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In stores today, the new Sly & The Family Stone Higher! 4-CD box set is earning praise everywhere! Here are some of the reviews:

This four-CD box [is] the richest overview yet of maybe the most visionary funk operation in pop history. Though Sly could write and play almost anything, Higher! shows how crucial his band was: the firecracker soul-shouting of sister Rose Stewart, the radical percussive technique of bassist Larry Graham, the sweet tenor of brother Freddie. When these voices fused – “Everyday People,” the wild soul-rock outtake “Pressure” – it was as good as music gets. Four and a half stars. – Rolling Stone

This long overdue boxed recap of Sly Stone’s most creative period, released on the event of his 70th birthday, is a sprawling, lavishly appointed and elaborately detailed, 10 inch large, four disc set that covers his output from 1964-’77. The 104 page book with an abundance of rare photos, concert bills, picture sleeve reproductions of 45s and specifics on each of the 77 tracks (17 previously unreleased) … this is the kind of detailed, extravagantly organized and crafted coffee table addition you didn’t think major labels bothered to release anymore. Four stars. – American Songwriter

The case doesn’t need to be made that Sly Stone — born Sylvester Stewart in 1943 — is one of America’s greats, but Higher! makes it anyway with the hits, album cuts, B-sides, shelved takes and more. …This box does not tread familiar ground and, arguably, serves as what should have been the first approach taken with a Sly & the Family Stone box set: an intelligently compiled, multi-disc package covering this period. Higher! is a very attractive package. …It is not a career-spanning overview of Stone, but an in-depth dig into Sly & the Family Stone. – The Arts Desk

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Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll see tomorrow if you pick up the brand new Higher! box set!

The Guardian newspaper has an exclusive stream of “I Get High On You,” one of the rare tracks included on Higher!, the 4-CD Sly & The Family Stone box set to be released August 27. Getting on for twice the length of the original – which appeared on Sly’s 1975 album High on You – it was recorded back in 1967 and begins with multi-layered vocals before embarking on something more woozy and psychedelic than the original.

“I haven’t heard this since the day we cut it,” says drummer Greg Errico. “These sessions were recorded between the first demos and those for the first album, Underdog and so forth. I recall the beginning with the stacked voices … you can tell we are experimenting with different stuff, searching for a sound. I can hear a lot of that in there.”

Read more and listen to “I Get High On You” at The Guardian.