Looks like even in the heyday of Funk some critics didnt have any !






Sly Stone & the Family Stone: There's A Riot Goin' On (Epic)

John Morthland, Creem, 1 February 1972

AS MANY HAVE noted, Sly Stone's style revolves around so many factors that it may, paradoxically enough, be as limited as it is ground-breaking. Combine that with his awesome propensity for self-annihilation and you get clunkers like this one.

Commercially, there's no problem. The nature of Superstardom being that anything is better than nothing, the people who've waited more than two years for new Sly music broke this into the charts at 39, and be the second week it was 7 and solid gold. I only wonder if all those people have yet been able to convince themselves that they like what they got.

The album is dominated by the same plodding, lethargic beat that continues seemingly unabated for 45 minutes. I listen to it and my mind wanders off in the middle of a song, returns in the middle of the next song for a couple seconds, and then wanders right back off again. Listening again on earphones only makes me disinterested quicker. Sly simply has nothing to offer; having listened a few times as I write this, the only cuts I can even recall are the Dr. Johnish ‘Family Affair’, which I've been hearing regularly on AM for a good three weeks, and the title cut, which is 0:00 minutes of blessed silence.

Did anyone expect this album to be any good, given Sly's antics? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that if some band off the streets had brought these tapes into a record company to try to get a contract, they would have been shown out the door before they could say ‘Thank you Falettinme Be Mice Elf’. Instead, there's celebration that Sly was able to get out an album at all, a sad and revealing commentary for sure.

At this point, it's trite to say Sly's in trouble. His stature is such that he'll be given plenty of second chances – which is more than most people get – and I sure hope he's got enough brains left to make the most of it.

© John Morthland, 1972

I guess Riot pissed off so many people especially rock critics back in the day because they didn't know what to make of it. They didn't understand how a wicked genius with a interracial band that made a landmark performance at Woodstock and sang about being together and loving each other could make such an honest record about the rage in America, feeling of lost hope and crushed dreams that prevailed for many people during the 1970s, and how the sunny and optimistic side of the 60's turned into a period of decadence and turmoil. I don't think many listened closely to the lyrics of Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), as it was a warning from Sly to his audience that he was tired of striving for the values he exalted in many of his inspirational late-1960s hits. Sly was also in a war within himself while he and his crew were recording this record, which is deeply rooted in the grooves and rhythms of this masterpiece.

silverchild said:

3 Cheers !
You know your FONK !