Family Soul Sessions: The Rare 45 RPMs '63-'66

Think you know Sly Stone? Think again; long before he made the Woodstock Nation shake a tailfeather with "Dance to the Music" et al., the young Sylvester Stewart was turning out singles that owed a great debt to (and just as often reworked) 1950s/early-'60s-style R&B and blues. FAMILY SOUL: THE RARE 45 RPM's does feature a couple of tunes that point the way toward Stone's subsequent soul/rock/pop amalgam, but for most of it he's putting his moves on Jimmy Reed's blues ("Ain't That Lovin' You Baby"), Stax-style soul ("Can't Turn You Loose"), and even doo wop ("In the Still of the Night"). FAMILY SOUL serves as a bright illumination of Sly Stone's roots.