There's A Riot Goin' On
by Sly & The Family Stone

TBC…

Album Rating:

01.11.1971

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

1.Luv N' Haight
2.Just Like A Baby
3.Poet
4.Family Affair
5.Africa Talks To You 'The Asphalt Jungle'
6.There's A Riot Goin' On
7.Brave & Strong
8.(You Caught Me) Smilin'
9.Time
10.Spaced Cowboy
11.Runnin' Away
12.Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa

There are some outstanding funky moments on here that are amongst some of the groups best ever tracks but it is quite an inconsistent listen in my opinion. At times the music feels unfinished and like it needs polishing up before it was released. This effect can sometimes be extremely effective but on the weaker tracks on here it makes them feel empty and bare and like they don't belong on the album. I also don't think there are as many elite songs as there was on their last release which seemed a lot more compact and cohesive as this one. Despite this, I love the vocal performances throughout and they sure are masters at making funk music as demonstrated on here. Overall, I always struggled to get into this album and I do think it feels quite incomplete but that doesn't mean there isn't still a lot of fun to be had on this release.

Great record

One of the greatest albums of all time and a landmark record in funk, 'Riot' opens with the stoned refrain 'Feel so good inside myself, don't want to move', and the pace never picks up from there. Amidst a fog of drug addiction, band infighting, and troubled social landscapes, Sly Stone made this hazy masterpiece (mostly on his own, due to the aformentioned infighting) and titled it appropriately in response to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' released six months prior. A sharp heel turn from the upbeat dance music that rocked crowds from Woodstock to Washington, this record flatly rejects all of that and settles into a languid funk that never relents. The closing track is an almost catatonic rendition of the prior year's #1 hit 'Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)', with half of the band, and twenty times the pessimism.

Essential picks: Luv N' Haight, Just Like a Baby, Family Affair, Runnin' Away, Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa

From Larcx13 04/14/2022 22:32 | #284261

Apart from Spaced Cowboy this funky ride was an interesting one. Not for everyone. You gotta dig funk first.

Score: A

Luv N' Haight, Family Affair, Runnin' Away, Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa

Ooooo la la

Not very impressed with this one, Family Affair is great and i like these long tracks, but there is a lot of stuff sounding like demos.

From teague 09/24/2021 17:31 | #274141

Funky AND exploratory.

naturally with sly and funky lovely dares you to move with the beat and the times

This is a divisive album, a lot of people obviously love it which is great; I'm one who hears a pretty steep decline from the previous albums. A lot of it sounds like demo tracks to me. Some tracks are more developed with maybe a horn or two and Rose Stone on vocals, but it's obvious everybody was overdubbing their parts separately. There's not a band here to my ears, there's a guy in the basement with a tape machine and his friends. That guy is Sly Stone, though, so there are a lot of good moments for sure.