Stone Jam is the fifth album by the American funk band

Slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. It was released in 1980 on

Cotillion Records Cotillion Records was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records (from 1971 part of WEA) and was active from 1968 through 1985. The label was formed as an outlet for pop, R&B, and jazz. Its first single, Otis Clay's version of "She's About a Mover", re ...

and

reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Reco ...

d in 1997 on

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

. It was produced by

Jimmy Douglass Jimmy Douglass, also known as "The Senator", is an American recording engineer and record producer. His career has spanned more than four decades. Career In the early 1970s at Atlantic Records studios in New York City, he started his studio ca ...

and Steve Washington. The album was listed on the ''Billboard'' 200, ''Billboard's'' 1981 Year-End Chart and was certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

. It contains the hit singles "Sizzlin' Hot", "Feel My Love", and "Watching You".

Overview

Slave's fifth album, ''Stone Jam'', was their highest charting since their first, ''Slave'', and their second to be certified

, ''Slave'' received the certification in 1977. The band's drummer,

Steve Arrington Steven Ralph Arrington (born March 5, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, drummer, record producer, engineer and minister, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio. Biography Arrington played in various local bands before joining and touring with The M ...

, took on more singing responsibilities than on previous albums and this, combined with the vocals of Starleana Young, contributed to the album's success. The single "Watching You" entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and also joined "Sizzlin' Hot" and "Feel My Love" on the

R&B Singles Chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

Reception and accolades

Alex Henderson of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

breaks Slave's brand of funk into two categories; 'hardcore' and 'sophisticated'. He notes that their earlier work falls into the former category but, with the exception of the tracks "Stone Jam" and "Sizzlin' Hot", this album is in the later. He goes on to write that this "sleeker" approach is "every bit as appealing" as their earlier more aggressive work. He describes the tracks "Dreamin'", "Feel My Love" and "Let's Spend Some Time" as "addictive jams" and the album as "consistently melodic".

Jam-Master Jay Jason William Mizell (January 21, 1965 – October 30, 2002), better known by his stage name Jam Master Jay, was an American musician and DJ. He was the DJ of the influential hip hop group Run-DMC. During the 1980s, Run-DMC became one of the big ...

of Run–D.M.C. has named it as one of his favorite albums. The album made the ''Billboard'' 1981 Year-End Pop Chart at number 99 and the Soul Chart at number 7. The song "Watching You" was interpolated twice by rapper

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, ...

, first in the chorus of "

Gin and Juice "Gin and Juice" is a song by American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released on January 18, 1994, as the second single from his debut album, ''Doggystyle''. Lyrics The lyrics depict a party filled with sex, marijuana, and alcohol continuing int ...

" in 1993, then in " Let's Get Blown" in 2004.

Tracks

#"Let's Spend Some Time" (Mark Antone Adams/

/Mark Hicks/Jennifer Ivory/ Curt Jones/Ray Turner/Steve Washington/ Starleana Young) – 4:38 #"Feel My Love" (Adams/

/Hicks/Jones/Turner/Washington/Danny Webster) – 4:31 #"Starting Over" (Adams/Hicks/Jones/Floyd Miller/Turner/Young) – 4:27 #"Sizzlin' Hot" (Adams/Arrington/Miller/Turner/Washington/Webster) – 5:07 #"Watching You" (Adams/Arrington/Turner/Washington/Webster) – 4:41 #"Dreamin'" (Adams/Arrington/Jones/Miller/Turner/Washington) – 4:20 #"Never Get Away" (Adams/Arrington/Hicks/Jones/Turner/Webster) – 5:09 #"Stone Jam" (Adams/Hicks/Jones/Turner/Washington/Webster/Young) – 6:43

Bonus tracks

"Feel My Love" isco Mix– 4:47 #"Sizzlin' Hot" ingle Version– 4:06 #"Watching You" ingle Version– 3:28

Personnel

*Mark Antone Adams – assistant producer,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

*Charles Carter – assistant producer,

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

*Bill-Dog Dooley – assistant engineer *

–

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestra ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, mixing, producer, vocals *Bob Heimall –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in Theatre, theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

*Mark Hicks –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

*Bill Inglot –

remastering Remaster refers to quality enhancement of sound and/or picture of a previously existing recording. Remastering may also refer to: *Software remastering Software remastering is software development that recreates system software and software appl ...

*Jennifer Ivory – assistant executive producer *Curt Jones – guitar, vocals *Tom Lockett – assistant engineer, saxophone, vocals *Randy Mason – assistant engineer *David McLees – reissue producer *Floyd Miller – horn, percussion,

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

*Ray Turner – keyboards *Rickey Vincent –

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the record sleeve, sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner n ...

*Steve Washington – arranger, assistant engineer,

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

, mixing, producer,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

, vocals *Danny Webster – guitar, vocals *Starleana Young – vocals

Charts and sales certification

Album charts

Single charts

RIAA certification

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1980 albums Slave (band) albums Rhino Records albums Cotillion Records albums