This is a very dark album but really, it’s how it was when it came out. Bands were moving in that direction of being the stars. That was the time of the bands and they coming up front, instead of just playing behind singers. And in that kind of movement, their timing was perfect.
And those songs and what they were singing about! It was like every song on that album is like, wow! It touches you somewhere in your heart about what was going on. It wasn’t just the songs; there was a vibe Sly had, also. It was fresh and it was new and there really was nothing like it, you know? When you look at that era Sly was the only one that could do that in the way that James Brown was the only one who could do that !You could have a lot of people trying to sound like it but James and Sly were the ones to do that .
We spent a lot of time together; we were on the road together. He started opening for us. This was long after this album came out, like in the 80s, after he’d been away for a while and he was on the comeback trail. He would open for George and myself. We had a heck of a time riding in limos together and we’d talk shit, y’know, in hotels and acting the fool.
Sly and I stayed together in Detroit. I’ve actually got tracks that we recorded there. He would play guitar and drums and I played bass and then we’d switch around and there was a bunch of stuff that we just did when George gave us studio time. Will it ever see the light of day? Oh yeah! Oh yeah! It’s all about that getting to it. I mean, we had a blast! It was a good time.
