I Want To Take You Higher: The Life And Times Of Sly & The Family Stone

by Jeff Kaliss, Sly Stone (Foreword), George Clinton (Preface)

(Book). Author Jeff Kaliss scored the first face-to-face interview with the reclusive superstar in over 20 years, making this book a must-read for any rock 'n' roll fan. From his anthemic early hits ("I Want to Take You Higher," "Family Affair," "Dance to the Music"), through the moody meditations of "There's a Riot Going On" and beyond, Sly & the Family Stone have left an indelible stamp on rock, funk, pop, and hip hop.

Genres: Music, Biography, Autobiography, Nonfiction, History, Ebooks, Musicians

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Jeff Kaliss is a San Francisco-based author and periodical writer about rock, jazz, world music, classical music, theater, film, and culture. His biography, "I Want to Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly & the Family Stone", is published by Hal Leonard/Backbeat Books. "

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love rock histories. And especially artist biographies. And this one....was lacking.
Jeff Kaliss gives us a taste of Sly and the rest of the band and shows us the events that shaped the group. However, he barely talks about the music and glosses over each period the band went through. The emphasis is far more on Sly himself than on any other member of the band and I liked Sly a lot less after reading this. The main emphasis is on how wonderful Sly is and how many drugs he's on and how difficult it is to get ahold of him these days. I would have loved to learn more about who influenced the band and who they influenced, but (again) this was just glossed over. There was a mention of the most popular songs from each album. After a time, the book sped up and covered the 1980's to now in a handful of pages.
This was a good book if you want a surface idea of Sly & the Family Stone, but it gives little information about them and definitely doesn't give the reader a better feel for the band.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for a bio of Sly Stone this is functional but not particularly insightful into either him or his times.

[Philemon - · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before Sly became famous he was a serious student of music and music theory. After paying his dues in small L.A. clubs and growing a Family, he found his stride and exploded into full-blown American success in 1968-1969. The joyous funk intros to "Sing a Simple Song" and "Dance to the Music" still echo loudly down the decades.

Then came success's over-familiar lures and excesses, trips up and down the drug escalators, the devil whispering in the ear. Sly couldn't stay quite on top. He tried darker music styles, wrestled with money problems, found a seat on the slow ride to a difficult, well-loved footnote fame. His family was partly dispersed but loyal. Now eighty, he still does music and still does drugs. He's kept his funk, found his own complex but mellow step. God bless him.

[Bob Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't luv it and I didn't haight it!

[Matthew Moes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sly's cover on Wax Poetics Magazine introduced me to the magazine, which introduced me to this book, which I then happened across in the public library, and not being one to defy serendipitous encounters, I checked it out and enjoyed the light reading. Overall it was informative, but not what I expected or really wanted. Really I wanted to know the illusive genius behind the lyrics and the sound, and this is why I was disappointed. Beyond rise and descent of Sly's status in pop music, little perspective was offered on the message-music of Sly Stone. And it is the message that endures with the song. I wanted to know the visionary behind "My own beliefs are in my song..." and "My only weapon is my band..." What I found instead was comparatively superficial.

I actually discovered Sly & the Family Stone in the mid-80s when my good friend pulled two albums, "Fresh" and "Riot" from his dad's collection and we thought the real chilled out grooves on these LPs sounded pretty cool if we sped them up to the 45 speed instead of 33. I guess that was because of Prince's vocal effects on "Girlfriend", but later I slowed it down and thought, "man these are some real mellow funky grooves..." I later got a compilation LP and got initiated to a lot of the other hits, realizing I was hearing Sly's sound behind Rhythm Nation and a lot of other then-current songs. But really I loved the idealism and the optimism of Sly Stone's music and perhaps the audacity of putting such giddy lyrics as "You Can Make It If You Try", "You Caught Me Smilin'", "Thankful...", "Fun", "Life", "Everybody is a Star". "Hot Fun in the Summertime", etc. to accompany such an irresistible sound.

I don't think anyone knew it at the time how much my limited exposure to Sly Stone was influencing my own folk-ish efforts, and only my high school friends will get this, but "I Just Wanna Be Myself" was inspired by the Sly title "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf)", and the "Plea for Life" lyric "Sly said 'babies makin babies', shoulda taken him more serious..." refers to a Sly song that at the time I figured no one in my age group even knew about.

I guess in my own construct of the poet behind Sly & the Family Stone, I expected to get to know more of an optimist than a recluse. Perhaps the reclusive optimist will emerge later in future biographical encounters, as it seems this book was sort of a warm up attempting fairness and avoiding the sensationalism. As the story unfolds, the facts are all there, but the lack of depth leaves us wanting.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I Want to Take You Higher: The Life and Time of Sly and the Family Stone by Jeff Kaliss (Backbeat Books 2008)(780.92) is a biography of a reclusive former rock star of the 1960's-70's. There were few bigger stars than Sly Stone. He was the king of funk, and then he just disappeared. Is he simply another drug casualty of the era? According to a close friend, the problems began on New Year's Eve 1969 with the introduction of PCP (phencyclidine hydrochloride) into Sly's drug cabinet (p.77). "PCP had been labeled a "Dissociative anesthetic: and removed from its original use in human and veterinary medicine because of its threatening and unpredictable side effects, including psychotic reactions and a speculative link to permanent brain damage. But some of its effects, including a removal from bodily and environmental reality and a desensitizing of reactions to pain, had brought the drug back into recreational use." (p.77). Sly's ex-wife Kathy Silva claims thusly: "Sly never grew out of drugs...He lost his backbone and destroyed his future." (p. 125). My rating: 5/10, finished 9/14/11.

[Vince · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been so much more but still as a love letter to Sly Stone it does a good job. The author reminds you where Sly stands in the pantheon of music legends. It's easy to forget he pretty much created funk/rock wrote a dozen or so classic songs, created the first great integrated large rock band among other achievements all in the space of about 5 very fertile years 67 - 72. It's hard to believe bands such as the Chili Peppers, Earth Wind and Fire and Prince would sound like they do today without Sly's legacy. Still the author mentions Sly's self destruction through drug use but never quite figures out why Sly has so completely removed himself from the public eye.

[John Barclay · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a fan of Sly Stone this is an interesting, if a bit depressing, book. It takes the music seriously, and in fact offers a lot of good insights into why Sly's music is so much more than just some fun dance tunes. Still, there's a lot of page stuffing going on here with long descriptions of church services from Sly's brother or conversations about deals and interactions in the 70s.

Sly is musically important, but his personal life is much less so, this books doesn't do well at staying focussed or admitting that Sly stopped being a creative force a long time ago.

[Jo Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sly was my 2nd concert- 1971 in Ames Iowa. He was so f'd up they had to bring out a stool for him to sit on while he nodded off here and there. Easy read and nice to know that he pulled himself together eventually.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

more interesting for the subject matter than the writing style, but an entertaining read, nonetheless.

[Herzog · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Sly, but this was not terribly insightful. Perhaps Sly's life is exactly what is seen based upon his musical output - a steady downward spiral.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. It did at least get me to listen to a lot of the Family Stone, and it is definitely the music that defined the future. Funkadelic, Prince, hip-hop.