Sly and the Family Stone “Fresh”
I saw the 2006 tribute to Sly Stone on the Grammy’s. It featured various singers, some worse than others, singing a medley of Sly and the Family Stone’s hits. A cheesy announcer’s voice would come in over the music to introduce the next singer coming to the stage. This is an example of one of the many reasons I hate the Grammy’s and usually don’t watch them. Why would I want to hear anything other than the original version of these songs? Why would I want to hear the Grammy medley version of any song? Towards the end of the medley Sly Stone came onto the stage to sing the last song with all the other singers. He must be in his sixties by now and had a tall blond Mohawk that continued in the fringe down the back of his floor length silver coat. He stayed on stage for a couple minutes, then walked off before he was supposed to, leaving the other people on stage to finish the song without him. The whole display was sad. Sometimes it’s best not to try to reinvent things that worked great in the past.
I tried to purge my memory of this event by listening to my copy of Fresh. Fresh is a great CD. It makes me want to get up and dance. Usually, I don’t actually get up. Dancing in my chair suits me just fine. The groove is great, you can’t hear it and stay still. I love the horn parts. My favorite tracks are In Time and Que Sera, Sera.
I heard that when this was recorded, Sly was strung out and loosing his mind. Maybe there’s something positive about that when it comes to recording an album, because the singing is so expressive and pure. It sounds like he’s not holding anything back. The first time I heard this album I couldn’t do anything but listen. You should try listening to it too.
