Freedom Road (1970)

Let's be honest, some albums you can do quite well without. Freedom Road is, at least in yours truly's universe, one of these. This record is an echo from my childhood, it belonged to my parents' collection and I often came across it when I flipped through their albums as a kid, in search of something exciting to listen to. But I never spun it. And neither did my parents. Neither my brother. But it was there. I was well acquainted with the cover. The three black men, a title with a hippie vibe, the semi psychedelic design. It could have been something, but there was something about it that never made me curious enough.

It remained an enigma until the day I saved a number of albums from my parents' attic a while ago, when it finally was time to find out what actually was on it.

Rediffusion was a company whose slogan was "The best budget records in the world". I don't know, for some reason it's not the slogan I would have thought was the ultimate for a record company. On the other hand, I'm no businessman. On the other hand, the company was created in 1968 and went down in 1982.
Apparently, Rediffusion was originally a company that distributed radio and television in England. It was created in1928 and a number of sub-companies was started, of which the record label was one.

The content on the record are covers. Who or what bands are singing I do not know. Generally, covers are rarely better than the original, personally, I can only think of a handful. And the same rule applies to Freedom Road. Although the songs in their original forms often are quite good, the selection is OK, the versions on the album are too cheezy. The very first association I got, after a few seconds of the first song, was Paul McCartney at his very cheeziest mood. Not a favorite of mine. The sound is the same on most songs, cheezy and done without even a hint of creativity or challenge. Things you hear in an elevator or in the background in the clothing store that doesn't have a tiniest wish to be at the cutting edge of fashion trends. Since the songs basically are still pretty good songs, you can still listen to the album, and two or three songs are actually quite OK. But I see no reason to buy this album, it's way better to listen to the songs in their original form.

The album cover is perhaps the greatest benefit to this album.

Other titles from Redifffusion:
Flower Of Love
Songs Of The Islands
Bill McGuffie And Some Brass
Steve Benbow Sings Irish Songs

Tracklist

Side A
1. He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother 4:10
2. And The Sun Will Shine 3:43
3. Put A Little Love In Your Heart 2:06
4. Melting Pot 3:27
5. Onion Song 2:50
6. Walk A Mile In My Shoes 3:41

Side B
1. United We Stand 3:46
2. Everybody Get Together 3:30
3, Young Gifted And Black 3:12
4. Good Morning Freedom 2:46
5. Abraham, Martin & John 4:15
6. Love Of The Common People 2:25