Sly and the Family Stone are putting out a brand new album made from their oldest live show ever recorded.
Back in 1967, the band played at Winchester Cathedral in Redwood City, California, and those nights were wild and full of energy, with Sly and the Family Stone as the main act for months on end. Now, on July 18, The First Family: Live at the Winchester Cathedral 1967 will finally be released by High Moon, and people can get it as a digital download, a CD, or a vinyl record. The physical copies even come with a fancy booklet that has stories from Alec Palao, interviews with Sly Stone and the original band, and a bunch of old photos nobody has seen before.
It’s kind of crazy that the whole concert was recorded way back on March 26, 1967, in the middle of the night by their manager, Rich Romanello, and then the tapes just disappeared for decades. Dutch twins Edwin and Arno Konings, who are super fans and collectors, found the tapes in 2002, and with the help of Palao, they brought the music back to life. There’s even a special bonus song on the CD version—a cover of “Try a Little Tenderness” that makes the setlist extra cool.
Fans sometimes wish they could have been there to see it live.
A little after those Winchester Cathedral gigs, Sly and the Family Stone joined Epic Records and started dropping famous albums, like A Whole New Thing, Dance to the Music, and Life, changing funk forever. In 2015, they put out another live album from their shows at the Fillmore East, which showed everyone just how awesome they were onstage.
They just released the live version of “I Gotta Go Now (Up on the Floor) / Funky Broadway,” so you can listen to that and imagine the crowd dancing.
Here’s what you’ll find on The First Family: Live at the Winchester Cathedral 1967:
01 I Ain’t Got Nobody (For Real)
02 Skate Now
03 Show Me
04 What Is Soul?
05 I Can’t Turn You Loose
06 Try a Little Tenderness
07 Baby I Need Your Lovin’
08 Pucker Up Buttercup
09 Saint James Infirmary
10 I Gotta Go Now (Up on the Floor) / Funky Broadway
