Maybe I came in with misguided ideas, but I found Sly and the Family Stone on Fresh to be sluggish, slack, and spare. Each song seemed to be in a bit of a haze. If I played Fresh on a cassette, I'd probably be convinced that the tape was stretched or the cassette player motor was running slow.
During the second listen, I started to see the minimizing of instrumentation that Sly did on this album as a good character trait. These songs seem constructed with the fewest instrumental elements as I think Sly thought he could get away with. The drums and bass put down a spare groove, everything else appears in little bursts of riffs or long squeals or wails. It is the light elements that create a draped wall of sound.
I never heard Sly sounding so much like Prince, but there is something about his tone or affectation that Prince used to utilize a lot in the post-Purple Rain to Graffiti Bridge era. The repetitious riffs seem to be the analog fore-bearers of hip-hop sampling loops.
But, in the end, I find myself feeling I'd enjoy most of the album more if they were instrumentals. There were a few times I was reminded of The Meters and that association became a temptation for me to stop the album and put on The Meters instead. Lemme restate my lack of interest in lyrics as a very likely reason why I was mostly underwhelmed by the vocals. I'm not saying they're bad, I just find them the least interesting elements on Fresh.
Songs I Knew I Liked: None, although I was positively familiar with portions of their cover of “Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” I had heard used in other media
Songs I Now Like: “If You Want Me to Stay”
Songs I Don't Want to Ever Hear Again: None I particularly want to avoid.