THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON by SLY & THE FAMILY STONE (1971, Epic)

Sly Stone. 

Not to be confused with Sly Stallone. 

One is Rocky Balboa. The other a funky-shape thrower. 

While the film Stop Or My Mum Will Shoot would have been improved by Sly Stone's presence, Sly Stallone's presence would definitely have ruined the funk vibe of THERE'S A RIOT GOIN' ON. That said, Stallone did direct the Saturday Night Fever sequel Stayin Alive so he must have some dance in his pants. Anyway I digress...

In the closing years of the '60s Sly Stone was a colossus of funk and soul. The band had notched up three Billboard No.1 singles, stormed Woodstock and we're considered a positive force with upbeat radio friendly singles. But with big success came big problems. The band members were routinely getting loaded on PCP and cocaine, and Sly allegedly took to carrying a violin case of illegal drugs with him everywhere he went. He also fell under the influence of The Black Panther movement who pushed him to eject his white band mates. It was in this atmosphere of paranoia, tension and drug abuse, this album was born. 

The title is a direct response to Marvin Gaye's album What's Going' On? which was released only months earlier. The cover is a red, white and black American flag with suns where the stars should be. Stone explained the design as wanting "the flag to truly represent people of all colours. I wanted the colour black because it is the absence of colour. I wanted the colour white because it is the combination of all colours. And I wanted the colour red because it represents the one thing that all people have in common: blood."

Unlike their earlier albums, Stand! and Life, RIOT is much darker and more depressing. It has warm, murky, dub-like sound, a result of Sly's constant overdubbing and re-recording. Many of the vocal lines are mumbled and hard to follow, even distorting at points. 

The first single was the classic 'Family Affair' with its low and swampy bass and deep vocals. It is also one of the earliest hit recordings to use a drum machine. The other singles were 'You Caught Me Smilin' ('smiling' being his euphemism for getting stoned) and the sugary-sweet 'Running' Away'. Both the most uplifting and commercial tracks on the album. 

Being a million miles away from the psychedelic soul-funk of the earlier albums most critics were dismissive. Rolling Stone were one of the few publications to understand what was really going' on: "the new urban music... is not about dancing to the music, in the streets. It's about disintegration, getting fucked up, nodding, maybe dying". When you view RIOT in those terms you can see how large it's influence it is, especially for the early Hip Hop pioneers like Afrika Bambata who cite it as an major inspiration. 

It's pretty heavy going for a wet Wednesday but the singles are funky as...