The 20th of February 1972

Official U.K. Singles Chart results from Sunday the 20th to Saturday the 26th of February 1972

Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 19th of February

Results counted from Sunday the 20th,

announced on Tuesday the 22nd,

and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 27th of February 1972.

Sly & The Family Stone

Family Affair

At No.31, on the the U.K. Top 50 Singles Chart the day I am born, is Sly & The Family Stone with “Family Affair”.

This was the final week of a run of 8 for “Family Affair”.

The groundbreaking ensemble from San Francisco, fronted by the multi-musically-talented everything-under-the-sun (instrumentalist, producer, writer, singer, you name it) Sly Stone, led the charge, and the group became the trailblazing innovators back in the late 1960’s for the fusion of Soul and Funk, Rock and R&B, with a mindblowing dose of Psychedelia thrown in for good measure..

Formed from the bonding of 3 family groups;..

…Sly’s ‘Sly and the Stoners’ and his brother Freddie’s ‘Freddie and the Stone Souls’, along with little sister Vaetta, who had formed a gospel vocal trio at school, with herself and two friends, calling themselves the The Heavenly Tones; They now enhanced the Family Stone’s sound by revamping into the backing vocalists ‘Little Sister’.

That left one sibling and, although unsure at first, Rose eventually left her Job at the record shop and became the keyboardist, and also provided another voice into the mix.

This single was the group’s first new output of the 1970’s,..

…and became the lead track from their latest album.

However, things had somewhat changed since the huge success of their last LP.

After massive sales of over 3 million units…

…from that last release, Sly was enjoying the trapping of success a bit too much, with most of the royalties going up his nose. Hence why there had been a wait of over 2 years for anything else.

With drug addiction came the usual side effects that go with it. And with Sly, that meant his skills of production went so overboard with excessive overdubbing, that the output suffered from excessive tape hiss.

However, when this single did appear (more stripped down from the extravagant sound people were used to them for, and more in line with the attitude that was hitting the street at the time), it became an instantly recognisable hit.

According to acclaimed British music journalist David Hepworth, the harder sound was also mainly influenced by engineering decisions outside of Sly’s control, which removed much of his guitar and instead brought guest musician Billy Preston’s electric piano playing to the fore.

The other trick the engineers used, was to edit the electronic drum machine pattern (the group themselves were one of the early acts to implement this device) to take on the characteristics of a human heartbeat.

After entering the UK chart at No.39,..

…the day after New Years Day, this iconic single would climb into the Top 30, before continuing to climb over the following couple of weeks, to eventually break through into the Top 20, to sit for a week at its highest position of No.15 during the first week in February 1972.

From there it would begin it’s descent to this final position this week, before bowing out for good, but leaving a lasting impact once more for future generations to come.

The “A” Side

Sly & The Family Stone – Family Affair

The “B” Side

Sly & The Family Stone – Luv N’ Haight