ALBUM REVIEW: Sly & the Family Stone - Fresh

    At the start of the 1970s, Sly Stone and his group had begun to position themselves as the rising champions of a new genre—funk music. It was evident that by 1969's Stand!, the Family had been pioneering themselves into the land of brash and dynamic music, something that only continued on their 1970 singles, complete with the invention of slap bass on "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" and the upbeat "Everybody is a Star" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime". These upbeat tunes were immediately turned away by Sly, and 20 months later, There's a Riot Goin' On showcased a complete polar opposite mood—dismal and brooding, densely mixed, decorated with turmoil. The result was nothing short of Sly Stone's second creative triumph, and almost certainly one of the most important albums ever made. How could one even follow it up? Making an album that could match the quality of There's a Riot Goin' On sounds almost impossible, and yet Sly & the Family Stone's sixth album finds a way to do it. The end product may be more accessible of a work, but it's still an absolute marvel of funk music, backed by the same drum machines, dense layers of sound. Here, though, Sly trades his pessimism and hedonism for a more spry, lively approach, and the result makes for one of the most effective, immediately grabbing albums of his career.

    Fresh's move towards a more approachable version on the same thick excellence of There's a Riot obviously results in some changes, even if the same musical ideas may hold. More than ever, Sly Stone is operating as a singular unit here, taking up even more instrumental duties. The losses were significant, though, including Sly's critical rhythm components that were Greg Errico and Larry Graham who had both left early in the 70s over continued turmoil. Their replacements in Rustee Allen on bass and Andy Newmark on drums live up to the expectations set of them, though, and Newmark's sometimes off-kilter style of playing adds a fantastic layer of depth and groove to the album. Rustee Allen himself only features on four of the album's eleven tracks, but if his playing on songs like the slight desire of "Let Me Have It All" or the album's defining moment in "If You Want Me to Stay" showcase a tremendous talent on the instrument, more than able to carry Stone's ambitions to completion. Even still, Stone plays bass on nearly half of the album's tracks himself, and his own ability proves itself on songs ranging from the intimate nature of "Frisky" to the deep groove conclusion of "Babies Makin' Babies" with its thumping, almost melodic rhythm. The whole of Fresh showcases Sly Stone at his deepest and most rich funk grooves, and it makes for a truly exciting yang to There's a Riot's hedonistic yin. It's certainly not any worse-off production or mix-wise, and if the army of 11 engineers (a rate of one engineer per song) on this album are any indication, Stone put a considerable amount of care into the album's sound and style, and it undoubtedly pays off.

    Sly also has the wonderful benefit of bringing forth some of his absolute best material on this album, and it goes beyond the hits. The opening track, the wobbly rhythmic stylings of "In Time", not only immediately showcase the mood contrast from its predecessor, but is so immediately gripping and catchy that it immediately sets expectations to match said predecessor. It's a marvel of funk music, and undoubtedly one of Sly's greatest musical accomplishments, so much so that Miles Davis had his band listen to the track on loop for half an hour. These uncertain rhythms carry on throughout the album, creating a genuinely intriguing and certainly never boring album experience, even at its most conventional. The back half of the album showcases of these moments, both of which lean closer to classic Sly Stone, before the turmoil of the band consumed them—a cover of "Que Sera, Sera" is the first of these, a slow and almost gospel-leaning cover which showcases the vocal ability of Rose Stone beautifully. The second of these two songs, "If It Were Left Up to Me", is a upbeat, poppy soul tune that has far more in common with their earlier albums than anything on either Fresh or Riot, to the point where it's alleged to be a leftover from their second album, a distinct possibility given the drastic difference in sound. Strangely enough, though, it feels at home as the album's penultimate moment, and the fact that groovy "Babies Makin' Babies" follows it only makes the album feel better. The second half is particularly coated in moments deeply indebted to the groove, from the relentless pop of the bass on "Keep on Dancin'" to the slightly psychedelic "I Don't Know (Satisfaction)". It really does prove itself as a lean, mean machine of funk.

    Fresh is an appropriate name for an album like this. With their sixth album, Sly Stone's artistic rise was asserted fully—two back-to-back, genre affirming masterworks. From here, Sly Stone, and especially his band, would only continue to fall apart, the original band effectively dissolving by 1975. A few more Stone albums would follow in their wake, but they effectively failed to live up to the commercial or critical expectations set by Stand!, There's a Riot Goin' On, and of course Fresh. It's a miracle, really, that we ever got Fresh in the first place, given the band's troubled state of affairs going into 1971, but even with context removed, it's easy to see Fresh as the final landmark of Sly Stone's career; one final testament; a victory lap; one last truly classic record. By every metric, he succeeded with soaring, funky colors.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Fresh.