RIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here we are, album number one. Where do you start a nonlinear look at Soul? Well you may disagree but I think the best place to start is the culmination of Soul and R&B, which also happens to be the first seedlings of funk. I could mean nothing other than Sly and the Family Stone's phenomenal 1971 album "There's A Riot Goin' On". This is hands down the most important album in Soul history. The influence of this album has still not reached its apex. To break it down there are Four Simple Reasons that Riot is the most important album to soul, funk, and R&B:

1. Riot was a watershed for the Family in that it turned away from their previous hopeful, cheery messages and diversity and went to the nitty, gritty heart of black culture at the time. The subsequent success of Riot proved that white audiences didn't just love the Family for their accessibility to all cultures. In fact the album helped to solidify Marvin Gaye's move towards using soul music to get out the important black issues to the public. Sly Stone used the album as the medium for a message of ghetto suffering and the premature end of civil rights, while simultaneously giving the world a look into the worldview of black culture as it is without the call to arms Gaye and Stevie Wonder were using at Tambla/Motown.

2. Riot is the first soul album to be recognizably complete due to its extensive production. Previous soul albums relied on great production, but the polished, produced sound was still in less favor than the traditional means of studio recording. Riot made Sly Stone the Brian Wilson of black culture, but the result was much more powerful to its genre than Pet Sounds was on its corresponding legacy. Riot was produced in a way that gave a whole new dimension to soul music. This dimension has never left the industry. While pop/rock would fluctuate between heavy production and traditional recording, mainstream Soul/funk/R&B never again went back to the traditional. This gave the producer much more power (unlike the situation with Wilson which made the producer out to be a dick) and encouraged young musicians to strive to be a producer instead of just an instrumentalist. Without Riot there is no Kanye West, Just Blaze, or Swizz Beatz. While that is a huge influence on hip hop maybe you haven't seen the bleed over into rock? Without Riot there is no Brian Eno or Rick Rubin.... yes let that process on through. That's why even Ben over at PostPunk understands the importance of Riot. Also the deep, dank sound of the album redefines the idea of the musical stylings underlining the message of the album. Sly's extensive overdubbing made the album so layered that its interpretation reached new heights in multiple interpretations. Also the overdubbing allowed Sly immense control over the prominence of sounds and helped cover sounds he felt were necessary musically but did not fit the album stylistically. The "hiss" of riot (from the dubbing) became a popular tool and would turn out to be the forefather of the "grime" of James J Dilla Yancey's productions (which was inspired by the sound of old cassette tapes. RIP J Dilla). 

3. Riot is the widely considered the beginning of modern funk. The deep funk sound of the album would go on to influence many others including George Clinton, Miles Davis, Iggy Pop, contemporary James Brown, Afrika Bambaataa, and Sly's greatest contemporary idealistically: Marvin Gaye.

4. Riot is the first successful use of the drum machine in place of a live drummer in soul music. This is only true on certain tracks. This may seem to tie into #2 (well maybe it does, maybe there are only three simple reasons Riot is so important). But the influence of the drum machine goes beyond an influence on production. On Family Affair, the top single off of Riot, we hear the first example of the classic drum machine rhythm now universally associated with R&B. This rhythm would turn up later with equal success on another classic soul album, Stevie Wonders "Innervisions" (track "You Haven't Done Nothin' ").

Now that you understand the importance of the album I'd like to tell you my 5 favorite tracks on the album:

#1- Just Like A Baby track 2. Amazing R&B/Funk instrumental sections. Simple song, great groove.

#2-Family Affair track 4. The most acclaimed song on the album. Give it a listen and I will not have to defend it being on this list.

#3-Smilin' track 8- What I find to be the greatest example of the subgenre of psychedelic soul.

#4-Thank You For Talkin' to Me Africa track 12. Deep, Dark, Dirty, and somehow still groovy.

#5-Luv N Haight track 1. Classic Sly funk. Catchiest song on album. Great way to kick of such an amazing album.

That's all for now. Enjoy the Riot!

-your funk soul brother