Riot: 5 starsFresh: 4 and a half
― bugged out, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― howell huser (chaki), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaxon (jaxon), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:49 (eighteen years ago) link
I don't think it would effect his reputation in the slightest. Look at all the "Buy the best of" comments in the thread. Sly's rep is totally made from his hit singles, and Riot only contains "Family Affair", all the others came before it. As much as I love the album, the general population isn't basing their love of him on that record.
(FWIW, I'd say similar things aboot the Stones and Exile on Main Street.)
― Vic Funk, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:51 (eighteen years ago) link
I like "Back on the Right Track" a lot.
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 17:59 (eighteen years ago) link
please. of course it would. riot is the one critics write weighty essays about, and the one that shows up highest in lists of greatest records. when it comes to "reputations," that stuff matters just as much if not more than sales.
― bugged out, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:17 (eighteen years ago) link
And as I said, I don't think that matters to the general population. I hear "Hot Fun in the Summertime" and "Thank You" on the radio far more than I hear "Family Affair". If greatest albums list meant shit to most people, Forever Again and The Velvet Undergound and Nico would be anchoring classic rock weekends the world over, or at least played on oldies stations with some regularity.
― Vic Funk, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 18:32 (eighteen years ago) link
yet somehow, las if by magic, ou reed is a far more legendary figure in rock n' roll than, say, boston
reputation isn't about radio play or "most people"
― bugged out, Wednesday, 14 December 2005 19:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― foxy boxer (stevie), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 20:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 20:06 (eighteen years ago) link
How would we think of his (their) career if you take Riot out of the picture?
I totally agree. I was more trying to counter the people who said Fresh was not a drop from previous records.
― Mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 20:12 (eighteen years ago) link
Cool description. I actually listen to Fresh more than Stand
― QuantumNoise (Justin Farrar), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 20:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 14 December 2005 21:02 (eighteen years ago) link
None of which is to say I don't like it. In fact one of my favorites on the elpee.
― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:06 (eighteen years ago) link
And they were an inspiration for Miles Davis's On the Corner, if I'm correct...
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 15 December 2005 19:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Thursday, 15 December 2005 20:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dr.C, Friday, 16 December 2005 10:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 10:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 16 December 2005 15:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Friday, 16 December 2005 18:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:22 (eighteen years ago) link
-- howell huser (chaki.tim...), December 14th, 2005.
OTM
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― howell huser (chaki), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:14 (eighteen years ago) link
Instrumentation is kinda blah
??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:18 (eighteen years ago) link
-natin'
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:36 (eighteen years ago) link
that fairly well sums up my feelings, too.
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― sweet earth flying (sweet earth flying), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link
i think its a case of you having no soul!
― howell huser (chaki), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:50 (eighteen years ago) link
xpost do you mean soul in the Motown sense or in the Grim Reaper sense? cause I'm with you on the latter.
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:54 (eighteen years ago) link
So when I hear it know it's like someone set the studio to "generic funk" and Fresh was cranked out
What strikes me is that despite the fact that hundreds of nominally similar-sounding albums have been made since, Fresh still sounds like the best jazz-funk album ever. It sounds like what the Headhunters were going for when Mike Clark was in the band, except more thought-out, darker and with amazing vocals instead of keyboard jams.
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― howell huser (chaki), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link
sly's catalog desperately desperately needs some serious remastering/deluxe edition treatment. Riot is still in that lame packaging (at least in the US)...and they left the title track off the cd!
and anyone know what happened to that live set that was supposed to come out a couple years ago? did sly personally nix it?
― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:27 (eighteen years ago) link
ive never been more otm
― howell huser (chaki), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― howell huser (chaki), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:31 (eighteen years ago) link
"For the Record" is great - dunno about "best rock bio ever" (as a technical matter, it's actually an oral history, predictably with zero involvement from Sly himself) but it's a brisk and devastating read. Sure as shit beats the recent, Sly-approved tome "I Want to Take You Higher" by Jeff Kaliss.
― wolf cola, everyone (thewufs), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:44 (twelve years ago) link
I still rate Riot the highest, yet I've probably played and enjoyed Fresh more over the years. Around 2005 I picked up the new box set of just about all the reissued albums for just $35. Awesome.
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
I guess it was 2007. And yeah it's annoyingly missing "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "Everybody is a Star," and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" but hey, it was 7 albums for $35.
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 21 March 2012 16:52 (twelve years ago) link
grr, those ommissions make me so furious! Such a stupid, pointless flaw, especially when they bothered to include redundant mono-edited mixes of other singles. That's why people hate record companies. It's like the doctor says "Congratulations, you have a beautiful healthy baby girl...of course, we accidentally severed her baby toe through sheer stupid negligence, but other than that she's 97% healthy"
...but yeah, $35 is a great bargain.
― Race Against Rockism (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 17:02 (twelve years ago) link
Sure as shit beats the recent, Sly-approved tome "I Want to Take You Higher" by Jeff Kaliss.
lol kinda don't want to read anything that's Sly-approved tbh
― the sir edmund hillary of sitting through pauly shore films (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 21 March 2012 17:09 (twelve years ago) link
the whole record sounds so modern
jordan so otm, i can't even really think about this as a 1973 record even though the sound says somehow i should
brian eno also otm
http://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/brian-eno-the-studio-as-compositional-tool-1983/
Then, from the time of Sly and the Family Stone’s Fresh album, there’s a flip over, where the rhythm instruments, particularly the bass drum and bass, suddenly become the important instruments in the mix. A timbral change also takes place. The bass becomes a very defined instrument; by the use of amplitude control filters, the bass actually begins to take on a very vocal attack. The bass drum gains a more physical sound, and also has a click to it; generally you’ll find that bass drums are equalized very heavily, something like 1000-1500 cycles, to give a real sharp click. It becomes the loudest instrument in disco — watch the vu meter while a disco track is playing, and you’ll see the needle peak each time the bass drum hits.
― j., Friday, 18 April 2014 00:48 (ten years ago) link
The hi-hats on "In-Time" blow me away (both playing-wise and recording/EQ-wise). The 16ths are so light and subtle and then the barks just scream (er, bark) out of the mix.― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, December 14, 2005 2:02 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah these type of drums are basically my favorite thing
― IKEA metaballs (Spottie), Friday, 18 April 2014 15:08 (ten years ago) link
Ha, I just randomly heard a song from this record the other day on the radio and totally though it was new song.
― chr1sb3singer, Friday, 18 April 2014 15:39 (ten years ago) link
Thanks for that essay j
― sonic thedgehod (albvivertine), Friday, 18 April 2014 15:41 (ten years ago) link
Goddamnit, if you don't think this album is classic YOU'RE FUCKING WRONG
― Lawsonomy Domine (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Sunday, 23 October 2016 01:48 (seven years ago) link
It's the personal, sort of optimistic twin to Riot IMO. It's an album I want to make the whole world listen to and then I want them to fill out questionnaires about it and if I think you don't get its greatness, you'll listen again and again. Because its beautiful and sad and happy and funky and weird and that goddamn BASS and those fucking DRUMS man.
― Lawsonomy Domine (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Sunday, 23 October 2016 01:50 (seven years ago) link
Their best album.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 23 October 2016 01:57 (seven years ago) link
Eno otm about the centrality of the rhythm. Another Green World's "Over Fire Island" sounds like a product of this album.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 23 October 2016 01:58 (seven years ago) link
My favourite Sly. Especially (as I've doubtless said already in this thread) the later mix that Sony accidentally pressed on CD in 91.
― Robby Mook (stevie), Sunday, 23 October 2016 11:00 (seven years ago) link
You are all right. And we need a deluxe 2cd version with both mixes and whatever else they can find. I'd pay for a third disc of just isolated drum and bass tracks.
― Lawsonomy Domine (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Sunday, 23 October 2016 12:25 (seven years ago) link
I'd be happy if someone just pressed that alt mix on vinyl
― Robby Mook (stevie), Sunday, 23 October 2016 12:33 (seven years ago) link