Archive for the ‘Little Sister’ Category

Little Sister

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Somebody's Watching You / Little Sister

Listen: Somebody’s Watching You / Little Sister
Listen: Somebody's Watching You / Little Sister

Just like Prince, Sly Stone had a signature sound, and was okay with spreading it around to other acts a bit. If not for his drug demise, he may have actually produced a few more.

His imprint Stone Flower, a deal with Atlantic around ’69, only ever released a few singles. Two were from Little Sister, Sly’s touring background vocalists. One of the girls, Vanetta Stewart actually was Sly’s little sister.

Even though Sly & The Family Stone recorded this track earlier, he applied what would become the prominent sound on FRESH to this one: drum machines. It may be the earliest single I know of to use them. I remember vividly wondering why this sounded so different the first few times I heard it back then.

Starting with ‘Family Affair’ about six or so months later, it was literally the backdrop for most of the remaining Sly & The Family Stone hits.