THE FREEDOM
“Nerosubianco” OST
So many ‘delic bands populated the late ’60s, even Little
Steven hadn’t been able to hear about a lot of them. This one scored the important ‘Freedom’ name so it’d been taken ever since.
Their “Nerosubianco” LP, recorded as an OST for a ST cult 1968
Italian, avant-garde movie from Tinto Brass. Brass had commissioned them to write fourteen songs, 13 of which got on the record.
It consists of Ray Royer and Bobby Harrison, ex of Procol Harum,
Jerry Shirley, who joined Humble Pie later & Mike Lease. It’s full of
catchy, highly melodic jems like the revealing “Born Again” and
“Decidedly Man”! Plenty of psych guitar licks, layering the
beat for an expressive frontman. Singing, which of course is a
dream for most of today’s wanna be rockers. Another bright
moment is the working mix of the SP “The Better
Side”/resurfaced now/ is brilliant, much refined than on the
original LP. The same happens with the working mix of “The Butt
of Deception”, as extraordinaire as well.
It’s quite interesting Keith Relf & Jim McCarthy /of early Renaissance/
jumped on a train that had already been established by bands
like the Freedom. Although it doesn’t undermine their own
achievements.