Seattle reissue label Light in the Attic is releasing I’m Just Like You: Sly’s Stone Flower 1969-1970 on double LP Nov. 4 (it's already available digitally and on CD). For those two years indicated in the title during which he ran the Stone Flower label, Mr. Sylvester Stewart (aka Sly Stone) was on the mother of all creative rolls; Sly & the Family Stone's Stand! and There's a Riot Goin' On also came out during this time. He issued only four singles on that imprint, but they were all gems. (The comp is filled out with 10 previously unissued tracks from the archives.) Written and produced by Sly, these songs all carried a heavy-lidded, stripped-down electro-funk aura that made you want to strip down. This was Sly getting down to the essentials of what made his songwriting click in your brain and groin.
One of the best of the bunch is 6ix’s “I’m Just Like You,” cut by a group who also served as the live band for Sly’s Little Sister project, which featured his, uh, little sister, Vet Stewart. With “I’m Just like You,” less is most definitely more. The wah-wah guitar, bobbing bass, drum machine, poignant harmonica, and clenched, soulful vocals are tightly coiled for maximum funk and sexual-tension building. I can't stop playing it.
More info on I'm Just Like You and snippets of tracks here.