82. Sly and the Family Stone, "There’s a Riot Goin’ On"

 

Oh dear, another Hugely Important Album that didn't do much for me, and I'm saying this as someone who absolutely loves Stand!, the 1969 predecessor to this album.  If anyone was expecting more of the exuberance and joy of Stand!, well, I have some bad news.  This album is... not exactly dark, but it seems inward-looking, more closed off, angrier maybe?  I mean, there was plenty to be angry about.  The Civil Rights Movement was further along by the time this album was being recorded in 1970-71, but the Vietnam War had descended into a quagmire and it was clear the dream of the hippie movement was illusory.

Sly himself followed that trajectory, and by the time this was recorded, he was fully in the thrall of cocaine and PCP.  He toyed with this album endlessly, recording parts from his own bed, bouncing tracks back and forth so much that a lot of the album has audible tape hiss.  He makes this explicit in the album's opener, "Luv N' Haight": "Feel so good inside myself, don't want to move/Feel so good inside myself, don't need to move."  (A nod to San Francisco's Haight Street in the title, where the counterculture scene was by then devolving into a nightmare of drugs and exploitation.)

As for the sound, it's not exactly funk, it's more funk-adjacent.  Blues-soul-funk.  Post-funk?  Is that a thing?  Sly was experimenting with a drum machine, and a lot of the tracks feature him playng drums alongside the backing drum track.  It's a dense, layered sound, more complex and nuanced than Stand! but also more inaccessible.

The single was "Family Affair," recorded with the whole band before Sly withdrew into his LA attic.  His vocals sound scatchy and strained, with his sister Rose Stone giving a great backing vocal that pretty much saves the whole song.  And it sounds weird; the drums sound like bubbles popping and the lyrics, well, 

One child grows up to be
Somebody that just loves to learn
And another child grows up to be
Somebody you'd just love to burn
Mom loves the both of them
You see, it's in the blood
Both kids are good to mom
Blood's thicker than the mud

Another single, "Runnin' Away," charted as high as number 23 on the singles chart.  It's deceptively sunny, with a bright vocal and some cheery horns but it's really about how you can't escape your problems.  The album closes with "Thank You for Talkin' to Me, Africa," a dramatically slowed-down version of "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," taking what had been a joyous romp and slowing it into something almost dark and menacing.

So why do I not vibe with this album, as the kids say?  I don't have a great answer other than it's just not my thing.  I spent some time with the album and I really do appreciate it and see how influential and important it was, but in the end, it didn't resonate with me.  Oh well.

Is this album in my personal Top 500? Maybe someday, but not at this point.