"There's a Riot Goin' On" by Sly & The Family Stone (November, 1971)

Dad's Take:

I'm surprised Sly and the Family Stone aren't on this list earlier. We passed by all their pioneering late-sixties albums and skipped ahead to this one, featuring a Sly who is already burned out and showing the effects of his excesses. Still, this is a very good album, just not one of my favorites by this iconic band.

Songs like the opener, "Luv 'n' Haight" and the huge hit, "Family Affair," ensure that this is going to be a great album, but it feels darker and heavy than the earlier records. Although it charted well upon its release, it's really only in retrospect that it has earned the classic status that puts it high on best albums lists. Rolling Stone places it at number 99 of its 500 Best Albums.

The band was falling apart while this record was being recorded. Sly's behavior had become erratic, and record company deadlines had stopped meaning much to him. People who had not seen this band since the great Stand! album and their incredible Woodstock performance were likely shocked by this record. Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart) created music that reflected the troubled events in the increasingly violent, racially-divided world that emerged as the sixties ended.

The album may be dark, but it's still loaded with the funky grooves you expect from this band, and the social messages that were always present in their songs. Artistically, it's a solid album, a good reflection of where its primary creator's head was at the time. Unfortunately, Sly was well on his way to becoming the next rock and roll casualty, and that downslide is evident here. He was still among the most expressive composers in the industry, though, and his genius shines through the darkness. "Africa Talks To You (The Asphalt Jungle)" is a good example of the funk guitar and innovative slap bass that made the band famous, behind the growling vocals of a stoned Stone.

So, that I prefer the livelier psychedelic funk of their earlier records does not mean that this album does not deserve a place in our reviews. This is still influential music unlike anything that ever came before. And those beats are incredible. Even if Sly sounds completely wasted, he's still breaking ground and writing songs with a lot to say.

Brad's Take:

I haven't gone deep into Sly & the Family Stone's catalog or anything, but from what I do know about them, I know that There's A Riot Goin' On is a bit of a departure from what came out before it. Before, you had more radio-friendly funk jams, but with this album, everything is a lot darker and mellow.

After reading the Wikipedia page about the making of this album, it's very apparent that Sly was going through all sorts of personal changes and dark things that directly affected his music. Drugs, inner-band drama, and all kinds of other things. You can hear the darkness all over this album. It's almost unbelievable that this even got recorded and released at all. Sly was getting heavily into drugs and would rather do those than actually work on music a lot of the time. There's A Riot Goin' On is an obvious beginning to a new chapter of Sly & the Family Stone.

Personally, I didn't really like it. I felt the moodiness throughout the album though, and maybe that's why none of it really excited me or anything. Maybe that feeling was part of the experience. Maybe I did like it! Either way, I don't really see myself coming back to this.