CD reviews 8/23: Sly Stone and Natalia Kills

As frustrated fans of the erratic funk legend know, this isn't the first time Sly Stone has promised he's back: In 1976 he and the Family Stone released "Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I'm Back"; three years later they followed it up with "Back on the Right Track." Unlike those coolly received efforts, "I'm Back! Family & Friends" doesn't contain much original material, which, of course, undercuts to some extent the very idea of Stone's return. If he's not writing and recording new music, what is it that he's back to, exactly? Failing to show up on time for his live engagements?

Here he teams with a handful of fellow Woodstock-era vets -- Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter, Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge -- for covers of old hits like "Everyday People" and "I Want to Take You Higher." There is no great damage done to the still-powerful material, though you might cringe slightly when Ray Manzarek drops a bit of the Doors' "Light My Fire" into "Dance to the Music." But these affectionate redos don't tell you anything you didn't already know about Stone's music; they're far less informative than work by his many acolytes.

Three new tracks (including a dreamy take on the gospel standard "His Eye Is on the Sparrow") provide a glimmer of what Stone might accomplish if he ever rouses himself more fully. But only a glimmer -- and only after a good deal of static.

Kills already seems like a big star. The British artist has stirred it up with a self-produced episodic series, she's toured with the Black Eyed Peas and Bruno Mars (up next: Katy Perry, including tonight at Xcel Energy Center), she sings guest vocals on an LMFAO single ("Champagne Showers") and will.i.am signed her to a major label to put out her debut.

Not only is she rubbing shoulders with the big dogs like a pre-breakout Nicki Minaj, but she gives the impression of being a Lady Gaga-size control freak about her work and image, and her edgy style rivals that of Rihanna at her moodiest. So confident is the air of this determined artist that "Perfectionist" sounds like it could well be her fourth or fifth release.

On the downside, she's such a blatant knockoff of her predecessors that her listeners might assume they're actually hearing Gaga or Rihanna. Regardless, Kills aggressively plows through her electronic-heavy dark pop, declaring "I don't believe in fairy tales" on slapping opener "Wonderland" and subsequently kicking through a barrage of souped-up grooves and noteworthy refrains.

Kills isn't as distinctive as she ought to be -- her voice is fairly generic and comparisons to others are inescapable. However, she's unquestionably in the mix to blow up.