A new Sly Stone album! Well, kinda. His first new release since 1982 is basically a Sly Plays Sly tribute album, in which the reclusive funk genius pairs up with classic-rock "friends" (Ray Manzarek, Ann Wilson) to rerecord his greatest hits. The results are spunky, if unnecessary: Why bother with Sly and Jeff Beck's remake of "(I Want to Take You) Higher" when you can listen to the torrid original? Of prime interest are three new songs – 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.

Listen to "(I Want to Take You) Higher" feat. Jeff Beck:

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“Let My Love Open the Door”

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."