Sly & the Family Stone

There aren't enough adjectives in the English language to praise this 1969 release. The energy is near-terrifying, the funk is complex, and the songwriting left us with some of the most memorable and important pop/funk songs of the 20th century. "Stand," "I Want to Take You Higher" and "Everyday People" all came off this album.

Highlighted but not exhausted by five songs Greatest Hits would recycle just a year later, Stand! revealed the magnificence of which Sly's band would all too briefly be capable. "Sex Machine," which precipitated James Brown's, wah-wahs on a bit, but everything else is etched in Stone, from the equally precipitous "Don't Call Me N*gg*r, Whitey" to the Chaka Khan fave "Somebody's Watching You" to, yes you can, "You Can Make It if You Try." (Grade - ****1/2)