It’s hard to believe the incomparable Sly Stone recently celebrated his 82nd birthday (on March 15th). Granted, making it into your eighties is a modest accomplishment in and of itself for most everybody, but it’s particularly rarified air for legendary artists that have lived as hard and fast as Sly has over the years. Indeed, Sly’s struggles with substance abuse and the like are no secret to most fans (as covered in the excellent new documentary Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)), but that aside, we’ll be spotlighting some prime Sly cuts this week as a bit of a belated birthday tribute. And what better jam to kick things off on the Manic Monday front than the characteristically frenzied “I Want to Take You Higher”, captured live in this hard-hitting performance from 1974. While the song always had a swirling psychedelic intensity to it, the energy and tempo of this performance are amplified to the point it feels borderline punky in at times. OK, maybe that’s a stretch, but whatever the case, it’s nonetheless 100% manic. Crank it:
