Fresh

by

Sly & The Family Stone

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After the dark, claustrophobic masterpiece of "There's a Riot Goin' On" and following the departure of bassist Larry Graham, Sly Stone turned his band's attention to a bit of a cooled off sound. This could have been in response to the demise of the powerful rhythm section of Graham and drummer Gregg Errico, who had left prior to 'Riot', but I think in some ways it was a response to the overwhelming nature of its predecessor-- "There's a Riot Goin' On" is an experience to listen to, making it must have been extraordinary.

This isn't to say that "Fresh" is light pop fare. On the contrary, it's a fantastic record, dark in its own way, but it's really quite a bit less intense then its predecessor. At its best, it finds a midtempo, loping sound over which Stone can wail out full of passion and the band can form a swirl around him, single and standout "If You Want Me To Stay" is a fine example of this-- the bassline provides a graceful drive, Stone is passionate in his lead vocal, and the horns cascade around him. By and large, the album sticks to this midtempo funk, driven by the basslines and at times angular guitars ("In Time") or swanky horns ("Skin I'm In"). Stone does develop a tendency to mumble and ramble here and there ("Frisky"), but by and large the great on this one manages to blindingly overshadow the bad and Stone proves stunningly inventive, even taking a schlock Doris Day pop song and making it into a fantastic soul/gospel number ("Que Sera Sera") and survives a remake of hit "Dance to the Music" as a chilled funk number ("Keep on Dancin'", which proves to be quite engaging).

This reissue has been remastered and adds a handful of alternate mixes as bonus tracks as well as including new liner notes. The bonus tracks here are interesting-- Sly Stone had tinkered substantially with the mix on "Fresh" before settling on its released version, although at some point in its early CD release history, alternate mixes for some of the record leaked out (and were quickly recalled by the label). Some of these are actually quite superior to the original mix, illustrating significantly more space and occasionally benefitting from a lack of overdubs-- "Let Me Have it All" is the best example of this, without the layers of vocal overdubs, Sly's vocal really shines. The remastering on this is equally top notch, the record sounds great throughout.

"Fresh" is always going to be thought of as the album that followed "There's a Riot Goin' On"-- it's not quite as good as its predecessor (or as "Stand!" before that), but truthfully this came at the end of a window where Sly Stone could do no wrong. "Fresh" is a fine record in its own right. Highly recommended.

This is Sly's first album without the whole original Family Stone. When I first heard it, it was obvious that Graham was not pulsating the rhythm. The sound of this album was weak compare to Sly's previous albums. The songs were good for the time, but seemed like Sly was running out of ideas. The Family Stone is a product of it's parts, not just Sly. From "Dance to the Music" to "Thank you for let me be myself again" You felt the music. Fresh was a new start with a new crew, but this crew couldn't hang with the original. "If you want me to stay" had the sound of the original, but it was on regular octane instead high octane. I thought it was strange that a funkmeister like Sly would include an old Doris Day tune on this album. Compare to the funk releases of that year, Sly lost step with his own beat.