awwwww yeahhhhh. Showdown is back on, maybe not due to it's orignal creator but...well whatever I can do this thread if I want.

So here's a good comparison. Both bands I believe started in 66/67, fronted by iconic trailblazing black men who were extremely gifted musical talents; multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer, songwriter, etc. Jimi Hendrix, & Sly Stone. Both bands had another exceptional talent which added to the dynamic, in the case of the latter it's the animated Mitch Mitchell and for the former it's the innovative Larry Graham. They each produced five albums(Electric Ladyland is a double album) that would cement their place in pop music halls of fame, encompassing different genres, inventive studio experimentation, marquee musicianship, pop sensibilities, oh an they both played at woodstock .







Who is better?
[Edited 12/10/09 21:12pm]
[Edited 12/10/09 21:14pm]

I gotta go with Sly and The Family Stone. Sly's band was more versatile and musically accomplished than the Experience. Sly could play electric blues ("Sex Machine"), pure unaduletarted funk ("Don't Call Me Nigger Whitey", "Sing A Simple Song") and inspirational ballads ("everybody is a star". Sly's band live was pulsating, energetic, full of frenzy and youthful indiscretions. Plus know one had seen a band the calibre of Sly and The Family Stone. "Whole New Thang"-Sly and The Family Stone's debut album sonically broke new ground and incorporated gospel style songwriting and multiple-part harmonies with 3 lead singers sharing lead vocal duties. Going by musical personnel.

Mitch Mitchell was a better drummer than Errico-Advantage goes to The Experience

Larry Graham is a better bassist than Noel Redding.-Advantage goes to Sly

Jimi Hendrix...need I say more. Love Freddie Stone but-Advantage goes The Experince

Jerry Martini and Cynthia Robinson for 2-member horn section provided enough of a punch that they hardly needed a horn section ensemble.

i like sly better for the music he put out, with stand! being his best album imo

Sandino said:

Neither. They both made significant contributions to music in their own ways.
My guess is that most here would like Sly & The Family Stone better as they had more of a universal appeal.



Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

Gotta co-sign with Aud on that one. Jimi and Sly were buddies and I'm sure if Jimi lived a few more years Sly and he would have done a collabo.

I have my moods when I want to vibe on Jimi and there's times when I get high on Sly. They're both great.

Sly & The Family Stone

This would've been a good concert

funkpill said:

On May 10, 1968...



...it probably was a good concert.



The opening act was Sly & The Family Stone even though they're not listed on the poster.



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

really??!!

funkpill said:

And based on a Jimi Hendrix ticket from the same year...



...the show was only $3.00!



I don't think I ever paid more than $3.50 for any show at the Fillmore East.
And we're talking for at least 2 or 3 good groups.



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

wow...very cheap

theAudience said:

IAintTheOne said:

I got to see The Jimi Hendrix Experience & The Buddy Miles Express...



...at Madison Square Garden. (May 18th 1969)


YouTube clip here:
http://www.youtube.com/wa...O-H9pFjBeM



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

DAMN!!!

funkpill said:

I think inexpensive is the polite term.

It's weird when you think about the price of that show.
Now days, you might pay 50 times more money for 5000 times less talent.


Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

That shirt is purchased

theAudience said:

TALK!!!!

theAudience said:

tA, I know what you're sayin'.

Back in the mid to late 60's the record companies had't quite figured out yet how much money they could make from rock music.

We had two venues in Chicago that were our Filmore and Winterland type places.

One was the Aragon Ballroom and the other was the Kinetic Playground (run by Aaron Russo who later discovered Bette Midler and went on to make films. Wise Guys, Trading Places and The Rose).

These places would be running shows every weekend night and sometimes it was a tough call where you wanted to be. And sometimes you went to both places because the deal was for $10 you could see 3 major groups play two sets each without having to sit in an assigned seat. In fact there were no seats; it was dancing and light shows all the way.

At the Aragon I saw Parliament (still in their sharkskin suit choreographed dancing phase touring behind their big hit, Testify), Baby Huey and the Babysitters shortly before James/Huey died and Cream. Then we went over to the Playground which was only about a mile away and saw Rotary Connection, Steppenwolf and The Buddy Miles Express... or was it Led Zeppelin, I forget now.

Of course in those days I could handle that much music and stay out till the sun came up. Not a bad night for $20.

DakutiusMaximus said:

In a word... FUUUUUCK NO

IAintTheOne said:

Yeah, bro', those were the days but I never did see Sly or Jimi.

DakutiusMaximus said:

From the book I posted about here: http://prince.org/msg/8/325675

Commercial potential and commercial demands became compelling forces. Superstardom pushed fees higher. Bob Dylan reportedly was paid more than $70,000 for his hour at the Isle of Wight, compared to well under $10,000 paid to most groups at Woodstock only a couple of weeks before. Big name stars took note. The higher fees forced promoters to focus on bigger, more profitable, high-profile venues and high octane tours. Then there was the labor intensivity of it all: The Stones could play one show at Madison Square Garden and earn as much money - before a bigger crowd - than they would have done with four grueling concerts over two nights at a mid-size hall like the Fillmore East. Ticket prices, too, skyrocketed to meet the higher cost of the acts. The era of "family" was ending and the era of "finance" was on the rise.

For the Fillmore East, it all came to a head in the spring of 1971. Bill Graham dropped the bomb at a hastily called news conference in the F.E. on April 28th. Perched on the edge of the stage, leaning forward into the lights and cameras set up among the plush covered seats in the orchestra section, he announced that he would close down the Fillmore operation on both coasts, starting with the Fillmore East at the end of June.

Graham's announcement was a biter, personal indictment of changing values in a changing world, of inflated costs, slipping professional standards and lost personal battles. The irony, of course, was that his own success had helped fuel these changes. "Ever since the creation of the Fillmores, it was my sole intention to do nothing more, or less, than present the finest contemporary music in this country, on the best stages and in the most pleasant halls," he said in a statement released at the news conference. "The scene has changed and, in the long run, we are all to one degree or another at fault. All that I know is that what exists now is not what we started with, and what I see around me is less than that with which I prefer to be associated..."




Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

Exactly, tA. Thanks for the snip.

I feel fortunate to have been there before the financial takeover; that's at least one good benefit of being older.

And back to the topic - I love me some Sly, but for all-encompassing mindblowing world-changing talent: gotta take Jimi. Sly can shake me, but Jimi moves and shakes.

The only thing these groups have in common in the Black front man. You're talking one guy was from Funktown and another from a diff universe.

Both amazing, both perfect at what they do. I wouldn't pick one over the other because neither could have been improved upon.

Well...both could have been improved upon by a lengthening of their careers.

However, only one of them is seen as the most influential guy to ever play his particular instrument.

NDRU said:

agreed. I refuse to make this false choice