SLY & THE FAMILY STONE Fresh (Epic)

Even though lots of people sell as many or more records as he does, Sly Stone is probably the most influential musician of the last five years. He has changed the face of soul, and co-authored, with Jimi Hendrix, black psychedelic music, which a brief listening to your local AM station will inform you are now the dominant forms of Top Forty.

It is sometimes difficult to see the extent of Sly�s genius. He is black, and we are not accustomed to being �led,� even aesthetically, by blacks. Thus, Sly was almost forced into the role of house nigger for Woodstock Nation, and thus he came to make There's a Riot Goin � On, which might be the only truly epic album of the �70s.