1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 233. Sly And The Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971)

 

Last time I asked for a change from folk/country for a bit. I raised Heavy Metal, although since I’m working on a pre-written list that I fill as I go, I knew full well that the next album was going to be this one. Not heavy metal, but some dark funk instead is just as good.

The sounds of the instruments on this album – wow. Really soggy, dirty slap bass. Guitar with the wah-wah effect ramped up so much it sounds like human vocals, it *sounds* like somebody singing the old “wow-chika-wah-wah" refrain. And Sly Stone’s vocals are quite low in the mix, indistinct to the point where they’re more like another instrument and whatever the lyrics are, are lost.

The one exception is the old classic Family Affair, where sister Rose takes the lead; there’s not the interplay between Sly, Rose, and Freddy like there was on the last, more soulful, Family Stone album. But because of this the overall theme, if any, is difficult to discern. The album title is an answer to Marvin Gaye’s question What’s Goin’ On?, and is technically a track on the album, even though it consists solely of 4 seconds of silence. And the general feel to the music is the ongoing 1971 theme of disillusionment mixed with despair and anger. The optimistic world of the Sixties has given way to cynicism and violence. Stone is one of many musicians that are deep in the throes of drug abuse, which is probably why his vocals are so fuzzy and barely coherent – for this album, it works, enhancing the general sense of dropping out.

Two largely instrumental tracks, the longer ones, address Africa as Africa Talks To You and Thank You For Talkin’s To Me Africa, also known as The Asphalt Jungle and Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), highlighting, I think, Stone’s growing involvement with the more militant Black Power movements. I can’t help but feel the combination of drug use and extreme politics isn’t going to go well for him, but I really have no idea of his biography. It made for a great album though.