Sly & The Family Stone - Fresh LP
The story goes that Miles Davis was so impressed by the song In Time that he played it to his band repeatedly for half an hour.
It’s not hard to understand why: Fresh is a masterclass in rhythm, with Sly Stone pushing funk into new territory without losing a drop of its potency. After more than fifty years, the album still sounds cutting edge and its influence is everywhere. In Time has been sampled by the Jungle Brothers, J-88 (Slum Village) and Missy Elliott, while Babies Makin’ Babies found its way into tracks by Scarface and Theo Parrish. And then there’s If You Want Me To Stay, later covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. There’s a chance that you know big pieces of Fresh without ever having heard the original.
This copy is an Australian pressing of a record with a particularly personal connection for me: it was one of my mum’s favourite records, and I remember being completely obsessed with its artwork as a kid. Sly’s karate-kicking figure, stark white background and diabolical typography seemed to capture the music perfectly – bold, strange and full of movement. Decades on, the album still feels exactly that way: playful, funky, slightly weird and undeniably cool.
This copy is an Australian pressing of a record with a particularly personal connection for me: it was one of my mum’s favourite records, and I remember being completely obsessed with its artwork as a kid. Sly’s karate-kicking figure, stark white background and diabolical typography seemed to capture the music perfectly – bold, strange and full of movement. Decades on, the album still feels exactly that way: playful, funky, slightly weird and undeniably cool.
