Search - Erasure :: Freedom 1

Great song, lousy cd single

cherubino | Houston, Texas United States | 06/11/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Well, here it is, the lead single from the Erasure album that bombed badly. I have to confess that I hadn't heard Freedom prior to the Hits! DVD release, and I found it to be a very uplifting, pleasant song. I especially love when Andy sings, "You've got to believe." However, as a CD single, this one is a dud. First off, it is a slimline-package import, which follows that horrible U.K. practice of making fans spend more money by releasing two cd singles of the same song, one with a b-side, and the other with remixes. I read that this practice is no longer allowed, which is good!Being the Part 1 release, this CD single is short- the ENTIRE CD clocks in at just under 10 minutes, for three tracks! The b-side, Better, does NOT rank among the greatest Erasure has released. I thought is was pretty boring, with Andy's drowned-out, treated vocals. Now, if you want to listen to some truly great b-sides, listen to High NRG (from Fingers & Thumbs), Dreamlike State (from Star), Somewhere Over the Rainbow (from Chorus), or Waiting for Sex (from Breath of Life).Finally, the "acoustic" version of Freedom is anything but that. Instead of just a guitar-laden background, there are any number of electronic bleeps, blips, and cadences laid under and over the track. In other words, it's just a stripped-down remix, NOT an acoustic version, which would have been much Better (sic).Anyhow, all these grumbles don't change my opinion of Freedom, which has been an unjustly neglected single."