Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

I heard another super watered down funk tune and after a bit of straining I recognised it as "Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)". Fair enough, since it was performed by the Shrek guys, can't expect too much of an ass like Eddie Murphy. Then the radio DJ says that the thing is James Brown. What a dickhead.

I picked up a copy of August 2007's "Vanity Fair" and in it was a story that almost made my eyes pop out. It was an interview with Sly Stone. "The first in 25 years!"

It was. Anybody who wants to read Sly Stone's sad story can refer to any of these links. He was a great original, a trailblazer who managed to fuse soul, rock, funk and jazz and make it sound like they were all meant to be together. A great songwriter, whose tunes are still being covered today. A musical inspiration to many, like Kool + the Gang, Parliament / Funkadelic, Earth Wind and Fire. He practically invented 70s soul and funk. Almost everybody in that extraordinarily rich period of black music copied him. Many rappers sampled his music.

The reason why he's never been made a hero is simply because he isn't one. Yes, his early records were utopian. He put his band, Sly + the Family Stone together as one of the first multi- racial bands which featured both men and women.

And guess what - at the grand old age of 64, he's planning a comeback. A comeback! He had been making comebacks since the mid-70s, when the drug habit got the better of him. By then he had lost a great deal of his stature because of his erratic behaviour. His music, while still competent, was not as brilliant as before. In the 80s, he was arrested for a few drug offences, and made a few attempts at comebacks that were best described as shambolic.

But now he's back! And guess what, for the first time, we heard that he'd been off drugs for 10 years! Nobody saw him much between 1993, when he turned up to be inducted into the rock and Roll hall of fame, and 2006, when he performed at the Grammys for a short while.

Brian Wilson, as the head Beach Boy made "Pet Sounds" in 1966. Paul McCartney acknowledged later that "Sergeant Pepper" was an attempt to match up to its lofty standards. Elsewhere it was acknowledged as one of the great masterpieces of pop music. Unfortunately, he went mad trying to make the follow-up, "Smile" in 1967. He remained productive, and some of the songs that were supposed to be on "Smile" surfaced on other Beach Boys albums. Incredibly, "Smile" was finished in 2004, when he decided, as an old man, to go back into the studio after 37 (!) years and finish the job. Equally incredibly, it seems to be more or less what he envisioned in 1967, and everywhere it was lauded as another great album, although not quite the equal of "Pet Sounds".

There are other great recluses of music. There is Kevin Shields, who as member of My Bloody Valentine created "Isn't Anything" at a cost of 250K pounds, almost bankrupting his record company in the process. But it was worth it: it was a masterpiece. But that was in 1991, we waited for a follow up that never came.

There is Syd Barrett, who was the founding leader of Pink Floyd, made an exceptional album. (He's now dead.)

There is Lee Mavers, who as the leader of La's, made a pop album as good as anything that came out during the 60s.

There is Cat Stevens, who became an Islamic fundamentalist.

Well let's hope the Sly Stone album comes out and we'll see what happens.