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Greg Errico was only 17 years old on the night he showed up to rehearse with the Stone Souls, his band with guitarist Freddie Stewart, only to find himself at a meeting led by Freddie’s older brother — Sylvester (a.k.a. Sly), a musician, producer and popular San Francisco-area DJ — about forming a different group.

“When I got there, no one else was there except for Sly and Freddie, who were in the kitchen having something to eat,” Errico recalls with a laugh. “I walked in and said, ‘Where are all the guys?’ And they said, ‘We’re going to try something new tonight.’ And as time went on, everyone showed up individually at different times during that evening. So we gathered that first evening — all six original members, because Rose [Stone] wasn’t in it at first.

“Freddie pulled a fast one on me,” Errico adds. “He hadn’t told me that Sly had been handpicking [musicians] and thinking about this and taking notes. He kept it hush. So when I showed up, I was absolutely surprised.”

Errico also was a little surprised by the scope of the Higher! box set: It includes 77 tracks, of which 17 were previously unreleased. Included with the set’s four discs is a 104-page book featuring liner notes by Sly & The Family Stone biographer Jeff Kaliss, a timeline compiled by Edwin and Arno Konings as well as track-by-track annotations from various sources, among them original Family Stone members Errico, Larry Graham, Jerry Martini and Cynthia Robinson.

Read more at Goldmine Magazine.

In a new review of Sly & The Family Stone’s Higher! 4-CD box set in stores this week, Pitchfork has praised the collection and given the set a rare 9.0 rating along with naming it Best New Reissue! Here is some of what they had to say:

Amazingly, Higher! expands on Sly & the Family Stone’s history and big-picture role in the development of pop and soul, acting as that rare box set that works as both an introduction for the unaware and a deep excursion into further context for dedicated fans. The major selling point for the physical media edition is an exhaustive run of annotated liner notes, the kind of detail-intensive minutae that satisfies curiosities alongside the usual supplement of rare photos and merchandise detritus. But the musical material alone is an attraction in itself, with 17 unreleased tracks and a good number of underheard ones to go with the big hit singles. …It’s a perfectly balanced mix of stuff casual fans know and stuff even obsessives haven’t heard.

Read the complete review at Pitchfork.

In stores today, the new Sly & The Family Stone Higher! 4-CD box set is earning praise everywhere! Here are some of the reviews:

This four-CD box [is] the richest overview yet of maybe the most visionary funk operation in pop history. Though Sly could write and play almost anything, Higher! shows how crucial his band was: the firecracker soul-shouting of sister Rose Stewart, the radical percussive technique of bassist Larry Graham, the sweet tenor of brother Freddie. When these voices fused – “Everyday People,” the wild soul-rock outtake “Pressure” – it was as good as music gets. Four and a half stars. – Rolling Stone

This long overdue boxed recap of Sly Stone’s most creative period, released on the event of his 70th birthday, is a sprawling, lavishly appointed and elaborately detailed, 10 inch large, four disc set that covers his output from 1964-’77. The 104 page book with an abundance of rare photos, concert bills, picture sleeve reproductions of 45s and specifics on each of the 77 tracks (17 previously unreleased) … this is the kind of detailed, extravagantly organized and crafted coffee table addition you didn’t think major labels bothered to release anymore. Four stars. – American Songwriter

The case doesn’t need to be made that Sly Stone — born Sylvester Stewart in 1943 — is one of America’s greats, but Higher! makes it anyway with the hits, album cuts, B-sides, shelved takes and more. …This box does not tread familiar ground and, arguably, serves as what should have been the first approach taken with a Sly & the Family Stone box set: an intelligently compiled, multi-disc package covering this period. Higher! is a very attractive package. …It is not a career-spanning overview of Stone, but an in-depth dig into Sly & the Family Stone. – The Arts Desk

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