# xmcd
#
# Track frame offsets: 
#        150
#        18487
#        41992
#        55707
#        69845
#        109240
#        109540
#        125445
#        138675
#        152612
#        170580
#        183915
#        216777
#        229097
#        243485
#        276190
#
# Disc length: 3934 seconds
#
# Revision: 3
# Processed by: cddbd v1.5.2PL0 Copyright (c) Steve Scherf et al.
# Submitted via: ExactAudioCopy v0.95b4
#
DISCID=e20f5c10
DTITLE=Stone, Sly & The Family  / There's A Riot Goin' On
DYEAR=1971
DGENRE=Funk
TTITLE0=Luv N' Haight
TTITLE1=Just Like A Baby
TTITLE2=Poet
TTITLE3=Family Affair
TTITLE4=Africa Talks To You ''The Asphalt Jungle''
TTITLE5=There's A Riot Goin' On
TTITLE6=Brave & Strong
TTITLE7=(You Caught Me) Smilin'
TTITLE8=Time
TTITLE9=Spaced Cowboy
TTITLE10=Runnin' Away
TTITLE11=Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa
TTITLE12=Runnin' Away (Single Version)
TTITLE13=My Gorilla Is My Butler (Instrumental)
TTITLE14=Do You Know What? (Instrumental)
TTITLE15=That's Pretty Clean (Instrumental)
EXTD=There's A Riot Goin' On (Remastered + Expanded)\n2007 Epic/Legacy
EXTD=\n\nOriginally Released November 20, 1971\nCD Edition Released 19
EXTD=88 ??\nMillennium Remastered CD Edition Released December 2002 \n
EXTD=Limited Deluxe Edition Collector's Box Set Released March 20, 200
EXTD=7\nRemastered + Expanded CD Edition Released April 24, 2007\n\nAM
EXTD=G EXPERT REVIEW: Strange things happened to Sly and his Family St
EXTD=one between the wild celebratory party and tour that followed the
EXTD= release of Stand! and the beginning of the trip into the studio 
EXTD=that yielded There's a Riot Goin' On. Stand! was released in 1969
EXTD= to critical and public acclaim and became a hit financially. It 
EXTD=was followed by a long, fruitful tour that included a triumphant 
EXTD=appearance at the Woodstock festival. The band recorded two singl
EXTD=es in between albums. The first was "Hot Fun in the Summertime," 
EXTD=issued in August 1969. It hit the number two spot on the Billboar
EXTD=d chart. Its follow-up was the funk monolith "Thank You (Falettin
EXTD=me Be Mice Elf Agin)," which went to the top of the Billboard cha
EXTD=rt. It's important to note that neither of these cuts are availab
EXTD=le on the 2007 Legacy reissues of Sly's Epic catalog even as bonu
EXTD=s cuts, since they were recorded without a specific album in mind
EXTD=, but rather as tracks to keep the band on the radio and in the p
EXTD=ublic consciousness. This was a period when the band, once a comm
EXTD=unal troupe through and through, began to live in different place
EXTD=s. Sly was living in a rented mansion once owned by John and Mich
EXTD=elle Phillips, getting loaded all the time and missing concert da
EXTD=tes on tour. According to Joel Selvin's excellent liners, Sly can
EXTD=celed 26 out of 80 dates. During the two-year break between recor
EXTD=ds, Sly wasn't exactly laying in bed. He was recorded all the tim
EXTD=e, even if what he was recording, and with whom, produced nothing
EXTD= substantive. He bought a primitive drum machine and began experi
EXTD=menting with it. Different bandmembers, most notably bassist Larr
EXTD=y Graham, would show up at different times to add parts to songs 
EXTD=and find themselves mixed out of the proceedings. Through the mad
EXTD=ness that went on in the mansion and at Record Plant, where Sly w
EXTD=ould park a Winnebago and party and record at the same time, a re
EXTD=cording began to come together. Before a three-night stand at Mad
EXTD=ison Square Garden, Sly offered the album to Epic. Credits are sk
EXTD=etchy as to who did what, though when Graham or Freddie Stewart a
EXTD=re present, their parts are unmistakable. The album's first singl
EXTD=e was "Family Affair," a skeletal track on which Billy Preston pl
EXTD=ayed keyboards, the drum machine counted rhythms, and Sly and Sis
EXTD=ter Rose sang, according to Selvin's notes, through cupped hands,
EXTD= as there were no vocal treatments. It's a strange, disorienting 
EXTD=tune with an infectious melody. It's the seduction for an album t
EXTD=hat is a nightmare journey through disillusionment, with racial a
EXTD=nd class politics, a resignation to drug addiction and to the nig
EXTD=htmare of trying to ruin one's life in the face of reigning chaos
EXTD= and the pressure of the four preceding years. The tune, like the
EXTD= album it comes from, seems to drift with no center, no anchor ex
EXTD=cept that drum machine. Sly sounds weary even if he pretends an o
EXTD=ptimism. He's resigned, and stating a simple truth, that "blood i
EXTD=s thicker than mud." Remember this was the Vietnam era. The slipp
EXTD=ery funk and Preston's killer fills give the track its irresistib
EXTD=le riff. "Luv N' Haight" is a dark, fractured funk tune that pass
EXTD=es its own judgment on the new Aquarian Age with insulations and 
EXTD=allegations that nothing much has changed. Still, its arrangement
EXTD=s are killer. There's a ton of space between instruments, but the
EXTD= whole is cohesive, slithering, sliding, and greasy. It's night-t
EXTD=ime gospel from the pusher's living room. Other places here are n
EXTD=early impenetrable. The music becomes so dense. Legend has it tha
EXTD=t Sly overdubbed and overdubbed until things bled out into the ma
EXTD=rgins, leaving a muddy, sludgy sound to permeate the record's gro
EXTD=oves. If the earlier, joyous psychedelic funk sides were a reflec
EXTD=tion of optimism and possibility, There's a Riot Goin' On's sound
EXTD= is one of entropy, the sound of the funk caving in on itself and
EXTD= the hope of a generation falling into a place of darkness. This 
EXTD=is after Malcolm X, Dr. King, and Bobby Kennedy, after the escala
EXTD=tion of the war, and more recently, after Kent State. Sly and his
EXTD= collaborators are circling their wagons and projecting grooves i
EXTD=nwardly here, though they still manage to reach outside themselve
EXTD=s. Even on "Just Like a Baby," the weariness in the keyboards and
EXTD= Greg Errico's drums are barely enough to keep up the heroin-soun
EXTD=ding groove. It's all slow, slow, slow. And if a child is being c
EXTD=elebrated, it's from some emotionally distant place. The shimmeri
EXTD=ng funk of "Africa Talks to You" is led off by the drum machine a
EXTD=gain and Freddie's guitar, with fills on keyboards by Graham, Sly
EXTD=, and Preston; it trips, stumbles along, and nearly falters, but 
EXTD=the groove stays intact. One can here in the falsetto Sly employs
EXTD= here, and in their staccato lines and choruses, where Prince sna
EXTD=gged his entire thing from. "Brave & Strong" is simply the tough 
EXTD=funky bassline and a horn head; everything else is layered undern
EXTD=eath for the first 30 seconds: "I've been down/Ain't got a friend
EXTD=/You don't know/Who'll turn you in." This is a far cry from "I Wa
EXTD=nt to Take You Higher." The slow, wispy soul that sounds like it'
EXTD=s drifting in from a distant radio somewhere is what introduces "
EXTD=You Caught Me Smilin' (Again)." It's an unabashed hymn to getting
EXTD= high. Sister Rose's voice is all sweet, and at first so is Sly's
EXTD=, but as the horns and bassline come stepping in, Sly's voice get
EXTD=s heavy and is distorting in places deliberately. The delicate ke
EXTD=yboard lines, luxuriant and in the pocket as they are, cannot kee
EXTD=p the voice contained. There's a minimal instrumental break in th
EXTD=e tune and it suddenly fades just as it emerged. "Time" is a blue
EXTD=s where spooky keyboards haunt Stone's voice on the fringes as he
EXTD= expounds on the concept cynically. The blues and urban soul meet
EXTD= here under a cloud, through the haze, and the listener is a left
EXTD= at the gate of the audio speakers, trying to hear her way into t
EXTD=his sound world. The world's political situation at that time -- 
EXTD=and much more so right now -- was inaccessible to the masses, esp
EXTD=ecially the young: "The universe seems to be a little stronger/Ti
EXTD=me is shaped in the hands." The set picks up, just as you are so 
EXTD=completely sucked into the dark murky grooves on "Spaced Cowboy,"
EXTD= which is a travel tune in that its circular grooves actually go 
EXTD=somewhere and is deeply cohesive despite attempts at tape manipul
EXTD=ation and chaos. Its melody and yodel are satirical perhaps, but 
EXTD=Sly is dead serious. "Runnin' Away" is one of those beautiful jaz
EXTD=z-funk tunes where muted horns, a funk and pop bass belie what is
EXTD= nearly a nursery rhyme tune: "Runnin' away/You're wearin' out yo
EXTD=ur shoes." It breezes by, but it never stays long enough for the 
EXTD=listener to get inside it; it's all fluid in slow motion travel. 
EXTD=The original set ends with "Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa." 
EXTD=It's over seven minutes and begins in a menacing, backbone-slippi
EXTD=ng FONK stepper: get close, let the bass speak to the drums, the 
EXTD=guitars translate, and the rest can come and go as it pleases. Vo
EXTD=cals are more ritualistic chant than song. The words "thank you f
EXTD=alettinme be myself again" come through the middle, but the other
EXTD= lyrics are almost impenetrable and it becomes a spiritual cousin
EXTD= to Dr. John's "I Walk on Guilded Splinter," but more seductive a
EXTD=nd thicker, like cough syrup, like opium tar, like surrender. Thi
EXTD=s is the mirror image of Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On," release
EXTD=d in the same year as plea for dialogue and forgiveness and toget
EXTD=herness in solving problems. It's the embodiment of frustration, 
EXTD=weariness, isolationism, and the desire of letting things fall ap
EXTD=art. And while it may be disturbing and narcotic to listen to, it
EXTD='s an absolutely essential exercise in the kind of funk that beli
EXTD=es, underscores, and amplifies life's circumstances. That funk ca
EXTD=n be the music of the anti-party as well as the genesis of the th
EXTD=ing itself. [The Legacy edition with its expert remastering makes
EXTD= the original album considerably less muddy. And while it may sou
EXTD=nd a bit like a different recording than the original, one has to
EXTD= consider that with all the overdubbing that went on with the lim
EXTD=ited number of original tracks, this might be closer to what Ston
EXTD=e wanted rather than settled for. There four bonus tracks, includ
EXTD=ing the single version of "Runnin' Away" and three instrumental j
EXTD=ams recorded during the creation of the album, none of which has 
EXTD=been released before. And while these final tracks are illuminati
EXTD=ng regarding the long and labyrinthine process it took to get the
EXTD= record made, one has to wish that Sony would have included the t
EXTD=wo singles that preceded it, "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and "Tha
EXTD=nk You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," for the sake of continuity
EXTD= and completion of the period.] -- Thom Jurek \n \n\nAmazon.com E
EXTD=ditorial Review\nCertain albums both define a specific point in t
EXTD=ime and yet manage to be timeless. Such an album is There's A Rio
EXTD=t Going On. After a few records of sexy, sunny, but never cavalie
EXTD=r funk/pop, the twisted genius of Sly Stone turned dark, moody, r
EXTD=eflective, angry, but no less funky for the contemplation. Stone 
EXTD=created an album that spoke not only to the turmoil gripping Amer
EXTD=ica in 1971, but also to the chaos whirling around his increasing
EXTD=ly druggy personal life. This is an album of dangerous beauty, wh
EXTD=ere even the hit ("Family Affair") is guarded and haunting. --Amy
EXTD= Linden\n\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nStone Exceptional, Janua
EXTD=ry 3, 2004\nReviewer: Jeffrey Rubard (Beaverton, OR US) \nHaving 
EXTD=risen up through the ranks of nothing in particular (the loosely 
EXTD=organized California soul scene), Sly Stone scored big in the lat
EXTD=e 60s with his Family Stone -- an integrated rock/soul combo whic
EXTD=h seemed to have nothing in particular to say but a lot of energy
EXTD= with which to say it. The much-critically-acclaimed *There's A R
EXTD=iot Goin' On* is not a documentary, as some have suggested: inste
EXTD=ad, it puts the question to the listener "What exactly did you th
EXTD=ink was goin' on?", then eliminates some easy choices with its re
EXTD=lentlessly bleak aesthetic. But this is not music about or for pu
EXTD=blic edifices, and the question of Stone's responsibility as an a
EXTD=rtist is not as easily raised as some once suggested.\nThere's st
EXTD=ill room for everyone here -- your life could be a "bwomp" on "Po
EXTD=et", and maybe there's something to be said for that -- but Stone
EXTD= seems to be intent on hollowing out the wreckage of the '60s to 
EXTD=reveal the structure of a field of production he successfully ope
EXTD=rated in to no particular end. \nThis involves all and sundry, in
EXTD=cluding Sly, doing things they aren't supposed to waiting for som
EXTD=ething to happen. Is it critical that the domestic release of thi
EXTD=s is poorly mastered? Honestly, this is a record you could stand 
EXTD=not to have a "critical edition" of: if there is an upshot to *Th
EXTD=ere's A Riot Goin' On*, it's that nobody should ever be in as muc
EXTD=h pain as Sly Stone must have been experiencing making this recor
EXTD=d. \n\nBut dare you savor that pathos? No, this is a record to be
EXTD= experienced sparingly, and easy assimilation of Stone to any par
EXTD=ticular movement is perhaps unwise for other reasons.\n\n\nAmazon
EXTD=.com Customer Review\nScary, disturbing, brilliant, September 23,
EXTD= 2001\nReviewer: Michael Topper (Pacific Palisades, California Un
EXTD=ited States) \nThis is not a review so much of the CD release (wh
EXTD=ich, as noted, is unremastered and completely devoid of liner not
EXTD=es), but of the album itself, which even in the poor CD issue com
EXTD=es off utterly brilliant. "There's A Riot Goin' On" sounds like a
EXTD= junkie's suicide note--a fractured, slurred, jittery funk stew t
EXTD=hat comes across as one big blur of depression. Sly's vocals on t
EXTD=his album are absolutely harrowing; he sounds beyond\nthe end of 
EXTD=his rope and attempting to find catharsis in a state of utter dej
EXTD=ection. This overall feel makes the album a sometimes frightening
EXTD= listening experience, especially on the slow, meandering tracks 
EXTD="Just Like A Baby" and "Spaced Cowboy", whose sluggish melodies a
EXTD=nd rhythms are almost too painful to bear. However, Sly never aba
EXTD=ndons the funk at the heart of his music, which keeps the album m
EXTD=usically interesting--the bass lines are some of the best-ever in
EXTD= rock. The hit singles "Family Affair" and "Runnin' Away" pack a 
EXTD=serious punch, coloring their ominous lyrical portraits with a ti
EXTD=ght pop savvy. Elsewhere, the off-kilter groove fest "Luv and Hai
EXTD=ght" (featuring the immortal line "feel so good feel so good don'
EXTD=t want to move") sounds filtered through about fifty different ch
EXTD=emical substances, and the closing remake of the earlier hit "Tha
EXTD=nk You" slows the funk down to a devilish heat.  Coming at a time
EXTD= when Marvin Gaye was painting his social prayer "What's Going On
EXTD=" in sublime symphonic gospel tones and Stevie Wonder was about t
EXTD=o break through with his unique keyboard-oriented vision on "Musi
EXTD=c Of My Mind", "There's A Riot Goin' On"\noffered the bleakest an
EXTD=gle on black America's state of mind at the close of the counterc
EXTD=ultural era. It remains an R&B/funk masterpiece and presaged The 
EXTD=Rolling Stones' similar statement from the UK side of the fence o
EXTD=n "Exile On Main St."\n\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nThe Origin
EXTD=al Apocalyptifunk Album, March 28, 2001\nReviewer: "dmccabe@ncee.
EXTD=org" (El Cerrito, CA USA) \nA powerful album from the Sly and The
EXTD= Family Stone, but don't come to this party looking for optimisti
EXTD=c lyrics and ebullient entertainment. A shocking turn from the no
EXTD=rmally jubilant Sly and his cohorts where the hard-hitting upbeat
EXTD= dance rhythms have given way to a jittery pulse and an often mur
EXTD=ky sound like thick oil on a slow boil. The dance floor has becom
EXTD=e a sticky black tar road on a hot summer day. Singer Sly Stone s
EXTD=ounds, both lyrically and vocally, at the end of his rope: emotio
EXTD=nally, psychologically, and pharmacologically. He's stoned, but i
EXTD=nstead of espousing visions of universal peace; one imagines him 
EXTD=bitter, red-rim eyed, and sitting in a darkened corner. The first
EXTD= song "Luv 'n' Haight" is a junkie dance number; the lyrics "Feel
EXTD= so good, feel so good. Don't want to move", take up a majority o
EXTD=f the song. In "Poet", nearly every phrase starts out clear, but 
EXTD=slips into a slur as if he is losing his train of thought or slip
EXTD=ping into drugged oblivion. On "Brave and Strong" he sounds as if
EXTD= he feels neither. The album managed a hit single, "Family Affair
EXTD=", even with such messages as: "You can't leave 'cause your heart
EXTD= is there/You can't stay cause you been somewhere/ You can't cry 
EXTD='cause you'll look broke down/But you're crying anyway, 'cause yo
EXTD=u're all broke down". Despite the often distressing lyrics as wel
EXTD=l as instrumental riffs and lines that sound more as if they were
EXTD= thrown in a heap atop a shuddering beat than a consciously const
EXTD=ructed song, the album remains surprisingly tuneful and catchy. T
EXTD=he melodies in this morass will stick to you. Whatever private he
EXTD=ll Sly is trapped in, his irrepressible sense of melody and song 
EXTD=craft comes through. Still, it's an album to play when the party 
EXTD=is over.\n\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\n"Don't Dance To The Mus
EXTD=ic!", May 25, 2000\nReviewer: WILLIE A YOUNG II "willow" (Houston
EXTD=, TX.) \nQuite frankly, I was terrified of this album. And with g
EXTD=ood reason, never before or since has such a brutal, bleak, uncom
EXTD=primising, and at times downright depressing (not to mention merc
EXTD=ilessly funky) statement been issued by a genius of pop music. Th
EXTD=is is Sylvester Stewart's harrowing chronicle of his life, and bl
EXTD=ack life in general, circa 1970-71. Let me first point out the so
EXTD=und of the music presented here, from the opening track "Luv 'N' 
EXTD=Haight" with it's gospel tinged backing vocals, wah wah guitars f
EXTD=lying back and forth, Larry Graham's low, mournful bass, and the 
EXTD=drunk, off-center meter of Greg Errico's drumming, the listener i
EXTD=s immediately put on notice that Sly and the rest of the band are
EXTD= not out to make this an easy listening experience. From his firs
EXTD=t words, almost drunkenly muttered instead of sang, Sly sets the 
EXTD=tone for an initially difficult, but ultimately rewarding and unf
EXTD=orgettable experience. This song climaxes with an electrifying ca
EXTD=ll and response(feel so good, feel so good, wanna move, wanna mov
EXTD=e) that almost makes you think this is going to be another good t
EXTD=ime dance record, when along comes "Just Like A Baby" to drag you
EXTD= right down into the abyss. Utter depression has never hurt this 
EXTD=good. This lovely, moaning bummer of a song is highlighted by Lar
EXTD=ry's lead bottomed, monotonous bass line that burrows it's way in
EXTD=to your brain and doesn't let go. "Poet" is almost an instumental
EXTD= that creeps along at a snails pace but Sly does appear briefly t
EXTD=o pat himself on the back, justifiably calling himself a poet. Th
EXTD=e sole hit song here, "Family Affair" actually makes more sense i
EXTD=n this setting and is reason alone to own this collection. The re
EXTD=mainder of "Riot" follows a similar path, but somehow never repea
EXTD=ts itself. My personal favorites are the paranoid "Brave and Stro
EXTD=ng" (great lyrics; "out and down, ain't got a friend, you don't k
EXTD=now who turned you in",)"You Caught Me Smilin' Again" (Cynthia Ro
EXTD=binson's trumpet doesn't blare, she lets it fall brilliantly flat
EXTD=, and Sly almost lets loose with some serious soul shouting), "Ru
EXTD=nnin'Away",(the best song ever written about facing yourself and 
EXTD=responsibility ("look at you foolin' you"), and it has a flawless
EXTD=, jazzy little coda with great interplay between Cynthia's trumpe
EXTD=t, Larry's bass and Greg's drums. And the album's closer, a slow,
EXTD= molasses paced remake of "Thank You Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin
EXTD=", "Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa" featuring the funkiest ba
EXTD=ss playing ever committed to tape, trust me, it'll stink up your 
EXTD=whole house, it's that good. All in all this is a very daring mov
EXTD=e on this gifted group's behalf, Sly & Co. sound like a completel
EXTD=y different band than on previous releases and this LP will proba
EXTD=bly dissapoint fans looking for "Stand!" part II. But don't miss 
EXTD=it, music this ingenious doesn't come along every day, and with t
EXTD=he current state of affairs in modern black music, this is still 
EXTD=an innovative song cycle that demands to be heard. Find this albu
EXTD=m. Kill if you must!\n\nHalf.com Album Credits\nSylvester Stewart
EXTD=, Producer\n\nAlbum Notes\nSly & The Family Stone: Sylvester Stew
EXTD=art (vocals, keyboards); Freddie "Stone" Stewart (guitar); Jerry 
EXTD=Martini (saxophone); Cynthia Robinson (trumpet); Rosie Stone (pia
EXTD=no); Larry Graham (bass instrument); Gregg Errico (drums).During 
EXTD=the late '60s, Sly and the Family Stone was the emblem of the new
EXTD= utopia-- celebratory, integrated, intent on breaking down walls,
EXTD= and full of relentlessly positive, idealistic energy. 1971's THE
EXTD=RE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON directly contradicted all of these character
EXTD=istics. Instead, the album represented the dark days of post-'60s
EXTD= disillusionment--a move from right-here/right-now ethos to refle
EXTD=ction ("Time"), from integration to separatism ("Thank You For Ta
EXTD=lkin' To Me Africa"), and from Sly's exuberant cheerleading to a 
EXTD=weary, craggy-voiced vocal style. Many fans considered the album 
EXTD=a "downer" at the time.In truth, RIOT is stunningly innovative an
EXTD=d artistically accomplished. Here Sly began playing with subtle, 
EXTD=sophisticated rhythms, creating webs of interlocking parts and te
EXTD=xtures, foregrounding mood over pop structures. The production is
EXTD= murky, keeping with the dark, edgy themes of the album, yet it i
EXTD=s packed with detail. The burbling guitars, keys, lock-pop bass, 
EXTD=and ghostly vocals create a warm, enveloping cocoon, as on the ho
EXTD=neyed, heavy-lidded groove of "Just Like A Baby," the percolating
EXTD= surge of "Family Affair" (one of Sly's finest moments), and "(Yo
EXTD=u Caught Me) Smilin'," which catches a wistful flash of the old o
EXTD=ptimism. Though it may be a challenging listen for the uninitiate
EXTD=d, THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON rewards endless repeated listens.\n\nR
EXTD=OLLING STONE REVIEW\nMaybe this is the new urban music. It's not 
EXTD=about dancing to the music, in the streets. It's about disintegra
EXTD=tion, getting fucked up, nodding, maybe dying. There are flashes 
EXTD=of euphoria, ironic laughter, even some bright stretches but most
EXTD=ly it's just junkie death, oddly unoppressive and almost attracti
EXTD=ve in its effortlessness. Like going to sleep very slowly. The mu
EXTD=sic has no peaks, no emphasis, little movement; it seems to fall 
EXTD=away like a landslide in a dream (you falling slowly too, not pan
EXTD=icking) or merely continue, drained of impetus, self-destructing.
EXTD= Smack rock.\n\nIt's Sly & the Family Stone's fifth album (not co
EXTD=unting the Greatest Hits collection) and their first new LP since
EXTD= April 1969. Perversely titled--There's a Riot Goin' On (Epic KE 
EXTD=30986) implies action--irrelevantly packaged--a wordless open-fol
EXTD=d with "flag" cover, the stars replaced by white sunbursts on bla
EXTD=ck and a terrible junior high Polaroid collage of Family and frie
EXTD=nds on the back--the album is a testament to two years of deterio
EXTD=ration rather than two years of growth. One of the most influenti
EXTD=al innovators in recent years, Sly retains a certain inventivenes
EXTD=s and a characteristically high-strung sound but he's left behind
EXTD= much more.\n\nGone is the energy and flash that exploded in Sly'
EXTD=s early music. In the beginning, the message was music is alive, 
EXTD=dance to the music, sing a simple song, I wanna take you higher. 
EXTD=Then, you can make it if you try, everybody is a star, Stand! (al
EXTD=l the things you want are real). And the music repeated that mess
EXTD=age with intensity and joy. But there's no exhilaration left and 
EXTD=no immediately clear message. Only an overwhelming feeling of exh
EXTD=austion.\n\nAfter all the past electricity, the first shock of th
EXTD=e new album is its sound. Listening to it is like watching a junk
EXTD=ie nodding, each breath measuring the slow descent of his head as
EXTD= he drops his comb for the tenth time in two minutes. It feels li
EXTD=ke slow motion, like batteries running down, like a lot of downs.
EXTD= But once you get into the haze of it, it can be rather beautiful
EXTD=: measured, relaxed, hypnotic. The new version of "Thank You (Fal
EXTD=ettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"--inexplicably retitled "Thank You for 
EXTD=Talkin' to Me Africa" (a cross-reference to another cut and to th
EXTD=e original title for the album, Africa Talks To You) but otherwis
EXTD=e unchanged lyrically--is paced at about half the speed of the or
EXTD=iginal. The reduced speed is perhaps more appropriate to the drea
EXTD=m-like quality of the opening verses but gives a bitterly ironic 
EXTD=feeling to the refrain, sung over and over to the fade-out, passi
EXTD=onless and dead: "Thank you falettinme be mice elf again", even i
EXTD=f it means destroying myself.\n\n"Thank You" provides the link be
EXTD=tween Riot and Sly's previous work and points to the radical chan
EXTD=ges his music has undergone. A relentless pattern, varied only sl
EXTD=ightly throughout the song's more than seven minutes, is repeated
EXTD= three times before the vocals begin: a deliberately plodding, th
EXTD=ick bass, echoed by drums with a nervous, sharp guitar. At times 
EXTD=Sly underlines the guitar on organ or slashes at the keyboard for
EXTD= an accent, but the monotony of the pattern remains. When the voi
EXTD=ces enter, they sound agonized and weary, pulled up from the dept
EXTD=hs, struggling against inertia. Sly stands out from the others wh
EXTD=o set a purposely flat, low-key tone for him to play against. He 
EXTD=seems to scrape his voice across the song, bringing phrases out o
EXTD=f full-throated growls or stifled screams. It's a magnificent, if
EXTD= frightening, contrast with the original; at first I was appalled
EXTD=, now I'm fascinated.\n\nThe rest of the album brings out a simil
EXTD=ar ambivalence, When you get over the initial shock (Sly ain't go
EXTD=nna take anybody higher this time), the minimal, downer qualities
EXTD= of the music and singing begin to take on a certain appeal. This
EXTD= doesn't cancel out the overall sense of disintegration but it do
EXTD=es make such a state of euphoric coming apart seem somehow enviab
EXTD=le.\n\nThe tone is set with the opening cut, "Luv n' Haight" whic
EXTD=h begins, "Feel so good inside myself/Don't want to move/Feel so 
EXTD=good inside myself/Don't need to move." Although stripped of the 
EXTD=force of Sly's old stuff, "Luv n' Haight" is practically speedy i
EXTD=n the context of the Riot album. The tension between the song's l
EXTD=anguid, stoned qualities (mainly the vocals, with Sly again, and 
EXTD=throughout the album, playing with the limits of his voice) and t
EXTD=he prodding, nervous qualities of the music (especially the wah-w
EXTD=ah guitar) is the perfect mirror of the lyrics, which vary in the
EXTD=ir wasted indecision between the original "Don't want to move" an
EXTD=d "Feel so good/I want to move." But you know the dude is too fuc
EXTD=ked up to move even if he wants to.\n\n"Luv n' Haight" also conta
EXTD=ins these lines; "As I grow up,/I'm growing down./And when I'm lo
EXTD=st/I know I will be found." As one of the many cryptic hints of S
EXTD=ly's condition spread through the album, this is a typical combin
EXTD=ation of hope and pain, two elements constantly at war here.\n\nI
EXTD=t's a very personal album and if there's a riot goin' on, it's in
EXTD=side Sly Stone. David Kapralik, Sly's manager, has a line about t
EXTD=he "riot" being in the environment, implying that the title cut, 
EXTD=listed and timed at 0:00, is space for examination of the "riot" 
EXTD=all around you; the interpretation is up to you. If Sly seems wea
EXTD=ker lyrically than on his previous work, it can be laid in part t
EXTD=o pure stoned self-indulgence and the kind of dumb incoherence he
EXTD= often displays on stage, but more importantly, it's the result o
EXTD=f a very real personal struggle, with only tentative, vaguely gra
EXTD=sped solutions. On "Africa Talks to You" he asks (himself), "When
EXTD= life means much to you,/Why live for dying?/If you are doing rig
EXTD=ht,/Why are you crying?"\n\n"Family Affair," its sound at once mo
EXTD=urnful and playful, deals with these questions a little further d
EXTD=own the line toward understanding them and their answers. The dou
EXTD=ble meaning of the title--a private matter, A Family (Stone) affa
EXTD=ir--emphasizes its concerns are close to home. The singing is pla
EXTD=in, gritty, stripped of any pretty vocal qualities, just Sly in t
EXTD=he lead with Sister Rosie repeating almost plaintively, "It's a f
EXTD=amily affair," At the end, Sly states quite clearly the conflict 
EXTD=at the center of the album: "You can't leave, 'cause your heart i
EXTD=s there./But you can't stay, 'cause you been somewhere else!/You 
EXTD=can't cry, 'cause you'll look broke down,/But you're cryin' anywa
EXTD=y 'cause you're all broke down!"\n\n"Runnin' Away" picks up the c
EXTD=onflict with more irony, more distance, but the same painful self
EXTD=-awareness folded into a deceptively bright package. "Look at you
EXTD= fooling you," the song taunts, "You're stretching out your dues.
EXTD=" As an insight into Sly's own delusions and everyone's, the song
EXTD= is one of the only moments of genuine self-satisfaction on the a
EXTD=lbum. "You Caught Me Smilin'," on the other hand, seems full of s
EXTD=elf-deception; the smile sounds like a mask and. Sly is really sa
EXTD=ying, like Smokey Robinson in "Tracks of My Tears," "Take a good 
EXTD=look at my face/You'll see my smile looks out of place." He drops
EXTD= the pretense slightly in the last line: "In my pain, I'll be san
EXTD=e to take your hand," but covers himself immediately with the smi
EXTD=ling mask of sanity. Look at you fooling you.\n\n"Africa Talks to
EXTD= You 'The Asphalt Jungle'" and "Brave & Strong" are both more com
EXTD=plex, more irritating and less accessible. The lyrics are broken 
EXTD=and puzzling, near-impenetrable in "Africa"; the sound, too, is f
EXTD=ragmented, ominous, jittery, again, more so in "Africa" where the
EXTD= last half of the cut drifts off as if dazed, mixing with these g
EXTD=hostly voices warning "Timber!" Both songs seem to be warnings, p
EXTD=ersonal, but directed outward to all of us more so than much of t
EXTD=he other material here. In "Africa" the warning is "Watch out, 'c
EXTD=ause the summer gets cold .../When today gets too old"; time is r
EXTD=unning out ("Timber ... all fall down!") and ain't nobody gonna s
EXTD=ave you but yourself. "Brave & Strong" pushes the point--"Survive
EXTD=!"--more emphatically but less effectively--a more muddled, less 
EXTD=interesting song.\n\nMuch of the rest is just bad: pretentious ("
EXTD=Poet"), cute, dumb ("Spaced Cowboy"), inconsequential ("Time"). K
EXTD=apralik, again, says that when any "great creator" has reached th
EXTD=e top, "the only thing to do is step back and lay back." Is that 
EXTD=what you call it? Feels more like being knocked back and struggli
EXTD=ng to recover. "Thank you for the party/I could never stay,/Many 
EXTD=thangs [sic] is on my mind/Words in the way." Sly has cut to the 
EXTD=minimum, reduced his music to bare structures, put aside the dens
EXTD=ity and play of voices in the Family in favor of his anguished, u
EXTD=npolished lead and quiet choruses. Maybe he had little choice. Yo
EXTD=u couldn't say Riot is a pulling through or an overcoming. It's r
EXTD=ecord of a condition, a fever chart.\n\nAs such, it doesn't invit
EXTD=e an easy response. At first I hated it for its weakness and its 
EXTD=lack of energy and I still dislike these qualities. But then I be
EXTD=gan to respect the album's honesty, cause in spite of the obvious
EXTD= deception of some cuts, Sly was laying himself out in all his fu
EXTD=ck-ups. And at the same time holding a mirror up to all of us. No
EXTD= more pretense; no more high-energy. You're dying, we're all dyin
EXTD=g. It's hard to take, but There's a Riot Goin' On is one of the m
EXTD=ost important fucking albums this year. (RS 98 -- Dec 23, 1971)  
EXTD=--  VINCE ALETTI YEAR: 1971
EXTT0=
EXTT1=
EXTT2=
EXTT3=
EXTT4=
EXTT5=
EXTT6=
EXTT7=
EXTT8=
EXTT9=
EXTT10=
EXTT11=
EXTT12=
EXTT13=
EXTT14=
EXTT15=
PLAYORDER=
