207. Sly and the Family Stone | There's a Riot Goin' On (1971)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

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

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There's a Riot Goin' On is a feel-good album. The music is funk and soul. The vocals are sexy, especially the use of falsetto which is featured quite prominently. The rhythm section is outstanding. The grooves aren't complex, but they are sexy, too. What differentiates this funk from funk from the sixties is how the bass guitar is used. It's bouncy, less deep-sounding and is allowed to explore beyond the groove.

This album isn't as easily accessible as Stand!. Stand! was chock full of catchy hits. This album has a couple catchy songs, but the rest are free-flowing explorations in funk.

I didn't like this album much until I listened to it several times and now I've been won over. It has a casual, cool attitude that makes it fun to listen to. I think it's worth listening to and I think it deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list. This isn't a completely new style, but it sounds fresh and new, especially the bass.

All of the songs are good. The stand outs for me are: Luv N' Haight, Family Affair, Africa Talks To You "The Asphalt Jungle", Brave & Strong, Spaced Cowboy and Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa.

★★★★★★★★★☆

160. Sly and the Family Stone | Stand! (1969)

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Wikipedia Entry

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Tracks

1. Stand!
2. Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey
3. I Want to Take You Higher
4. Somebody's Watching You
5. Sing a Simple Song
6. Everyday People
7. Sex Machine
8. You Can Make It If You Try

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Stand! is a complex album. At its heart, it's a funk album. Sly and the Family Stone lay down some of the heaviest and thickest grooves you'll ever hear. However, it's got more melody than a straight funk album. It also jams more like a psychedelic rock album than a soul or funk album.

This album really comes out of nowhere, at least on the 1001 Albums list. There's just nothing else between the soul and funk of James Brown and Sam Cooke in the mid 1960s and this album. With this album and its heavy rocking groove, Sly Stone has charted the course for black music in the 1970s. This album should have been ordered before The Temptations' Cloud Nine since it was released earlier.

I think this is one of the best albums I've ever heard. It has a great sound and a great attitude. There is more hope for humanity in Everyday People than in any other song so far on this list. You Can Make It If You Try is obvious in its positivity, but Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey is more subtle. The other songs are just as uplifting, but more from the music than from the lyrics.

The stand out songs are Stand!, Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey, I Want to Take You Higher, Sing a Simple Song, Everyday People and You Can Make It If You Try.

★★★★★★★★★★