Sly & the Family Stone hit #1 with There’s a Riot Goin’ On

First posted 3/28/2008; updated 12/1/2020.

There’s a Riot Goin’ On Sly & the Family Stone

Charted: November 13, 1971 Peak: 12 US, 12 RB, 31 UK, 4 CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: R&B/funk

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Luv N’ Haight Just Like a Baby Poet Family Affair (11/6/71, 1 US, 15 UK, 1 RB, gold single) Africa Talks to You “The Asphalt Jungle” Brave and Strong You Caught Me Smilin’ (4/22/72, 42 US, 21 RB) Time Spaced Cowboy Runnin’ Away (2/5/72, 23 US, 17 UK, 15 RB) Thank You for Talkin’ to Me Africa Total Running Time: 47:15 The Players: Sly Stone (vocals, multiple instruments) Rose Stone (vocals, keyboards) Billy Preston (keyboards) Jerry Martini (tenor saxophone) Cynthia Robinson (trumpet) Freddie Stone, Ike Turner, Bobby Womack (guitar) Lary Graham (bass, backing vocals) Greg Errico, Gerry Gibson (drums) Little Sister (backing vocals)

Rating: 4.115 out of 5.00 (average of 17 ratings) Quotable: “One of the great radical albums, and definitely the funkiest.” – Blender Magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “It’s easy to write off There’s a Riot Goin’ On as one of two things – Sly Stone’s disgusted social commentary or the beginning of his slow descent into addiction. It’s both of these things, of course.” STE “Riotis one of the great radical albums, and definitely the funkiest” BL even as “Stone was teetering on the brink of self-destruction.” BL “His music never sounded more eclectic and expressive” BL and “civil disobedience never sounded like so much fun.” BL “Pigeonholing it as either winds up dismissing the album as a whole, since it is so bloody hard to categorize. What’s certain is that Riot is unlike any of Sly & the Family Stone’s other albums, stripped of the effervescence that flowed through even such politically aware records as Stand!. This is idealism soured, as hope is slowly replaced by cynicism, joy by skepticism, enthusiasm by weariness, sex by pornography, thrills by narcotics.” STE “Joy isn’t entirely gone – it creeps through the cracks every once and awhile and, more disturbing, Sly revels in his stoned decadence. What makes Riot so remarkable is that it’s hard not to get drawn in with him, as you’re seduced by the narcotic grooves, seductive vocals slurs, leering electric pianos, and crawling guitars. As the themes surface, it’s hard not to nod in agreement, but it’s a junkie nod, induced by the comforting coma of the music. And damn if this music isn’t funk at its deepest and most impenetrable.” STE “Every subsequent beat revolutionary, from De La Soul to Beck, owes him.” BL “This is dense music, nearly impenetrable, but not from its deep grooves, but its utter weariness.” STE “Sly’s songwriting remains remarkably sharp, but only when he wants to write – the foreboding opener Luv N’ Haight, the scarily resigned Family Affair, the cracked cynical blues Time, and You Caught Me Smilin’. Ultimately, the music is the message and while it’s dark music, it’s not alienating – it’s seductive despair, and that’s the scariest thing about it.” STE

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Sly & the Family Stone BL Blender Magazine’s 100 Greatest American Albums (10/08) STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

David Bowie Hunky Dory released

Hunky Dory David Bowie

Released: December 17, 1971 Peak: 57 US, 3 UK, 43 CN, 39 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.3 UK, 3.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: glam rock/classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Changes [3:33] (1/7/72, 41 US, 38 CB, 28 HR, 1 CL, 2 CO, 49 UK, 32 CN, 80 AU) Oh! You Pretty Things [3:12] (34 CO) Eight Line Poem [2:53] Life on Mars? [3:48] (6/22/73, 2 CL, 2 CO, 3 UK, 67 AU) Kooks [2:49] (35 CO) Quicksand [5:03] (4/11/74, 43 CL, 33 CO) Fill Your Heart (Rose/ Williams) [3:07] Andy Warhol [3:53] (32 CO) Song for Bob Dylan [4:12] Queen Bitch [3:13] (2/16/74, 34 CL, 32 CO) The Bewlay Brothers [5:21] Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 41:50 The Players: David Bowie (vocals, guitar, saxophone, piano) Mick Ronson (guitar, backing vocals, Mellotron, arrangements) Trevor Bolder (bass, trumpet) Mick Woodmansey (drums) Rick Wakeman (piano)

Rating: 4.475 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings) Quotable: “The beginning of the classic Bowie period” – Adrian Denning Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Bowie’s first great album was a visionary blend of gay camp, flashy rock guitar and saloon-piano balladry.” RS500 It “marks the beginning of the classic Bowie period.” AD “At a moment when no one knew whether David Bowie was a transvestite, provocateur, folk singer or space alien,” TL “the then 24-year-old released an album that slyly capitalized on the confusion.” TL His previous album, The Man Who Sold the World, had an “almost heavy-metal sound;” TB Hunky Dory saw Bowie return to “the acoustic guitar-based singer-songwriter sound of his earlier work.” TB “What elevated the album…was Bowie’s newly developed and highly ambitious capacity for bridging the gap between highbrow and lowbrow art forms.” TB He “blends pop, dancehall, art-rock and folk for his most varied effort.” RV “Not only did the album boast more folky songs (‘Song for Bob Dylan,’ The Bewlay Brothers), but he again flirted with Anthony Newley-esque dancehall music (Kooks, Fill Your Heart).” AMG Bowie also crafted “the soaring Life on Mars?” AMG which “placed him in deep space,” TL and “the dark acoustic rocker Andy Warhol.” AMG There’s also “the revamped Tin Pan Alley of Changes,” AMG which “proved he could write a great pop song about who he really (maybe) was.” TL As for who Bowie really was, he’d “experimented with a number of personas” PR up to this point in his career and was now showcasing his ability to tackle “a kaleidoscopic array of pop styles” AMG as well. Hunky Dory mostly finds Bowie “in the guise of an early seventies singer-songwriter” PR who “wears his influences on his sleeve.” CS There’s his “Neil Young homage Quicksand” AMG and Song for Bob Dylan, in which Bowie delivers “a powerful examination of the use of an alter ego to create art.” RV He also “inflects his words with a Lou Reed sensibility, as on Oh! You Pretty Things, a rallying cry for homosexuality,” RV and makes “a direct sound connection to the Velvet Underground with Queen Bitch.” CS Such songs “clarified his earthbound ambition to be a boho poet with prodigal style.” TL Hunky Dory is a “quantum leap from his previous material.” AD “The playing and production and arrangements were all assured and professional.” AD “Mick Ronson came into his own…proving himself an adept arranger for strings as well as a fine guitar player. Keyboard superstar and then top session man Rick Wakeman provided fine piano and keyboard flourishes.” AD The latter’s “cabaret piano…dominate[s] the sound of the album.” AMG Hunky Dory “is artistically the album that made the breakthrough for Bowie.” AD It “is not a concept album, but the concepts within would eventually solidify and manifest in the character of Bowie’s spaceman and perhaps even in his personal philosophies.” CS This album was also notable for being “the first to feature the line-up that would become the Spiders from Mars.” CS This is “suggestive of a dress rehearsal with Ziggy waiting impatiently in the wings for his understudy to vacate the stage.” PR “The themes and ideas scattered throughout the songs’ lyrics and arrangements set the stage for not only Ziggy Stardust, but for much of Bowie’s output in the ’70s.” CS “On the surface, such a wide range of styles and sounds would make an album incoherent, but Bowie’s improved songwriting and determined sense of style” AMG give Bowie the distinction of “inventing – and perfecting – a new style of rock & roll glamour.” RS500 He created “a touchstone for reinterpreting pop’s traditions into fresh, postmodern pop music.” AMG Notes: The 1990 Rykodisc reissue added the unreleased 1971 recording “Bombers,” and alternate versions of “The Bewlay Brothers,” “Quicksand,” and “The Supermen” (the latter originally on The Man Who Sold the World).

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine CS Consequence of Sound (9/15/2010). “Top 100 Albums Ever” AD Adrian Denning RV The Review “100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher (October – November 2001; Vol. 128: numbers 12-23). PR Paul Roland (2001). CD Guide to Pop & Rock. B.T. Batsford LTD: London. Page 34. RS500 Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 147. TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). All-TIME 100 Albums by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 7/28/2021.

Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” released as a single

Black Dog Led Zeppelin

Writer(s): John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant (see lyrics here) Released: December 2, 1971 First Charted: December 18, 1971 Peak: 15 US, 9 CB, 10 HR, 1 CL, 11 CN, 9 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 105.54 video, 226.63 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: In 2007, Q magazine rated “Black Dog,” the opening track of Led Zeppelin’s fourth album, the greatest guitar track of all time. WK Music sociologist Deena Weinstein says the song is “one of the most instantly recognizable Zeppelin tracks.” WK Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash said “It was the biggest, baddest, sexiest riff out there.” BL Bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones wrote the main riff. He was inspired by Muddy Waters’ 1968 album Electric Mud. He said, “I wanted to try electric blues with a rolling bass part.” BL Guitarist Jimmy Page then “turned it into a chain-saw ballet on his Les Paul over Bonzo’s stealth groove, with snarling multitracked rhythm guitar tearing up the midsection.” RS Of the intro, Page said, “That’s the guitar army waking up: Rise and shine.” BL The song is built around a call and response between singer Robert Plant and the rest of the band. WK Page suggested the start-and-stop a cappella verse, inspired by Fleetwood Mac’s 1969 song “Oh Well.” BL Lyrically, it was “essentially an essay on relationships that could’ve been written by a caveman – the author bemoans a long-legged girl who’s good at sex but otherwise unreliable.” BL Fans familiar with Page’s interest in the occult figured “black dog” had some Satanic meaning. BL Instead, it was named after a black Labrador retriever wandering the grounds of Headley Grange, the Hampshire, England mansion where the band recorded most of the Led Zeppelin IV album. SF Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Led Zeppelin BL Blender (2/2005). “The Greatest Songs Ever! Black Dog” by Michael Odell RS Rolling Stone (1/13/2019). “The 40 Greatest Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time” SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/5/2021; last updated 8/4/2022.