Monday, August 05, 2019

Jimi and Sly - The Skin I'm In

This is another documentary that we discovered on Kanopy's streaming service and, being big fans of both men, we had to check it out.

This is pretty low-budget overall and the producers seemed to think that tacking on Jimi would add interest to the Sly Stone doc, as there is very little on Jimi and what there is is pretty basic stuff. I understand that Jimi and Sly were two Blacks who made a big impression on white music, but I think that Sly could have stood on his own.

In any case, I totally dug the section on Sly and while there wasn't a lot of new info, there were a good amount of old stills, some excellent live performances (although the video quality looked like a transfer from someone's VHS tape!) and interviews with members of the Family Stone. Sly only appears via older TV interviews, but his story - minus some of the more salacious details - is told overall and the Family Stone characters are all still charismatic and enthusiastic for the music that they made.

I wouldn't suggest buying this, but if this appears on any streaming service of yours, it is a cool watch.