Back On The Right Track
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Album Summary
Back On The Right Track arrived in 1979 on Warner Bros. Records, and baby, just the fact that this record exists is a story worth telling. Sly Stone — the singular genius who rewired the DNA of funk, soul, and rock all at once — had spent the better part of the mid-to-late seventies in a fog of legal trouble, substance abuse, and personal chaos that broke the hearts of everyone who had ever lost their mind to "Dance to the Music" or "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)." Produced by Sly himself, with the guiding hand of the label helping to steer the ship, this album was positioned as exactly what its title promised — a man, battered but breathing, trying to find his footing again. Recording sessions carried the weight of uncertainty, with questions swirling about Sly's reliability and wellbeing, but what came out the other side was a finished album — and in those circumstances, that alone meant something.
Reception
- The album was met with a muted commercial response, falling well short of recapturing the mainstream success that had once made Sly & The Family Stone one of the biggest acts in America, and it did not yield any significant charting singles.
- Critical reception landed somewhere between lukewarm and gently sympathetic, with reviewers recognizing the sincerity of the comeback attempt while noting that the album could not fully replicate the raw, electric innovation of the group's classic run.
- The release did little to reverse the commercial trajectory the group had been on through the latter half of the seventies, and it found a music industry landscape that had shifted considerably beneath Sly's feet.
Significance
- Back On The Right Track stands as a quietly powerful historical document of Sly Stone's determination to reclaim his place in a funk and soul world that had moved on without him, capturing a moment of genuine human perseverance set against the backdrop of the post-disco era.
- The album represents one of the final meaningful statements made under the Family Stone name, marking what history would come to recognize as a closing chapter for one of the most transformative and influential groups ever to grace the American musical landscape.
- More than a commercial product, the record illuminates the very real human cost of Sly Stone's turbulent years — a reminder that behind the mythology of the funk pioneers were flesh-and-blood artists whose personal struggles left permanent marks on their creative legacies.
Tracklist
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A1 Remember Who You Are 103
3:16
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A2 Back On The Right Track 120
3:20
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A3 If It's Not Addin' Up.... —
2:41
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A4 The Same Thing (Makes You Laugh, Makes You Cry) 172
2:40
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B1 Shine It On 111
4:51
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B2 It Takes All Kinds 93
2:57
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B3 Who's To Say? 109
2:49
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B4 Sheer Energy 139
3:33
Artist Details
Sly & The Family Stone burst onto the scene out of San Francisco in 1966, led by the visionary Sylvester Stewart — better known as Sly Stone — and they cooked up a sound so rich and revolutionary it made the whole world get up and dance, blending funk, soul, rock, and psychedelia into something nobody had ever heard before. This group was a trailblazer not just musically but socially, putting together one of the first racially and gender-integrated bands in popular music and delivering anthems like "Everyday People" and "Thank You" that spoke truth to a nation caught in the fire of the Civil Rights Movement and counterculture revolution. Their influence runs so deep it flows through the veins of Prince, Earth Wind & Fire, and Parliament-Funkadelic, and any serious student of soul and funk music knows that without Sly & The Family Stone, the whole landscape of popular music would look and sound completely different.
