Small Talk's singles were "Time for Livin'" (the band's final Top 40 hit) and "Loose Booty", an up-tempo funk track which uses the names of Bible characters Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as a chant.

According to critic Alex Stimmel, the string section is used to "cushion the mood, augment vocal lines, create melodies, or sting riffs once reserved for horns.

[2] Some lyrics reflect familial love, Stone having been recently married, yet the message music characteristic of the band's '60s hits returns for the last time in the "raucous, vengeful 'Time for Livin'".

The cover of the album showed a picture of Stone, his wife Kathleen Silva, and baby Sly Jr. On 5 June 1974, the pair were married onstage at Madison Square Garden; the marriage lasted five months.

"[10] Less impressed was Village Voice critic Robert Christgau, who said, "Although you can hear different, you'd almost think Sly's sense of rhythm had abandoned him, because his first flop is a bellywhopper—its scant interest verbal, its only memorable song a doowop takeoff.