Fresh (Sly and the Family Stone album)

Fresh is the sixth album by American funk band Sly and the Family Stone, released by Epic/CBS Records on June 30, 1973. Written and produced by Sly Stone over two years, Fresh has been described as a lighter and more accessible take on the dense, drum machine-driven sound of its landmark 1971 predecessor There's a Riot Goin' On.[9] It was the band's final album to reach the US Top 10, and their last of three consecutive number-one albums on the R&B chart. In 2003, the album was ranked number 186 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Fresh
Studio album by
Sly and the Family Stone
ReleasedJune 30, 1973 (1973-06-30)
Recorded1972–73
StudioRecord Plant, Sausalito
Sausalito, California, U.S.
GenreFunk
Length39:18
LabelEpic (KE 32134)
ProducerSly Stone
Sly and the Family Stone chronology
There's a Riot Goin' On
(1971)		 Fresh
(1973)		 Small Talk
(1974)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
BBC Music(favorable)[2]
Christgau's Record GuideA[3]
The Guardian[4]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[5]
StylusB+[6]
Uncut[7]
Yahoo! Music(favorable)[8]

History

The album's biggest hit was "If You Want Me to Stay". Other notable tracks include "Frisky" and "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", a cover of Doris Day's Academy Award-winning song from Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 film The Man Who Knew Too Much, sung here by Rose Stone. "Que Sera, Sera" is notable as the only cover song issued on an original Family Stone album. The cover photo is by Richard Avedon. The track "If It Were Left Up to Me" is purportedly an outtake from 1968's Life.

As with There's a Riot Goin' On, Stone held on to the Fresh masters well beyond the record's official release, constantly remixing and re-recording the tracks.[10] As a result, alternate and significantly different versions of at least ten songs from the album are known to exist. In 1991, Sony Music, by then owner of the Epic catalog, accidentally issued a sequencing of Fresh on CD featuring alternate takes of every song except "In Time", which remained unchanged. Sony allowed the alternate version to remain in stores to be bought up by fans and then later issued the standard 1973 version of the album. However, the mix-up sparked debate among fans over which release was superior. When Sony BMG reissued Fresh in CD and digital download formats for Sly & the Family Stone's 40th anniversary, five alternate mixes were included as bonus tracks. These tracks are extremely similar, if not identical, to the alternate, accidental 1991 release. The alternate version is known to be very accessible in Japan, while it is very scarce in the U.S.

Legacy

Jazz legend Miles Davis was so impressed by the song "In Time" from the album that he made his band listen to the track repeatedly for a full 30 minutes.[11] Composer and music theorist Brian Eno cited Fresh as having heralded a shift in the history of recording, "where the rhythm instruments, particularly the bass drum and bass, suddenly [became] the important instruments in the mix."[12]

George Clinton, who has listed Fresh as one of his favorite albums, later convinced the Red Hot Chili Peppers to cover "If You Want Me to Stay" on their second 1985 album, the Clinton-produced Freaky Styley.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 186 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.[13]

Track listing

All songs written, produced and arranged by Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart, except where noted.

Side one

  1. "In Time" – 5:48
  2. "If You Want Me to Stay" – 3:01
  3. "Let Me Have It All" – 2:56
  4. "Frisky – 3:12
  5. "Thankful N' Thoughtful" – 4:41

Side two

  1. "Skin I'm In" – 2:55
  2. "I Don't Know (Satisfaction)" – 3:51
  3. "Keep on Dancin'" – 2:23
  4. "Qué Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" (Ray Evans, Jay Livingston) – 5:23
  5. "If It Were Left Up to Me" – 1:56
  6. "Babies Makin' Babies" – 3:38

CD reissue bonus tracks

  1. "Let Me Have It All" (alternate mix) – 2:19
  2. "Frisky" (alternate mix) – 3:27
  3. "Skin I'm In" (alternate mix) – 2:48
  4. "Keep On Dancin'" (alternate mix) – 2:44
  5. "Babies Makin' Babies" (alternate version) – 4:20

Personnel

See also
  • List of number-one R&B albums of 1973 (U.S.)

References
  1. Fresh at AllMusic
  2. Bennun, Paul. "BBC - Music - Review of Sly And The Family Stone - A Whole New Thing, Dance To The Music, Life, Stand!, There's A Riot Goin' On, Fresh, Small Talk". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 9, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. Petridis, Alexis (April 5, 2007). "Sly and the Family Stone". Retrieved July 9, 2017 – via The Guardian.
  5. "Fresh". rollingstone.com. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  6. Stylus Archived October 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Sly And The Family Stone - Reissues - Review - Uncut.co.uk". archive.org. April 3, 2007. Archived from the original on April 3, 2007. Retrieved July 9, 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  8. "Yahoo Music". ca.music.yahoo.com. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  9. Petridis, Alexis (April 5, 2007). "Sly and the Family Stone". Retrieved July 9, 2017 – via The Guardian.
  10. Selvin, Joel (1998). For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History. New York: Quill Publishing. ISBN 0-380-79377-6. pp. 164-167.
  11. "Drummerworld: Andy Newmark". Drummerworld.
  12. "Brian Eno: "The Studio as Compositional Tool"". Downbeat.
  13. "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
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