Today is Sly Stone's 68th birthday. I sincerely hope he's having a good one. Things have been somewhat rocky for Sly for nearly 40 years now, and while he is truly one of the greats, attempts to get himself together and make a comeback have unfortunately been elusive. I was first hipped to this record-- the first single by the Stewart Brothers--by my pal Phast Phreddie. Young Sly is at the helm and begins the a-side with an introduction:
The name of this tune is...uh, "The Rat."
and uh, we are the Stewart Brothers and
Sylvester Stewart, that's myself, I wrote it.
It's a doo-wop record with some fine guitar playing by brother Freddie. I'm not sure who the rest of the personnel are on this session.
Dig it... and Happy Birthday Sly.
Download:
"The Rat" mp3
by the Stewart Brothers, 1959.
Ensign 45-4032
out of print
"Ra Ra Roo" mp3
by the Stewart Brothers, 1959.
Ensign 45-4032
out of print
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ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating post. Thank you. It's interesting to hear something that links Sly to early West Coast r'n'b greats like Young Jessie, the Olympics and Richard Berry. You can better understand where he's coming from after hearing this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post. Brilliant!
ReplyDelete