Stand! by Sly and the Family Stone

Stand!, the fourth album from Sly and the Family Stone, hit the racks on Epic on May 3, 1969, just ahead of the band's celebrated turn at Woodstock, and it is Sly Stone's show from top to bottom: he wrote it, he produced it, and he drove his racially integrated, mixed-gender gang into a sound where funk, soul, gospel and psychedelic rock throw one big block party. Freddie Stone's guitar scratches, Larry Graham's bass thumps, Greg Errico hammers the backbeat, and Rose Stone's piano, Cynthia Robinson's trumpet and Jerry Martini's sax jab in from every corner.

The hits came in a bunch, "Everyday People", "I Want to Take You Higher", "Sing a Simple Song" and the title track, pop hooks with social commentary stitched into the lining. It became their biggest seller yet, eventually passing three million copies, and in 2015 it entered both the National Recording Registry and the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.