The Rascals - Freedom Suite 1969

If 1968's Once Upon a Dream, was the Rascals' first reach into uncharted territory, the double length Freedom Suite released a year later, was off the map. The band dug in and wrote a single LP's worth of solid tunes including a quartet of fine singles. Foremost is "People Got to Be Free"; it spent five weeks at Number One on the pop chart (and hit number 14 on the R&B one as well). Then there's easy summer soul and gospel groove on "A Ray of Hope," which may have only gotten to number 39, but is among the most enduring cuts in the Rascals legacy. The track "Heaven," which closed the first disc of Freedom Suite, was also wrapped tightly in urban gospel. The first LP contains 11 more or less conventionally written Rascals songs.  While the four previously mentioned cuts stood out, there wasn't any filler on the first platter. Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere wrote all but three songs on it, and were requisitely tight. Gene Cornish wrote a pair as well, including the killer piano soul-jazz and rock number "Me and My Friends." Arif Mardin co-produced with the band and arranged and conducted the string and horn sections. Disc two flips outis a flip out. It begs the quesation--at first--if this is the Rascals at all. There's the jazzed up (think Ramsey Lewis Trio groove) "Adrian's Birthday," which was downright funky with popping bass by Chuck Rainey, fuzzed out stereo-effects guitar from Cornish, that feels more like a basement jam than a Rascals cut, especially with the gutbucket tenor break from David "Fathead" Newman. But it is a portent of things to come with the two nearly side-long cuts that follow. First is "Boom" a 14-minute, Dino Danelli drum solo. Then there's "Cute." Running over 15 minutes, it's a jam. Beginning with Cavaliere's Hammond B-3 and Danelli's popping snare , Cornish digs deep into his soul-jazz trick bag. The track sounds more like a Prestige date by Jack McDuff up until a third of the way through when one of the three session bassists pulls out the stops and drives the trio. At five minutes it slips into improvisational territory. For most rock acts this would be the death knell, but not these guys. They let it wander for a minute or so, bring the groove back, and let it wander and come back some more. Danelli takes too long a drum break though. The track works for most of its length because the grooves are dirty and heavy with cracking breakbeats and organ and guitar vamps galore. The excesses overreach though, making the second disc somewhat superfluous. Freedom Suite reached number 127 on the chart; it would be the second to last Rascals album to produce any Top 40 singles. AMG.

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The Rascals - See 1969

Scaling back from their musically adventurous tomes Once Upon a Dream and Freedom Suite, the Rascals closed out the 1960s by narrowing their focus to what they did best: writing tough, tight, soul-rock tunes (and a few others). Whereas co-lead vocalist Eddie Brigati had been the songwriting partner of organist/vocalist Felix Cavaliere throughout the band's tenure to that point, and especially from Groovin' through Freedom Suite, his role in the band had been reduced here to being a harmony vocalist with only a single lead and co-write on the session. Cavaliere wrote the lion's share of the tunes with a couple from guitarist Gene Cornish and a cover. That's not to say the music here is without merit -- from the opening two cuts, the title track with its pile-driving rhythm and B-3 bashing to the sweet, soul-rock of "I'd Like to Take You Home" -- this is evident. But whoever told these cats they could sing country, as they attempt on Cornish's "Remember Me," in which Cavaliere sounds like warmed over Mike Nesmith, is anybody's guess. "I'm Blue," co-written by Brigati, holds its soul-blues groove deep in the pocket. Ray Charles' inspiration comes to the fore here and it works like a charm. The musical adventure of East Meets Western groove is dropped in the center of "Stop and Think," and the cover of "Temptation's Bout to Get Me," carries the blue-eyed soul groove to the pinnacle. Likewise, "Real Thing" captures the euphoric Rascals' chorus line soul at its best. The set closes with a screamer in "Hold On," with a raw, rowdy, soul, garage-band rip. With Arif Mardin enlisted as co-producer, the band also relied on the session musician talents of Ron Carter and Chuck Rainey on bass, as well as flutist Hubert Laws to round out the picture. AMG.

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