Hits. It actually sounds amazing when it sort of just comes on while you're driving, as it's so different than anything else that gets played.

― Vic Funk, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

Greatest pop song ever. No need to add the "soul" category.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

This always brings up the question for me: Why isn't there a big, fat, career-spanning box set of Sly with lots of live stuff, rareties, blah blah blah. If anyone deserves it, it is surely him. It might just possibly come close to rivalling Star Time in essentialness.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 20:59 (twenty years ago)

I don't know, I got really tired of this song. I just remember my brother singing it a lot. Maybe that's the problem.

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:02 (twenty years ago)

THAT LADY.

― Ian John50n (orion), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

Right band, wrong song ---> "If You Want Me To Stay"

― Roadkill Bingo (Roadkill Bingo), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

"Let's Stay Together" > "Family Affair" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime" (tie) >>>>>>>>>>>> everything else ever.

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

The vocal on this song is legitimately amazing - one of the best I can think of. There's SO much pain and sad understanding in there. Then you add in that feeling of really hazy downness in the music...aaaah damn it's perfect. Probably my favorite Sly, and yes, certainly a contender for best soul/pop.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

It sounded bizarre coming out of the the car radio, scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. Great. Maybe too weird for best ever.

No, this is why it's the best ever. There are Sly songs that I like better but I can't say any of them are "better." It's just a perfect song that works on a mainstream pop level and yet has a such an amazing dark undercurrent. It's by no means minimalistic and yet it has a strangely minimal, effortless feeling to it. Everything fits together so perfectly that it seems magical to me.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:33 (twenty years ago)

How does the song manage to have that intense emotional impact that Zack talks about and yet still sound so poppy and almost breezy? It's the perfect expression of a sort of world weary emotional distance or smiling through the pain.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:36 (twenty years ago)

OTM

― ()ops (()()ps), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

"Runnin' Away" and "Family Affair" are both, like, genius, and "Riot" is my favorite "rock" album pre-1980. And you know, you can only get it in a lousy-sounding Columbia version, without the original graphics, etc. Really amazing to me. Could it be Sly's legal hassles make it somehow impossible to reissue the damned album? Because there is a twofer of the best of Sly, with *a lot of* "Riot" on it, with far better sound.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:29 (twenty years ago)

No, that would be "Reach Out I'll Be There". "Family Affair" is great though.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:56 (twenty years ago)

I like pretty much all of their first greatest hits album (pre-Riot) better than this.

Still great, though.

Dr. bill why must you be wrong about everything? ;)

― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 23:58 (twenty years ago)

yeah - "running away" is as good as "family affair". but i dunno, walter; of all the superlatives i could lump on "family affair", BREEZY aint one of em.

― peter smith (plsmith), Thursday, 28 April 2005 00:26 (twenty years ago)

Running Away is certainly breezier. I definitely feel a breeze from Family Affair though. It's a hot breeze -- maybe the Santa Ana winds. I guess what I'm getting at is the propulsive rhythm mixed with the way he sings lines like "newlyweds a year ago." The combination gives the song a free, loose, forward moving feeling that you would normally get from a much happier song. Perhaps this is how it was able to become a hit despite its darkness. Something about the song just sounds to me like it was tossed off in a few minutes. Maybe it has an "easy" quality rather than breezy.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 28 April 2005 00:44 (twenty years ago)

"Just Like a Baby" is my favorite song on Riot

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Thursday, 28 April 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

Man, I wish they would fucking remaster this album. I just have a really shitty vinyl copy with tons of marks and scratches on it. It sounds like crap and I was going to buy it on CD but I listened to the CD at the record store I used to work at and it didn't sound any better than my beat-up LP. I should probably just buy another vinyl copy in nicer condition.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Thursday, 28 April 2005 02:07 (twenty years ago)

i sang "Family Affair" when i was auditioning for drama schools haha

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Thursday, 28 April 2005 05:57 (twenty years ago)

i first heard this covered by madonna.

― nathalie in a bar under the sea (stevie nixed), Thursday, 28 April 2005 07:08 (twenty years ago)

Greatest soul song ever. No need to add the "pop" category.

― blahbarian, Thursday, 28 April 2005 10:57 (twenty years ago)

'Man, I wish they would fucking remaster this album. I just have a really shitty vinyl copy with tons of marks and scratches on it. It sounds like crap and I was going to buy it on CD but I listened to the CD at the record store I used to work at and it didn't sound any better than my beat-up LP. I should probably just buy another vinyl copy in nicer condition.'

it doesnt improve - the original master tapes are muddy as fuck.

― blahbarian, Thursday, 28 April 2005 10:59 (twenty years ago)

My new Lp of it sounds great, tho

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 28 April 2005 11:17 (twenty years ago)

they remastered it for the sly best of 2cd set that came out the other year, but it sounds so much better muddy as it was initially released.

― blahbarian, Thursday, 28 April 2005 11:34 (twenty years ago)

picking a sly stone to win is hard enough..but then you have to consider "just my imagination" and all the othe tempts.

― b b, Thursday, 28 April 2005 13:34 (twenty years ago)

I have nothing to add, but this thread makes me very happy.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 28 April 2005 13:36 (twenty years ago)

I don't know, I listened to that 2fer of Sly's best and the stuff from "Riot" sounded far better to me. It is amazing both "Family" and "Runnin'" were hits, and that "Riot" went to #1, I believe, too. Other than that album my fave Sly has got to be the awesomely beautiful "Everybody Is a Star." And I fucking love "Spaced Cowboy."

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 28 April 2005 14:04 (twenty years ago)

edd, i think ive never agreed with you so much as i do regarding your sly stone song preferences.

i havent heard the remastered riot stuff, but i feel weird about the idea. maybe send it through the loudener, but i like the muddy a whole lot...

― peter smith (plsmith), Thursday, 28 April 2005 15:29 (twenty years ago)

if Columbia/Legacy can do their bit with the Byrds, I don't see why they can't do it for Sly. And I guess Matthew Katz owns the rights to the first Moby Grape album, but that's another one on Columbia I sure wish they'd do it for as well. I have the old "Vintage" Moby Grape 2-CD thing, but still...

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 28 April 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

everyone knows bobby womack is all over this (very very great) record, right?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 28 April 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

"it sounds so much better muddy as it was initially released."

I've always thought Riot sounds like a head-cold (in a good way of course).

― Burr (Burr), Thursday, 28 April 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

is there any other S&TFS song that sounds even remotely like this?

and, to answer the question - it's certainly up there. top ten, maybe top five.

I love the genuinely euphoric-sounding 'yaaaaaaa!!!' on the faedout

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Thursday, 28 April 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

is there any other S&TFS song that sounds even remotely like this?

it depends on what you mean by "sounds like this".... certainly other tracks on "riot" have a similar feel. "runnin away" likewise pairs a despairing lyric to some strangely upbeat (if a bit muddy) vocals and horn charts.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 28 April 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

"is there any other S&TFS song that sounds even remotely like this?"

you need the entire riot album!

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Thursday, 28 April 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

yeah, Bobby Womack is on "Riot." I love Bobby Womack, have been listening to the recent reissues. "Fly Me to the Moon"/"My Prescription" are two great albums. Such an elegant, understated rhythm guitar player--those Chips Moman recordings are models of ensemble playing.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 28 April 2005 20:17 (twenty years ago)

i love bobby womack. he did one of the better terri gross interviews i've heard (wherein he revealed that he used to date pam grier!) and spoke about recording with sly stone.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 28 April 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

(You Caught Me) Smilin' is my favorite song on the album, and I think it definitely sounds like Family Affair.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Thursday, 28 April 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

(which was followed by this rueful "yeah, i don't really know what happened to him..." moment. sigh.)

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 28 April 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

xpost

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 28 April 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

Bobby Womack did date Pam Grier--now that's cool. When I saw "Jackie Brown" the first time, I remembered this and know I was gonna love that movie. I do find Womack somewhat uneven, except on the two albums I mentioned above, but I admire the fact that he would try anything, even if a lot of his experiments don't work so well. I'd put his "Daylight" in my top twenty favorite songs, too.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Thursday, 28 April 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)

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