Stand! was Sly and the Family Stone's fourth LP. The San Francisco band had a hit the year before with the infectious soul/funk Dance to the Music, a track that would later heavily influence the disco scene. As San Francisco became the epicentre of the hippie movement, Stone (above) effortlessly absorbed its psychedelic sounds and left-wing ideology into his music. Wah-wah guitars blend with poppy 1960s melodies, and lyrics about living together in peace ride over the top of funk beats and bass lines. On paper, it would never work. But on record, it's mind-blowing. The title track Stand!, a song about standing up for what you believe in, weds a Motown groove to a horn section that wouldn't sound out of place on a Walker Brothers' recording. Then, out of nowhere, a tough funk riff crashes in to grind the song to its conclusion. Strangeness sets in completely with the helium-style affected vocals of Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey. The Family Stone were one of the first American multiracial bands, and this song is a plea for racial tolerance. The next line reverses the sentiment - 'Don't call me whitey, nigger.'

I Want To Take You Higher is pure sex, with its exhortations of 'higher!' and its cheeky rhythmic 'boom-laka-laka' choruses. The just under 14-minute Sex Machine is the most fascinating track, a suite of dislocated rhythms, crackling bass lines, wah-wah guitars and insanely affected vocals. Everyday People, a soulful paean to getting along, was the album's big hit.

A few months after Stand! was released, Stone performed the bulk of it at Woodstock, taking the stage at 3am and energising a sea of stoned, sleepy hippies. 'It was like a revival meeting for hundreds of thousands of people,' says Woodstock co-producer Michael Lang. A recent re-release of Stand!, entitled The Woodstock Experience, makes the set available on CD as an additional disc. The sound explodes on the stage, and highlights the expert musicianship of the band.

Back in 1969, most US music critics were into 'head music' like the Grateful Dead, and Stand! was less than rapturously received. Rolling Stone magazine simply pronounced it 'loud'. But listeners loved it, and musicians were especially impressed by its fusion of musical styles. Even Miles Davis, then experimenting with rock/jazz fusion, gave Sly's experiment the thumbs-up. The cosmic 70s funk of Bootsy Collins et al is a direct descendant of Stand! It also influenced Purple Rain-era Prince.