Another classic track from the master who changed the face of funk, fusing it with rock. Poet has it all, excellent early use of the beat machine, insightful lyrics, unbelievable bass line, funky clavinet and phenomenal rhythm guitar work. Sly did a great deal in this three minute track, which proves why he was so forward thinking. By the way, to all the Larry Graham haters on this site, do not let your disdain for the man detract from his genius as a musician. His bass work on all of the Sly and Family Stones albums is some of the best you will ever hear. Listen to the bottom as it comes in on the second verse of Poet or the expansive work on Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa and you will understand why much of the music has a great deal of respect for Graham.

Yeah,I so totally agree in all U said.
Just the intro 2 this song give me the chill
& Sly´s vocal performance on this is excellent.
/peace Manki

"My only weapon is my pen...
Whatever frame of mind I'm in, yeah!
I'm a song writer!!!"

manki said:

Speaking of intros...I just love that thumpin' bassline on "If You Want Me To Stay." I love that song period!

UptownDeb said:

Yes! Sly was killin' that bass!!!

okaypimpn said:

Are you sure it wasn't Larry Graham?

Marrk said:

Okay, your avatar was hiLARRYous before, but now it's just plain out of control!

Marrk said:

No,it was actually Sly Stone on that song.
"Que sera sera" is Graham tho´

Any ideas on when their albums are gonna be remastered?

MrTation said:

aren't a few of them already? Maybe I'm thinkin bout another band...

Marrk said:

Yeah, Larry only played bass on a couple of tracks from that album. Those sessions actually had the bass parts disected between Larry, Rusty Allen and Sly, himself.

Around this time Larry was leaving the group and wasn't present for all of the sessions. Larry said in an interview that a lot of people try to give him credit for that bassline, but he can't take it because it was actually Sly!

If memory serves me correctly, the only tracks Larry plays on are "I Don't Know (Satisfaction)," "Que Sera Sera" and "If It Were Left Up To Me."

just like a baby...superb and very different

kiss85 said:

So far there is only Epic/Legacy's Essential Sly & The Family Stone.It's a good start but Im looking forward to getting some of their albums remastered.The current CDs sound even worse than Prince's.

MrTation said:

A remastered version of Stand! was released on a gold Legacy CD a couple of years ago. It sounds nice, but seems to have been deleted.

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

yep, the entire funkin album is a masterpiece. Love it to death.