Before my next review, which will be Marvin Gaye's phenomenal "What's Going On?", I thought I should provide the reasoning behind the transition. If you are familiar with the two albums on the table you probably already know the significance of pairing the two albums. If not than prepare yourself for my favorite example of contemporaries playing off of each other. I'll try to keep it simple enough that you won't have to wait for my review of Gaye's album and then reread this post.
Let's Set The Stage:
The year is 1971 and the nation is full of shifts. Black culture is getting hit especially hard at this time. The faces of civil rights are dead, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, who many thought would lead the next push in civil rights and poverty reform. The remaining leaders are struggling to re-ignite the passions of the 1960s movement. With each passing day of stagnation militant groups like the Black Panthers gain popularity and poor urban blacks turn to illegal activities to eek out a living in the slums they find themselves in. The rise of soul music is leading pop culture towards an era of Blaxploitation. "Shaft" the first Hollywood financed Blaxsploitation comes out in 71 featuring a soundtrack of soul/funk penned by Isaac Hayes. Shaft, while one of my favorite movies, was looked down upon my many black activists as glorifying the wrong aspects of black culture and enabling the myth of drugs, crime, and militance growing in the inner cities. Meanwhile the Vietnam War is in full swing and the anti-war movement is gaining its voice. Seventy One would see the release of the "Pentagon Papers" leading to more public outcry. Also in 71 Australia and New Zealand would pull its troops out of involvement in the conflict. Musically the increased freedom that Motown had begun giving to its star artists, mainly Stevie Wonder, is becoming extremely successful. Marvin Gaye is given the opportunity to produce his own album for the first time. Gaye set out to create a soul masterpiece of consciousness that would blow the Blaxploitation-esque popularity of previous Motown albums to oblivion. These songs wouldn't be soulful love ballads and funky rhythmic dance tracks. The Motown single machine wouldn't get their hands on this work. Thus Gaye creates the first soul concept album. Using a song cycle to depict the unsettling experience of a Vietnam veteran discovering the home he's been defending has become a cesspool of crime, drugs, and poverty and that the "opportunities" granted him in the 60s have fallen dreadfully short. Thus May 71 sees the release of "What's Going On?" a woeful, yet hopeful look at the status of black culture. Sly Stone meanwhile has been on a three year drug trip, being hounded by record companies and fans to record again. During this period Sly became much more radical in his views of racial interactions and black culture. After toying with a gritty sound and his new ideals Sly begins work on his next album, then untitled. When May comes around Sly gets his first taste of the new direction that soul ideals are moving with "What's Going On". Sly then finds his muse and furiously sets about creating his masterpiece, a response to Gaye.
The title for Sly's album is the first indication of the pairing. Sly openly stated in interviews that his album title is a direct response to the question Gaye posed with his album. Many would say that's where the duality ends in detail and the rest is just two opposing takes on the cultural climate of the day, but not intentionally companion albums. I disagree. Whether Sly wrote his songs to intentionally foil Gaye's compositions, I can't say. Does it work out that way at a closer look. YES.
Sly's album is twelve tracks long while Gaye's is nine. However they foil each other content wise perfectly. I won't bore you with detailed comparisons but here is the match up:
What's Going On?/Family Affair: The top singles off of the two albums are a great foil. What's Going On is a smooth questioning of Black Culture to look at itself and realize where it is. Family Affair is the response it is an unbiased description of the problem plagued Black Family that Gaye begs to self-examine. The "brothers" of Gaye's album referenced predominately in this single, but in all others as well, never answers Gaye's pleads. Sly kicks off Family Affair with the analogy of two brothers with differing views and goals, but both loved by their mothers. This verse illustrates the differences in black culture of the day and between Gaye and Sly's albums.
What's Happening Brother?/Brave and Strong:
With What's Happening Brother? Gaye poses many questions asking why society is changing and morphing and what can we do about it. Sly's Brave and Strong makes it clear that in a struggling society full of changes only those who are brave enough and strong enough to adapt or challenge the system will survive.
God Is Love/Love and Haight:
God Is Love is one of Gaye's classic soul songs delving into his spirituality. Gaye encourages a message of love for all. He sings of love as God's gift and calls for society to share love with each other. Stone's Love and Haight focuses on the self love and introverted feelings that were common in the drug culture of the time. These two songs foil each other in a very interesting way and deserve back to back listens.
Save The Children/Just Like A Baby:
Again two songs that foil each other immensely. Save the children is Gaye's call for adults stuck in the struggle of the day to take on the responsibility of adulthood and secure a better future for the children of the world. Sly shows us that in these hard times there often isn't that much difference between a grown man and a baby, and sometimes they are equally helpless.
Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)/Africa Speaks To You "The Asphalt Jungle":
Mercy Mercy Me is, as far as I know, the only soul song of the time that addresses environmental issues. It is very unique that being said there isn't a direct companion or foil to this song on Stone's album. Or is there? Africa Speaks is a very interesting and cryptic lyric which seems oddly placed in the album. However, the apocalyptic environmental analogies used in the song do seem to fit in if you look at the two albums together. Notice the song seems to use the language of environmental destruction and global warming to parallel the demise of something else in the song. Whether that be drug use, the economy, living standards, or the civil rights movement/american dream. Either way the songs create a fascinating portrait of an issue that is typically held to be a more recent dialogue.
Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)/(You Caught Me) Smilin':
These are the classic happy drug trip songs typical of almost all socially active song writers of the period. Perhaps they felt that it was their responsibility to make moves for legalization? I can't say why these songs are common. Often times they do include lines like Gaye's Flyin' High has in the chorus bemoaning the fact that the lyric's narrator is addicted.
Right On/ Thank You For Talking To Me Africa: These two songs close out the albums with unique sentiments. Right On recaps all the different issues and gives a hearty soul brother salute to those of like mind as Gaye. Thank You is a dark grimy closer to Stone's album. A cover of a previously released single recorded to satisfy impatient recording executives. While the lyrics were biting on its first release, the single just begged to close out the Riot album only it needed a new sound to fit the circumstances. So the Family covered the song, changed the name to fit the album cycle and Sly gave a much darker, more heartfelt vocal performance. Thank You is all about how much Sly is glad to be back on the fighting forefront of social issue music. And maybe just a little glad that marvin gaye pushed him there. Sly addresses all of his old hits that had gone on to stereotype him and haunt him and makes jokes of them, glad to be socially conscious again. It is the final jolt for the old fans that had bought the album on the Stone name to realize that the old albums are done, the old Sly is gone, and there is a new age with new issues needing to be addressed.
I could go on but this post has been sitting here waiting to be published for several weeks, but I keep putting it off so I can add more later. I guess I will commit to this version and post it. Please take a listen to these two albums together. Until next time "Right On".
-Your Funk Soul Brother
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