Sly Stone was at least a year late in turning in the master tapes for There’s a Riot Goin’ On – so Clive Davis at CBS cut off his royalties for all his previous releases to ‘inspire him to finish it off’ (Sly would probably get about $1 million once he turned in the tapes). “No problem” thought Sly, “I’ll just grab some recent sessions and works in progress and sell them to Warners” (have ’em released under another name) to get some spending money and replace the petty cash box in the studio. A handful of singles came out circa 1971, here’s one of ’em; By the way, it’s brilliant.
– Pat Thomas is the author of the recently released work, Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. The companion disc for the book has been named one of the ten best CDs of the year by Time magazine.
