Freedom Suite (The Rascals album)
Freedom Suite | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 17, 1969 | |||
Recorded | May 14 – December 18, 1968 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 64:17 | |||
Label | Atlantic | |||
Producer | The Rascals, Arif Mardin | |||
The Rascals chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Freedom Suite | ||||
|
Freedom Suite is the fifth studio album (a double album) by rock band The Rascals, released on March 17, 1969. It peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and also reached number 40 on the Billboard Black Albums chart, the last Rascals album to appear there.
History
Freedom Suite was an ambitious effort and something of a
The first
The album's content was packaged differently based on format and territory. In North America, the full Freedom Suite album, including the instrumentals, was available in a double album package on
The album contained the Rascals' last #1 hit single "
The political climate of the time helped fuel the songwriting efforts for Freedom Suite; most notably, "People Got to Be Free" was inspired by the April 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and "A Ray of Hope" by the June 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy (the latter song's figurative "ray of hope" is surviving Kennedy brother Ted Kennedy). Cavaliere was quoted in Billboard magazine, remarking "After King and Kennedy and what happened in Chicago (i.e., the demonstrations and resulting police actions at the 1968 Democratic National Convention), we just had to say something."[1][2]
Prior to this album, the Rascals' primary vocalists Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati co-authored most of the band's original songs. On Freedom Suite, however, that trend began to change, with Cavaliere credited as sole author of four of the album's vocal tracks. Brigati's songwriting and vocal contributions would continue to decline on subsequent albums.[2]
Reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [3] |
The album was
It was not especially well received; critic Lester Bangs would later write that Freedom Suite suffered from "excess,"[5] while critic Dave Marsh would later write that it "sowed the seeds of the group's demise, [as it] reflected an attempt to join the psychedelic craze."[6]
Writing for
Track listing
Record One: Freedom Suite
Side One
- "America the Beautiful" (Felix Cavaliere) – 2:50
- "Me and My Friends" (Gene Cornish) – 2:42
- "Any Dance'll Do" (Cavaliere) – 2:19
- "Look Around" (Eddie Brigati, Cavaliere) – 3:03
- "A Ray of Hope" (Brigati, Cavaliere) – 3:40
Side Two
- "Island of Love" (Brigati, Cavaliere) – 2:22
- "Of Course" (Brigati, Cavaliere) – 2:40
- "Love Was So Easy to Give" (Cornish) – 2:42
- "People Got to Be Free" (Brigati, Cavaliere) – 2:57
- "Baby I'm Blue" (Cavaliere) – 2:47
- "Heaven" (Cavaliere) – 3:22
Record Two: Music Music
Side Three
- "Adrian's Birthday" (Cavaliere, Cornish, Dino Danelli) – 4:46
- "Boom" (Danelli) – 13:34
Side Four
- "Cute" (Brigati, Cavaliere, Cornish, Danelli) – 15:10
Certifications
US-Gold (500,000 copies sold).[7]
Personnel
The Rascals
- Felix Cavaliere - organ, piano, lead vocals except as indicated below, backing vocals
- Eddie Brigati - conga drums and tambourine on "Cute", lead vocals on "Any Dance'll Do" and "Island of Love", backing vocals
- Gene Cornish - guitar, lead vocals on "Me & My Friends" and "Love Was So Easy to Give", backing vocals
- Dino Danelli - drums
Additional musicians
- Gerald Jemmott- bass guitar
- David Brigati - backing vocals
- King Curtis - tenor saxophone solo on "Of Course"
- David Newman- tenor saxophone solo on "Adrian's Birthday"
Production
- Arif Mardin, Charles Morrow - arrangements
- Adrian Barber, Tom Dowd, Don Casale - recording engineers
References
- ^ a b Unterberger, Richie. "Freedom Suite > Reissue liner notes". Richie Unterberger. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
- ^ a b Cohen, Elliot Stephen. "Felix Cavaliere traces the tumultuous history of The Rascals > Review". Goldmine. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ Allmusic. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
- ^ "RPM Top 50 Albums - April 28, 1969" (PDF).
- ^ The Rascals: The Island of Real : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone
- Rolling Stone Record Guide, 1979.
- ^ "Gold & Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America.