is among the richest from 1973, if not all time. He went on to predict the album would produce hits "because Sly, however great the contradictions he feels may be, is a truly great rock singer in the first place." In a review for Crawdaddy!, Vernon Gibbs found the music to be "quite worthy of the founder of progressive soul", saying it offers "plenty of ass-shaking rhythms for the present and reason for optimism about the future". Stephen Davis from Rolling Stone hailed Fresh as Stone's "masterpiece", "in its own sense, and on its own terms", and "a growing step for Sly — out of the murky and dangerous milieu that infused Riot and into a greater perspective on his own capacity to make music a positive form of communication". While crediting Stone for "open[ing] himself up lyrically" albeit for the sake of making commercial music, he found the album to be "both new and cheeky: It aims for honesty and decadence at the same time. It focuses on certain of his hassles while thoroughly entrancing his listener with the conjuring charms of the rhythms of black life. It’s a bitch." In a year-end list for Newsday, Robert Christgau ranked Fresh sixth among 1973's best albums. He later called the album "Riot-lite, which equated to minor funk classic" and said both Fresh and its predecessor are "easily [Stone's] best albums-as-albums". Legacy Jazz legend Miles Davis was so impressed by the song "In Time" from the album that he made his band listen to the track repeatedly for a full 30 minutes. Composer and music theorist Brian Eno cited Fresh as having heralded a shift in the history of recording, "where the rhythm instruments, particularly the bass drum and bass, suddenly [became] the important instruments in the mix." George Clinton, who has listed Fresh as one of his favorite albums, later convinced the Red Hot Chili Peppers to cover "If You Want Me to Stay" on their second 1985 album, the Clinton-produced Freaky Styley. In 2003, the album was ranked number 186 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. In 2006, Robert Randolph & The Family Band recorded a cover of "Thankful N Thoughtful" for their 2nd studio album Colorblind. Track listing All songs written, produced and arranged by Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart, except where noted. Side