"…It's A Family Affair…"
1971's
iconic Soul LP "There's A Riot Goin' On" by SLY & THE FAMILY STONE was yet another winner in a
long line of album releases (their 5th LP and a
USA R&B No.1).
The
2007 Sony/Legacy CD reissue of it features a 'best we can do' BOB IRWIN and VIC
ANESINI Remaster. Thankfully this is also used in the 2010 5CD "Original
Album Classics" Mini Box Set (reissued in Europe in 2013). I mention this
because the Mini Box sets weigh in at about ten quid – two pounds per album –
ludicrously great value for money. And in the case of the Funky-Soulful manic
maestro Sly Stone – too much is never enough (if ya know what I mean
baby...sorry about that)...
First
appearing in 2010 in the USA as part of Sony's "Original Album
Classics" series of 5CD mini box sets (Catalogue No. 8869770802) – the
2013 repackaged version out of Europe uses different (some would say prettier)
artwork and sports a new catalogue number (88883743022). Although you get a
flimsy card slipcase (as opposed to the hard card of the original American
issues) - the best news is that you also get the 2007 BOB IRWIN/VIC ANESINI CD
remasters – with all five of the albums retaining their expanded bonus tracks.
Here are the Luv N’ Haight details…
Euro
released August 2013 – "Original Album Classics" by SLY & THE FAMILY STONE
on Epic/Legacy 88883743022 (Barcode 888837430227) is a 5CD Mini Box Set in a
Card Slipcase that contains "There's A Riot Goin' On" on Disc 5 and
plays out as follows:
Disc
5 (65:32 minutes):
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 [Side 2]
8.
(You Caught Me) Smilin’
9.
Time
10.
Spaced Cowboy
11.
Runnin’ Away
12.
Thank You For Talkin' To Me, Africa
Tracks
1 to 12 are their 5th album "There's A Riot Goin' On" – released
November 1971 in the USA on Epic KC 30986 and January 1972 in the UK on Epic S
EPC 64613). Although the title is famously listed as "There's A Riot Goin'
On" at the end of Side 1 on the original vinyl album – the song is in fact
not there (no seconds – no playing time). In order to acknowledge its presence
however - the CD reissue gives it a playing time of 4 seconds of silence (hence
the confusion with people feeling it’s a mastering mistake/track missing – it’s
not)
BONUS
TRACKS:
13.
Runnin’ Away (Single Version)
14.
My Gorilla Is My Butler (Instrumental)
15.
Do You Know What? (Instrumental)
16.
That’s Pretty Clean (Instrumental)
The
card repro sleeves are lovely to look at for the first three upbeat Soul albums
- but with "Stand!" having a virtually blank rear and "There's A
Riot Goin' On" missing its gatefold (with all the recording info on the
inner) – there’s nothing to get your teeth into reading wise. And as fans will
know – there have been almost entire books devoted to the recording, release of
and posthumous importance of the acidic and incoherently trippy "There's A
Riot Goin' On" LP alone. This is one of those times in this
value-for-money series where you wish a half-decent booklet accompanied the
release – because there’s much to say (and learn).
The
2007 BOB IRWIN and VIC ANESINI Stereo remasters are thankfully used and are
typically superb - this time making the best of a bad lot. Even on the
notorious overdubbed tape mess that is 1971's "Riot" where Sly went
over things so many times that to this day there is 'muddiness' to the whole
recording that cannot be removed (and some would say cannot be improved upon
either). Even that is audibly improved (to a degree). That blurred sound to the
brass work on "Runnin' Away" is a good example and the mumbling
druggy crap that he spouts in “Spaced Cowboy” is almost coherent (almost).
The
album opens with "Luv N' Haight" – a song so influential – a Funk and
Soul reissue label took it as their moniker – Luv N Haight Records. The
clavinet funkiness continues with "Just Like A Baby". But that's
trumped up by the fantastic groove of "Poet" where Sly mumbles about his
only weapon being words and music – a songwriter with his weapon of music. It
sounds like Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" (1973) and Jeff Beck's
"Blow By Blow" (1975) years before those Funky events. November 1971
also saw the monster "Family Affair" track become their 3rd No. 1
single on the Pop charts. Huge like the album was – it still raises a smile and
a butt wiggle.
But
then you get magnificence like the nine-minute funk of "Africa Talks To
You…" with its drum/keyboard/vocal layers that amble but yet somehow work.
The CD audio is excellent here compared to my battered British vinyl original
where turning it up back in the day only elicited walls of hiss. Admittedly
"Brave And Strong" sounds compromised on the Audio front – kind of
strangulated and lacking in clarity. Better is "(You Caught Me)
Smilin'" where Sly lets out a few of his best Al Green screams as the
Guitars do battle with Funky Horns. The laid back and shuffling
"Time" is the kind of Sly Stone ramble I love – a mouthful of mumble
turned into a groove. It goes out on the seven-minute Funkathon that is
"Thank You For Talkin' To Me Africa" – a monster track amongst Jazz
Funk aficionados. The Audio dips in and out as it used to – but the CD is still
better than my record – and that Bass line is chugging and chunky in my
speakers.
A
pioneer, a hero, a drugged-up nutjob – Sly Stone was all of these and more.
Mostly though you’re left impressed and wanting more…and that’s a complaint
I’ll take any day of the week…
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