Customer Reviews

Fresh

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The 4 stars are only 4 when compared to "There's a Riot Going On," the greatest and purest Pop-Rock-Funk record of the '70s, and my all-time favorite thoroughly transcendent popular music achievement after Hendrix's "Band of Gypsies," Peter Gabriel's "Security," and the 1972 opus "Close to the Edge" from Yes; compared to almost everything else though an easy 5 stars.

The main problem is the absence of Larry Graham, one of the baddest cats to ever play the bass guitar. Rusty Allen does a competent job in his place, but competent doesn't cut it: since Graham's style is personality driven through the technique as much as Jack Bruce's or Jaco Pasorious's. In fact, without Graham's influence Jaco Pasorious, Alphonso Johnson, Stanley Clarke, Ralphe Armstrong, and all those other super-technical funk-based bass players of the '70s would've lost maybe half the main licks that form the basis of their playing. Everything funky in the '70s came directly from Graham who opened up what the bass players in James Brown's bands did all the way through and adapted it to the much more complicated Sly compositions.

What many people don't realize because the music sounds so 'natural,' is that Sly was actually a trained musician. He studied music for 3 years in college in the early '60s and had a comprehensive knowledge of all types of music which he drew on. The stuff he composed, as 'natural' as it sounds, is way more sophisticated and subtle than what most jazz players of the period did: string a few interesting chord changes together and improvise over it. Not that improvisation can't be called composing: but only at its absolute best. No wonder Miles Davis started playing fusion in this period! Sly and Hendrix and all the other brilliant rock acts of the period forced him to. It wasn't any type of 'sell-out,' it was an artistic necessity. How can you not want to keep up in some way when revolutionary records of pop-culture sophistication are being made all around you? And there's no purer form of pop-culture sophistication than the dense miniature universes of Sly's tunes from the heydey of the Family Stone: Prince sure had a good model to strive towards when he started his bands.

Graham had had enough of Sly's ego-tripping eccentricities, and Sly had had enough of Graham's, in fact, they bitterly hated each other at this point and both had bodyguards to protect them and intimidate the other, sort of like some gangsta rap stars these days! After a particulary hairy incident described in Joel Selvin's book on Sly and the 'Family," Graham left forver to form his own band Graham Central Station. This very scary, thoroughly drugged-out period of the band's demise is documented in Selvin's book through conversations with members of the band and those around them, the only one to deal honestly with the mysteries of what happened. Some 10 years after this period Sly and George Clinton were busted together for drug posession, though according to some reports in the early '90s Bobby Womack had helped Sly get clean and yet another 'comback album' was in the works. At the Rock 'n' Roll hall-of-fame induction, Sly did not speak to any of the other former members of the band present, including his brother and sister. This was maybe the saddest irony of all, that the most unifying, barrier-transcending band of the '60s should even now after 25 years only exist as yet another tragic demonstration of alienated fragmentation. Sly's 'comback' albums have all been either disappointing or just plain embarrassing, and the latest project supposedly entitled "Phuture Phunk" has been 'in the works' since 1997. Judging by his output in the past 20 years, I wouldn't hold my breath that it'll drop anytime soon, nor that it would match the Grahamless but still excellent last gasp of a once awe-inspiring group: "Fresh."

And, it goes without saying that anyone out there who likes this kind of 'dated' and superior-as-hell 'old school' music from the '70s, should check out the reissue of "Inspiration Information/Freedom Flight" by Shuggie Otis, Sly's label-mate, one of the great forgotten masterpieces of the '70s.

"Stand" and "Riot" are better known and arguably more "important" albums. But "Fresh" is in some ways Sly's loosest and most accessible album and might be my favorite. It's certainly the one that sounds the least dated today. All the tracks have an easy funkiness to them, though I must admit I still can't quite get into his bizarro cover of "Que Sera, Sera." Sly would never again make an album this good, due in part to the drug problem he cleverly refers to here ("I switched from coke to pep, and I'm a connoisseur") and the fact that the group was falling apart.

If you really want some fun, seek out the rare alternate version of this disk, which Epic mistakenly pressed when the album was first put on CD. They quickly recalled it, but there are still copies out there. All the songs but "In Time" are different in some way - generally they seem to be in earlier stages of production or have different arrangements. Many have VERY different vibes as a result. They all sound great, though, and fans of this album will love the alternate takes.

To me, nothing represents the true essence of funky R&B like Sly and the Family--except mebbe some of that early Parliafunkadelic thang. This was Sly's last entry in what was known as his "Trilogy of Funk"; the first two albums were "Stand" and "There's A Riot...". Superstar bassist, basso profundo (barotone profundo?) Larry Graham went on to do his own thing, Andy Newmark replaced the original drum guy, and Sly was maybe gettin' a little bit too snowed in for his own good...but nevermind all that, listen to how great this album is. The band was as tight as Dick's hatband. Sly's vocals were somewhere between a church preacher's fire and brimstone rantings and the friendly neighborhood drunk everyone knew--like everyday people. Although mebbe some of the cuts were too inaccessible for radio play, but I remember hearing "Frisky"--the album's not-too-well-hidden-double-entendre-d(!?!)piece on pop radio at that time. The most recent Epic records release of the album on CD has outtake mixes, rather than the final product I remember hearing in '73-74, but that's ok, too. That's one of the things that makes "Fresh" very compelling--from the gospel-blues tinged Doris Day classic,"Que Sera, Sera" to the confessional grooves, "Thankful and Thoughtful" and "In Time". A near masterpiece.

FRESH pretty much marked the begining of the end for Sly,
yet at the same time a FRESH and new sound and hints of things to come by the 'soul children' - - the countless musicians who would pick up the reigns of funk from the master and keep the music alive.

FRESH definitely is a different album... it is neither your typical early '70s funk or soul album, your mid '70s disco cross over... and it definitely isn't a "Doobie in your funk" situation (to quote from you know who !)... FRESH is distinctly Sly, but a very different Sly... you can feel his genius, yet the lyrics are much deeper and at times much more cynical than his previous works - - you definitely get the impression that he's doing a bit of soul searching. He's taken you from Woodstock to the ghetto. Even the groove is a bit different (much more "urban") - - Most distinct about this album though is the studio technology he's using, from the subtley layered overdubs within the to the clever incorporation of drum machines (with the actual live drummer.) - - To this extent, its an album that's very funky, yet in some ways a bit "spaced out" (like Sly probably was when he recorded the album) and its definitely way ahead of his time.

FRESH was one of the first funk albums I ever got, and if you've read some of my other lists and reviews, I'm sure you know, I definitely got into the funk, so to that extent it means a lot to me... I've been listening to it on and off for 17 years, and still MOVE when I hear it. - - I've even started doing a funked up version of IF YOU WANT ME TO STAY with my organ trio. Whatever the case, it definitely isn't your typical funk or Sly Stone album, but it definitely is timeless booty shaking funk and message music. - - Get this album, and if you haven't heard his GREATEST HITS CD or "the classics", go for them (and Graham Central Station) as well. Sly lives !

This provided one of the most pleasant soundtracks of my childhood. FRESH was indeed that, with the classic "If You Want Me To Stay" as its only major hit, but not necessarily the highlight of the LP...because all-around, it was excellent. From the opening cut, "In Time", to "...Stay" on through to "Let Me Have It All", "Frisky" was as its title embodied and "Thankful N' Thoughtful" was what it was titled. "Skin I'm In" was a song that several people should relate to in regards to how people can get on what another for the most benignest of reasons, "I Don't Know (Satisfaction)" is also a song that lives up to its title in asking for answers to sooo many questions that have to be asked, "Keep On Dancing" is a great retort to his 1968 anthem "Dance to the Music", Rose Stone comes on beautifully with "Que Sera, Sera", Sly gives up suggestions to how things would be "If It Were Left Up To Me" and the suite closes out with a social condition recognizeable then as well as now, "Babies Makin' Babies". Though the Sly Stone heydey would sadly come to a close soon afterward, the fact that this man had this kind of vision to return with more relevance in his music than that he had in the late '60s makes FRESH a lasting testament to the true visionary--musicall, socially and otherwise--Slyvester Stewart actually was.

Musical genres are often hard to define, so I'm not sure whether to call this a funk album, or funky R&B, or just R&B, or what. But whatever it is, this man and his band basically invented the funk right here and nothing I have heard has topped it. That's right-- this is the best funk/R&B album I have ever experienced. The fluid basslines, punchy horn charts, and Sly's off-the-wall upbeat singing and crazy persona meld into the perfect combination. Unlike Sly's earlier work, which often sounds dated to me now ("Stand!," for example), this disc is timeless. You can also hear the influence on other artists. "Skin I'm In," for example, sounds like a blueprint for the whole Jamiroquai sound. And those funky basslines showed up in Miles Davis's music of the time as well, supporting his fusion of funk-rock and jazz. My wish is that R&B would return to this kind of loose, bouncy excitement rather than the smooth, synthesized crap you hear on the radio these days. This disc is for those who want to know where their funk came from.

Surprise! This is the opposite of both Riot and Stand! Not much social commentary here at all, just a lot of funk. And I don't mean dark, intense funk like Riot: the focus here is clearly on the party. It's laid-back, with a lot of slap bass, horns, chanted backup vocals, and lyrics about sex (song titles include "Frisky", "Let Me Have it All" and "Keep on Dancin'"). Probably the Sly album that had the biggest influence on Parliament, now that I think about it. Okay, so the lyrics aren't really the central part of the album, and it is kind of annoying how he reprises "Dance to the Music" on "Keep on Dancin'" (Can't always be an original, I guess). And what inspired him to record "Que Sera, Sera"? Now, I'll be fair here: Nobody could make that song sound good. I learned that the hard way after being subjected to the Doris Day version of the song twice in a twenty-minute time span (I'm not exaggerating there, either!) at an Italian restaurant with good food, funny pictures and bad music. So yeah, that song is horrendous no matter how you slice it, and Sly can't do much for it. There's one more weak song ("If It Was Left Up to Me"), but overall Fresh is excellent. "If You Want Me to Stay" is one of the coolest songs ever with one of the coolest horn parts ever (later slavishly covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers); "In Time" is a good funk jam; "Babies Makin' Babies" and "I Don't Know (Satisfaction)" do make good political statements, and "Frisky", "Thankful `n' Thoughtful" and "Let Me Have it All" are superb songs for booty-shakin'. A big disappointment after Stand! and Riot, sure. Enough good music to make it Sly's third-best, though. This is also the last Sly album that anybody really cares about, for what that's worth.

This is a great CD...I loved it, just as I remember it, but with better sound quality than on my old record player...great trip down memory lane

theres a riot goin on is the best album ever made and fresh is the coolest album ever made.

It's the same low-to-the-ground funk that "Riot" was built upon, but with a little more forward motion. Almost as idiosyncratic, though, what with Sly's lucid-dreaming spiel and grooves that stay out of your face while driving maximum head-nodding. The current Epic release contains the original mixes and versions from the '73 LP release, by the way; the original 1991 CD had the "wrong" ones, but was quickly pulled. A must-own, and one that nearly 30 years later still seems to be ahead of the future. "Tell your mama and the drummer."