Sly and the Family Stone have announced a new live album capturing their earliest concert recording. The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967 is out July 18 via High Moon Records. The album will be available digitally and on LP and CD, with physical releases containing a deluxe booklet featuring liner notes by producer Alec Palao, interviews with Sly Stone and the original band members, never-before-seen photos, and more. They’ve also shared that live rendition of “I Gotta Go Now (Up on the Floor) / Funky Broadway,” which you can listen to below.
The First Family was recorded live at the Redwood City, California, venue Winchester Cathedral, where Sly and the Family Stone serve as the house band from December 1966 on through April 1967. The entirety of the live album was taped in the early hours of March 26, 1967 by the band’s first manager, Rich Romanello — a full two years before they would go on to release Stand!, one of the best albums of the 1960s. Those reels were later rediscovered in 2002 by Edwin and Arno Konings, Dutch twins and Sly and The Family Stone archivists, and carefully restored by co-producer Palao. A bonus performance of Otis Redding’s classic “Try a Little Tenderness” from that evening set will appear on The First Family as a CD exclusive.
Later in 1967, Sly and the Family Stone would sign to Epic Records and drop their debut album, A Whole New Thing, and go on to release funk classics, like Dance to the Music and Life, the following year. In 2015, they released Live at the Fillmore East October 4th & 5th 1968, documenting the onstage magic of the group for the first time.
Revisit the list “Sly’s Stone-Cold Genius in 10 Late, Great Songs.”
