Editor’s note: One might wonder why we’ve reviewed Sly and the Family Stone’s new album here, for the third time. It’s not only that we’re confused by it — it’s too easy to be glib. But if the answers aren’t necessarily simple, they’re not really inaccessible either. There is or was or will be a riot goin’ on . . . Sly knows what he’s talkin’ about. And, as far as most of us are concerned, he is talking abput stuff fhat is important. There’s little else around right now that is worthy Of such thorough coverage; There’s A Riot Goin’ On is, and if there is a fourth, valid point of view, we’re liable to publish that too.

A lot of nonsense has been written about There’s a riot goin’ on, the first album Sly Stone has made in two years. People don’t like it because it’s pot groovy. Tough shit. Tell it to Robert Johnson.