The New Sly Stone Documentary is a Funky, Clunky Memoir of Misadventure
Sly Lives! revisits the heyday of Sly and the Family Stone, the band’s origin story, and the self-destruction that brought the group’s eponymous frontman crashing back to Earth from the airy heights of rock superstardom. It also finds director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson continuing to evolve as a filmmaker, attempting to create unique nonfiction movies that are the equal of their one-of-a-kind subjects.
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) assumes that most viewers don’t know much about Sly and the musical family he drew together with a mixture of funk, rock and pop psychedelia. But I’d bet most of The Contributor’s readers here in Music City know that Sly and the Family Stone were massive hit-makers and a live music phenomena when the group was at the height of its powers in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Sylvester Stewart was born in Dallas, Texas, but his musical career began after his family relocated to Vallejo, Calif. Sly formed a gospel group with his siblings. The Stewart Four released a local single, but the music man’s career started in earnest after he made a name for himself as a San Mateo disc jockey. Sly became a producer creating hits for The Beau Brummels, and coaxing the first version of “Somebody to Love” — then titled “Someone to Love” — out of Grace Slick’s first band, The Great Society.
Sly and his brother Freddie fused their bands together and added pioneering bass player Larry Graham to form Sly and the Family Stone. The interracial group also included men and women. They created songs about “Everyday People,” claiming it “makes no difference what group I’m in” during a time when the Black Panther Party and their separatist rhetoric were on the rise. Their appearance and cultural stances made the band standout, but their talents as performing musicians lead by a genius savant made their music a permanent feature of popular culture to this day.
Sly Lives! hits all the highlights, but I wish we could have seen this portrait of an American original given more than just the archival-footage-and-talking-heads formula. This documentary often feels more like a PBS special than a feature film. It’s nice to hear firsthand accounts from the original members of the Family Stone including the great Larry Graham, but it doesn’t take a leap of creative insight to interview the band. Sly has become reclusive in his older age and he may not have been available to interview, but why do the film if that was the case? Thompson also interviews Sly’s peers like George Clinton, and the musicians that Sly and the band influenced including Vernon Reid of Living Colour. But interviews like these always feel like unnecessary celebrity padding, and just sticking to the band would have made the film half-again more interesting and unique.
Sly Lives! has some good footage and a happy ending, but it’s an ordinary documentary about an extraordinary person. The going gets rougher when Thompson tries to ask his interviewees to “define black genius” or if Sly burned-out because of the “burden of black genius.” It’s an odd question to ask about an actual genius — no doubt — whose art specifically transcended race during a time when it took real courage to insist on togetherness and mutual respect. Sly built a wildly diverse band and called them his family, declaring “We’ve got to live together.” Most of the interviewees just look confused, like they’re not sure what the director is getting at. Thompson begins to explore the idea that black artists are burdened by the expectations — and jealousies — of their communities, but that conversation never really goes anywhere. I get the sense the director feels like he has to bring some profound insight to his work beyond simply focusing on his exceptional subjects. It’s the same problem that made Quest Thompson’s debut, The Summer of Soul, equally disappointing. The director knows a great subject when he sees one, and maybe his third film will be the charm. In the meantime, we’re still waiting on the great Sly Stone movie.
Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) is streaming on Hulu
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.