There's A Riot Goin' On (Remaster) Sly & The Family Stone

• 1 Luv N' Haight 04:01
• 2 Just Like a Baby 05:12
• 3 Poet 03:01
• 4 Family Affair 03:05
• 5 Africa Talks to You (The Asphalt Jungle) 08:43
• 6 There's a Riot Goin' On (Blank Track) 00:04
• 7 Brave & Strong 03:30
• 8 (You Caught Me) Smilin' 02:53
• 9 Time 03:00
• 10 Spaced Cowboy 03:55
• 11 Runnin' Away 02:56
• 12 Thank You for Talkin' to Me, Africa 07:15
• Total Runtime 47:35

Info for There's A Riot Goin' On (Remaster)

During the late '60s, Sly and the Family Stone was the house band for the new utopia: celebratory, integrated, intent on breaking down walls, and full of relentlessly positive, idealistic energy. 1971's „There's A Riot Goin' On“ directly contradicted all of these characteristics. Instead, the album represented the dark days of post-'60s disillusionment--a move from right-here/right-now ethos to reflection ('Time'), from integration to separatism ('Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa'), and from Sly's exuberant cheerleading to a weary, craggy-voiced vocal style. Many fans considered the album a 'downer' at the time.

In truth, „There's A Riot Goin' On“ is stunningly innovative and artistically accomplished. Here Sly began playing with subtle, sophisticated rhythms, creating webs of interlocking parts and textures, foregrounding mood over pop structures. The production is murky, keeping with the dark, edgy themes of the album, yet it is packed with detail. The burbling guitars, keys, lock-pop bass, and ghostly vocals create a warm, enveloping cocoon, as on the honeyed, heavy-lidded groove of 'Just Like A Baby,' the percolating surge of 'Family Affair' (one of Sly's finest moments), and '(You Caught Me) Smilin',' which catches a wistful flash of the old optimism. Though it may be a challenging listen for the uninitiated, „There's A Riot Goin' On“ rewards endless repeated listens.

„It's easy to write off There's a Riot Goin' On as one of two things -- Sly Stone's disgusted social commentary or the beginning of his slow descent into addiction. It's both of these things, of course, but pigeonholing it as either winds up dismissing the album as a whole, since it is so bloody hard to categorize. What's certain is that Riot is unlike any of Sly & the Family Stone's other albums, stripped of the effervescence that flowed through even such politically aware records as Stand! This is idealism soured, as hope is slowly replaced by cynicism, joy by skepticism, enthusiasm by weariness, sex by pornography, thrills by narcotics. Joy isn't entirely gone -- it creeps through the cracks every once and awhile and, more disturbing, Sly revels in his stoned decadence. What makes Riot so remarkable is that it's hard not to get drawn in with him, as you're seduced by the narcotic grooves, seductive vocals slurs, leering electric pianos, and crawling guitars. As the themes surface, it's hard not to nod in agreement, but it's a junkie nod, induced by the comforting coma of the music. And damn if this music isn't funk at its deepest and most impenetrable -- this is dense music, nearly impenetrable, but not from its deep grooves, but its utter weariness. Sly's songwriting remains remarkably sharp, but only when he wants to write -- the foreboding opener 'Luv N' Haight,' the scarily resigned 'Family Affair,' the cracked cynical blues 'Time,' and '(You Caught Me) Smilin'.' Ultimately, the music is the message, and while it's dark music, it's not alienating -- it's seductive despair, and that's the scariest thing about it.“ (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG)

'...Implosive, numbing, darkly self-referential...' (Ranked #99 in Rolling Stone's '500 Greatest Albums Of All Time“)

Sly Stone, drums, drum programming, keyboard programming, synthesizers, guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals
Larry Graham, bass, backing vocals
Greg Errico, drums
Gerry Gibson, drums
Bobby Womack, guitar
Freddie Stone, guitar
Ike Turner, guitar
Billy Preston, keyboards
Jerry Martini, tenor saxophone
Cynthia Robinson, trumpet
Rose Stone, vocals, keyboards
Little Sister, backing vocals

Recorded 1970–71 at The Record Plant in Sausalito, California
Produced by Sly Stone

Digitally remastered

Sly & The Family Stone
More than four decades after they first stormed the Pop and R&B charts in the winter of 1968 with “Dance To the Music” – a groundbreaking jam that has the distinction of being chosen for the Grammy Hall Of Fame, the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock,” and Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs Of All Time” – the music of Sly and the Family Stone is more vital than ever.

The band’s catalog (every single composition penned by Sylvester Stewart aka Sly Stone) includes their three career-defining RIAA gold Billboard #1 Pop/ #1 R&B smashes, “Everyday People,” “Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again)” and “Family Affair,” and their signature Top 40 hits that began with “Dance To the Music” and went on to include “Stand!,” “Hot Fun In the Summertime,” “Runnin’ Away,” “If You Want Me To Stay,” “Time For Livin’,” and more.

Those songs not only inspired an era of youthful rebellion and independence, but also had a potent effect on the course of modern music in general. A dazzling fusion of psychedelic rock, soul, gospel, jazz, and Latin flavors, Sly’s music brought the next step – funk – to a disparate populace of hip artists. From Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, to the halls of Motown and George Clinton’s P-Funk, from Michael Jackson and Curtis Mayfield, down the line to Bob Marley, the Isley Brothers, Prince, Public Enemy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arrested Development, the Black Eyed Peas, the Roots, OutKast and on and on, Sly’s DNA is traceable to every cell of the musical stratosphere.

It is never enough to reiterate that they were the first hitmaking interracial, mixed-gender band. “Sly and the Family Stone’s music was immensely liberating,” wrote Harry Weinger on the occasion of the group’s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 1993. “A tight, riotous funk, it was precisely A Whole New Thing. And they were a beautiful sight: rock’s first integrated band, black, white, women, men. Hair, skin. Fringe and sweat. Extraordinary vibes for extraordinary times.” If 1968 was indeed the year that changed the world, then Sly and the Family Stone provided the soundtrack for that change. They would continue to lay out a sound that is truly eternal.

Sylvester Stewart was born the second of five children (Loretta, Sylvester, Freddie, Rose, and Vaetta, known as Vet) in Denton, Texas, on March 15, 1944. His devout African-American family was affiliated with the Church Of God In Christ (COGC) and took their beliefs with them when they moved to Vallejo, California, a northwest suburb of San Francisco. Reared on church music, Sylvester was eight years old when he and three of his siblings (sans Loretta) recorded a 78 rpm gospel single for local release as the Stewart Four.

A musical prodigy, he became known as Sly in early grade school, the result of a friend misspelling ‘Sylvester.’ He was adept at keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums by age eleven, and went on to perform in several high school bands. One of these groups, the Viscaynes, boasted an integrated lineup, a fact that did not go unnoticed in the late 1950s. The group cut a few singles, and Sly also released a few singles as well during that period, working with his younger brother Freddie.

Into the early ’60s, Sly’s musical education continued at Vallejo Junior College, where he added trumpet to his mixed bag, and mastered composition and theory as well. Around 1964, he started as a fast-talking disc jockey at R&B radio station KSOL. His eclectic musical tastes made Sly hugely popular, as he became an early proponent of including R&B-flavored white artists (especially British Invasion bands like the Beatles, the Animals, and the Rolling Stones) into the station’s soul music format. Sly later brought his show to KDIA, where he deejayed right up through the start of Sly and the Family Stone in 1967. … www.slystonemusic.com

Booklet for There's A Riot Goin' On (Remaster)