Fresh expands and brightens the slow grooves of
There's a Riot Goin' On, turning them, for the most part, into friendly, welcoming rhythms. There are still traces of the narcotic haze of
Riot, particularly on the brilliant, crawling inversion of
"Que Sera, Sera," yet this never feels like an invitation into a junkie's lair. Still, this isn't necessarily lighter than
Riot -- in fact, his social commentary is more explicit, and while the music doesn't telegraph his resignation the way
Riot did, it comes from the same source. So,
Fresh winds up more varied, musically and lyrically, which may not make it as unified, but it does result in more traditional
funk that certainly is appealing in its own right. Besides, this isn't conventional
funk -- it's eccentric, where even concise catchy tunes like
"If You Want Me to Stay" seem as elastic as the opener,
"In Time." That's the album's ultimate charm -- it finds
Sly precisely at the point where he's balancing
funk and
pop, about to fall into the brink, but creating an utterly individual album that wound up being his last masterwork and one of the great
funk albums of its era. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
