Sly Lives! (Hulu)

[JSngry]

Never forget.

[jlhoots]

On my list to watch.

[JSngry]

People who weren't there for it probably don't realize the power of Sly at his peak and therefore the power of his fall.

He remains a hero to me, fall and all.

[clifford_thornton]

Curious about this for sure. It’s supposed to be a very good documentary.

[romualdo]

hopefully it'll be on par with the recent doco film "The Summer of Soul (....or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" - one of the best music docos I've seen

[clifford_thornton]

Summer of Soul is awesome!

[felser]

4 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Summer of Soul is awesome!

I just wish they would have had more complete music footage in it.  I was always surprised they never came out with a deluxe DVD/Blu-ray set of it that included extra footage, featurettes, etc.  I think that would have sold well.

[clifford_thornton]

Agree. Would have wished for complete Sonny and Linda footage with Herbie, because I understand it was part of the concert.

[mjzee]

Summer of Soul was OK, but there was way too much political footage (interviews, etc.).  Less Nina Simone would have also been welcome.

[romualdo]

On 2/16/2025 at 7:49 AM, mjzee said:

Summer of Soul was OK, but there was way too much political footage (interviews, etc.).  

Actually, those sections were some of the most interesting moments to me.

Watched the Sly doco last night - yep, it's up there with Summer of Soul - superb production (musical footage & interviews, old & contemporary). Miles D gets a mention (including footage).

[JSngry]

I'd like to know what that interview with Sly was where he was totally lucid. Red sweater, obviously after the fall. I'd like to see the entire thing.

[mjazzg]

On 2/17/2025 at 2:52 AM, romualdo said:

Actually, those sections were some of the most interesting moments to me.

And to me, in fact I thought the premise of the film was to make a political point, it wasn't ever just a soul music concert film.

[clifford_thornton]

Watched the Sly documentary. Very good portrait, it seems, as I was fairly unfamiliar with the whole "thing" despite having passing awareness of some of the music.

I also had no idea he was a producer before the Family Stone came together.

[jlhoots]

I watched it & liked it a lot.

[JSngry]

Sly was a serious  cat..until he took himself out of contention.

 

[clifford_thornton]

Weirdly, it wasn't noted anywhere in the documentary that Cynthia Robinson died nearly a decade ago.

Nor was the process of getting signed to a major record label (and having a long contract) discussed. So those are a couple of weird omissions.

[medjuck]

His daughter is a dj on KCRW in LA.  One day I heard her say it was her father's birthday and she played some Sly. I thought I had misheard her but then she talked a little more about him.  She sometimes has her grandfather  (mother's side) on the show   but so far I've never heard her discuss her mother.  At least the tv movie showed her mother  but didn't explain much about her. 

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, the film did not go into his relationships a great deal, though it's clear that there were a number of them. 

Thinking on it, the film also didn't really delve into what drove his addiction to the fever pitch that it eventually became. It amazes me that he made it out alive.

[JSngry]

39 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Thinking on it, the film also didn't really delve into what drove his addiction to the fever pitch that it eventually became. It amazes me that he made it out alive.

Other writings over the years have mentioned that Sly was getting a lot of pressure (financial and personal) from various thugs who associated themselves as being from the Black Power movement. Yes there were guns. One thing led to another....running away to get away as that song said.

The Mojo magazine(?) of August 2001 had a pretty in-depth article about the making of There's A Riot Going On that goes into all of that, replete with quotes from the band. It was literally insane.

One takeaway was that all the tape hiss and other audio degradation you hear on that album was the result of Sly and whoever just running whoever they were in the room with at the time onto the tracks and then immediately erasing them as soon as they left. Apparently there were a LOT of them, mostly female.

I suppose that he could have cleaned all that up, but it seems he didn't want to. Talk about an act of militant passive-agressiveness...

 

[felser]

Still hard to believe that Riot... became a #1 selling album on Billboard Pop Charts.  By comparison, Stand only made #13, though it no doubt had a much longer run.

[JSngry]

They both continue to reward both scrutiny and study, as does the Greatest Hits album (which for my money is one of the great driving records).

[clifford_thornton]

yes, I recall the doc saying that there was a somewhat extortionist ask for $100k from Sly via people associated with the Panthers. Unclear if these were actual Party members or some other individuals. Strange times...

This Riot cut is definitely not "normal" music. Cool.

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, clifford_thornton said:

yes, I recall the doc saying that there was a somewhat extortionist ask for $100k from Sly via people associated with the Panthers. Unclear if these were actual Party members or some other individuals. Strange times...

This Riot cut is definitely not "normal" music. Cool.

None of it is. I keep coming back to that album, sometimes for study, sometimes just to bask in it, but it always leaves me better than it found me.

I've heard stories that there were also repeated attempts to coerce free concerts, and more than just one attempt to extort cash.

The Mojo article (if it's the one I'm remembering) is pretty consequential and is worth finding.

 

 

[Joe]

Questlove is turning into quite a filmmaker. 

[JSngry]

2-2 in my book.