Give Out But Don't Give Up

Bobby Gillespie and band spend much of their third album drifting 'tween side two of Sticky Fingers (acoustic blooze like "Big Jet Plane," complete with Bobby Price-like horns) and the more celebratory hits of Sly & The Family Stone ("Funky Jam"). It could conceivably be a huge send-up, but they play it with a straight face and hence should be taken at least as seriously as Lenny Kravitz or the Black Crowes. --Jeff Bateman