I'm Back! Family & Friends is the second solo album by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone

Sly Stone

Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...

, released by Cleopatra Records

Cleopatra Records

Cleopatra Records is a Los Angeles-based independent record label.- History :Founded in 1992 by Brian Perera, it specializes in gothic rock, hard rock, heavy metal and reissues of out-of-print music...

 in 2011. It contains remixes and covers of his old material, along with three new tracks.

Track listing

1. Dance To The Music (Feat. Ray Manzarek) - 3:01
2. Everyday People (Feat. Ann Wilson) - 2:58
3. Family Affair - 3:19
4. Stand! (Feat. Carmine Appice And Ernie Watts) - 3:14
5. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (Feat. Johnny Winter) - 4:55
6. (I Want To Take You) Higher (Feat. Jeff Beck) - 4:44
7. Hot Fun In The Summertime (Feat. Bootsy Collins) - 2:54
8. Dance To The Music (Extended Mix) - 6:39
9. Plain Jane - 4:24
10. His Eye Is On The Sparrow - 4:18
11. Get Away - 3:46
12. Dance To The Music (Club Mix) - 4:12
13. Family Affair (Dubstep Mix) - 4:44
14. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (Electro Club Mix) - 4:32

Critical Reception

Although expressing disappointment that most of the tracks were remakes of previous hits, Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 praised the new elements of the album: a brass-and-organ-driven take on the gospel standard "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" and two originals: the gutbucket funk of "Plain Jane" and "Get Away," a gorgeous soul vamp with a refrain – "Keep singin' that melody!" – that whets the appetite for a full-fledged Sly comeback..

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...

 was less positive, noting of the new tracks that they were saddled with the same awful production that hobbles the re-creations, the same sticky, tacky, desperate replication of the past that only underscores just how long ago Sly’s golden years were.

The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

's Allison Stewart was also unfavourable towards the release, stating that Stone seems more like a visitor to these tracks, like somebody assembled them and he showed up sometimes. He sounds tired.