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Rating: Great |
There are albums that not only reflect the era in which they were made, but also seem to absorb, absorb, distort, and reflect that era in a form that is simultaneously painful, hypnotic, and visionary. There's A Riot Goin' On, released in 1971, is such a record. Where its predecessor, Stand!, was still brimming with optimism and community spirit, a different sound emerges here. Raw, distorted, languid. As if the dream of the sixties has collapsed under its own weight. What remains is a swampy quagmire of distrust, escapism, and suppressed rage. This is not a protest album in the classic sense, but a sonic radiograph of a man and a band slowly dissolving in on themselves.
Sly Stone, once the flamboyant leader of a racially mixed band that preached love and harmony, retreated to his home during this period, heavily influenced by cocaine and paranoia. The recording of "There's a Riot Goin' On" is notorious for its chaotic approach. Band members came and went, drum machines replaced human drummers, and takes were endlessly layered over one another. The result is a soundscape that sounds as if it's emerging from beneath a thick layer of dust. The grooves are slow, languid, almost dazed. Everything sounds muffled, as if the microphone is wrapped in a woolen blanket. And therein lies the album's strength.
Take "Family Affair," the album's biggest hit. The song drags along on a primitive drum track, with minimal accompaniment and the thin voices of Sly and his sister Rose. It's both distant and close. A confession without a climax. Tracks like "Poet," "Brave & Strong," and "Africa Talks To You ('The Asphalt Jungle')" also seem to lose themselves in their own fog. The funk is still there, but it's become lethargic, sleepy, intoxicated. This isn't a dancefloor record, but a chamber album. One for those who dare to sit in the dark.
What makes this record so special is the way it dismantles the optimism of the preceding years without lapsing into cynicism. The disillusionment is palpable, but not shouted out. Instead, resignation resonates. It is the music of someone who has withdrawn, who no longer trusts the outside world and has therefore turned inward. And yet there are also moments of beauty. The soft harmonies on "Just Like a Baby," the melancholy of "(You Caught Me) Smilin'," the slow pulsation of "Time." These are remnants of something that was once light, now shrouded in shadow.
There's A Riot Goin' On is also a groundbreaking album. Not only in form, but also in influence. The production—with its saturated tapes, distorted tracks, and experimental approach—predicted later styles like lo-fi, trip hop, and even certain forms of hip-hop. The use of a drum machine (the Rhythm King) in the midst of a period rife with soul bands and horn sections demonstrates foresight. What sounds messy to one person is a harbinger of things to come to another.
The album's title is as much a statement as it is a mystery. There's no title track, no clear message, no pamphlet. Just that sentence: "There's a riot going on." What kind of riot? Where? Out on the streets, or inside Sly Stone's head? The answer isn't explicitly given anywhere, but it's palpable throughout. This is an album that doesn't try to heal, but instead reveals what it feels like to be wounded. Music as wound fluid.
Within the context of Sly & The Family Stone's oeuvre, this album stands alone. It's the pivotal point where the light goes out. After the colorful explosions of Dance to the Music, Life, and Stand!, here comes the calm after the storm—or rather, the messy aftershocks of a collapsed dream. Yet it's not a farewell. Even at his most desolate, Sly Stone remains a master of creating atmospheres, of grooves that linger, of songs that seem to vanish while you're still listening.
"There's A Riot Goin' On" isn't an easy record, not a declaration of love, not an invitation to sing along. It's a document. A confession. A farewell to the ideals Stone once championed—not because he renounces them, but because he no longer recognizes them in the world around him. And that makes it perhaps his most honest work.
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= Track List =
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