I'm Back! Family & Friends

I'm Back! Family & Friends
Studio album by Sly Stone
Released	August 16, 2011 (2011-08-16)
Genre	Funk
Label	Cleopatra
Sly Stone chronology
Ain't but the One Way (1982) I'm Back! Family and Friends (Sly Stone) (2011)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	37/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
A.V. Club	D[3]
Entertainment Weekly	C[4]
Rolling Stone	[5]
The Washington Post	(unfavorable)[6]

I'm Back! Family & Friends is the second solo album by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, released by Cleopatra Records in 2011. It contains remixes and covers of his old material, along with three new tracks.

Track listing

1. "Dance to the Music" (featuring Ray Manzarek) – 3:01
2. "Everyday People" (featuring Ann Wilson) – 2:58
3. "Family Affair" – 3:19
4. "Stand!" (featuring Carmine Appice and Ernie Watts) – 3:14
5. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" (featuring Johnny Winter) – 4:55
6. "(I Want to Take You) Higher" (featuring Jeff Beck) – 4:44
7. "Hot Fun in the Summertime" (featuring Bootsy Collins) – 2:54
8. "Dance to the Music" (Extended Mix) – 6:39
9. "Plain Jane" – 4:24
10. "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" – 4:18
11. "Get Away" – 3:46
12. "Dance to the Music" (Club Mix) – 4:12
13. "Family Affair" (Dubstep Mix) – 4:44
14. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" (Electro Club Mix) – 4:32

Critical reception

Although expressing disappointment that most of the tracks were remakes of previous hits, Rolling Stone praised the new elements of the album: "a brass-and-organ-driven take on the gospel standard "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" and two originals: the gutbucket funk of "Plain Jane" and "Get Away," a gorgeous soul vamp with a refrain – "Keep singin' that melody!" – that whets the appetite for a full-fledged Sly comeback."^[7]

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was less positive, noting of the new tracks that they were "saddled with the same awful production that hobbles the re-creations, the same sticky, tacky, desperate replication of the past that only underscores just how long ago Sly's golden years were."^[8]

The Washington Post's Allison Stewart was also unfavourable towards the release, stating that "Stone seems more like a visitor to these tracks, like somebody assembled them and he showed up sometimes. He sounds tired."^[6]

References