Label: Epic / Legacy Records (US), 82876 75911 2
Style: Pop, Funk, Soul
Country: San Francisco, California, U.S.
Time: 65:32
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 352 Mb
Charts: US #1, US R&B #1, CAN #4, JPN #59, UK #31. US: Platinum; UK: Silver.
PP Arnold:
I
heard about Sly when I was in the Ikettes, touring with Ike and Tina
Turner. He was a DJ playing the Beatles and the Stones alongside Ray
Charles, soul and R&B. The Family Stone were into fusion, and it
felt very connected to unity, peace and racial equality. They were the
first band to have a multiracial lineup of men and women. When Sister
Rose [Stone, vocals] joined for Dance to the Music and did those great
gospel harmonies with [the girl group] Little Sister, it changed the
whole sound. They had hippy psychedelic pop, soul and rock. Every album
got funkier and they changed the scene. They sang about the truth of
what was going on.
Towards the end of the 60s, civil rights, the
Martin Luther King assassination and Vietnam affected everybody, and the
drugs came in and changed things. You’d hear about death-threat
rumours, gangsters, rip-offs. Sly had fallen out with the original band,
and on songs like Just Like a Baby you can hear his vulnerability. (You
Caught Me) Smilin’ is sad even though he’s smiling, because he’s lost.
The drugs changed Sly’s voice, so on There’s a Riot Goin’ On there’s a
gravelly, haunted vibe. It’s urban blues, but the love, innocence, fun
and harmony is still in there.
Greg Errico, drums, Sly and the Family Stone:
All
the stories about the Riot sessions are true. It was a tumultuous time.
The group was splintering and there was huge pressure on Sly to make
another record just as we were breaking up. We had cut Family Affair and
Thank You For Talkin’ to Me Africa with the original band the year
before. Then Sly wanted to do it all himself, maybe realised it wasn’t
such fun but couldn’t back down.
It went from a traditional studio to
the attic of his house - with all the chemicals. He’d knock on my door
at 3 or 4am and say: “Come on, I’ve got this part. Get up, let’s start
recording!” Other times he’d call the sessions off. Eventually I stopped
going, which got him into using the drum machine. It was the kind of
thing the guy in the lounge of the Holiday Inn would use to make lame
music, but Sly used it very creatively. Starting the machine’s rhythm on
an off beat turned the beat inside out and gave a unique sound.
The
music was darker because times were darker. When I first heard the
finished album, I had a little attitude - “He should have stuck with us”
- but gradually I realised it was really creative and lyrically he was
talking about what was going on. I started listening with a smile on my
face.
Steve Vai:
When I was nine or 10, Sly and the Family Stone’s
Greatest Hits felt like an awakening, but even at that age it was
obvious to me that there was a profound shift in the music for There’s a
Riot Goin’ On. Later in life, I saw how that record was a perfect
storm. It was driven by the political protest and social transition at
the time, but also his inner demons and vast departures in the
production technique.
Sly was on a paranoid downer and started
surrounding himself with thugs and marching to the beat of his own drum,
alienating the band and bringing in Ike Turner, Bobby Womack and Billy
Preston. Often, when a band or artist undergoes a big transformation,
they can be a little bit more raw and honest. It can be both
quasi-disastrous and have great merit, and that’s how I see Riot. His
brilliance snuck through the debris.
(full version: theguardian.com/music/2021/dec/02/a-nations-fabric-unravelling-stars-on-sly-stones-theres-a-riot-goin-on-at-50)
01. Luv N' Haight (04:04)
02. Just Like A Baby (05:13)
03. Poet (03:02)
04. Family Affair (03:08)
05. Africa Talks To You ('The Asphalt Jungle') (08:45)
06. There's A Riot Goin' On (00:04)
07. Brave & Strong (03:32)
08. (You Caught Me) Smilin' (02:56)
09. Time (03:05)
10. Spaced Cowboy (03:59)
11. Runnin' Away (02:57)
12. Thank You For Talkin' To Me, Africa (07:18)
13. Runnin' Away (Single Version In Mono) (02:44)
14. My Gorilla Is My Butler (Instrumental) (03:11)
15. Do You Know What? (Instrumental In Mono) (07:16)
16. That's Pretty Clean (Instrumental In Mono) (04:12)
Download: TurboBit KatFile DailyUploads FreeDlink FikPer
All my files: TurboBit KatFile DailyUploads FikPer
No comments:
Post a Comment