Ranking the Albums: Freedom

[@suddone]

Saw Freedom at Hull City Hall supporting Black Sabbath 1971

[@gianpaolopelizzaro1634]

Hi Pete, thank you for putting the spotlight on this not-so-famous British band. A little annotation: Pretty Woman is not the cover of the Roy Orbison song (which is also titled Oh, Pretty Woman), but a mid tempo blues rock song written by the late English bassist and singer Paul Williams.

[@paulhughes7072]

Great reviews as usual pete freedom great prog english blues Hard rock group I have the first & second Albums havnt played for years thanks for the reminder l wll to listen to them again real SOON thanks Peter 60s early 70s british music really Rocks 😊

[@Scandolo]

Bobby Harrison formed Snafu not long afterwards with Micky Moody. They released three very good albums of funk blues rock. Bobby even released a solo album in the late 70s and one track has Tony Iommi as a guest!

[@wolf1977]

Snafu's s/t & Situation Normal in the early 70's are very good albums - especially that first one. Didn't like the last one All Funked Up too much...His "solo" (really a s/t 'super group' album) Nobody's Business from '78 is a Japan-only release, I'll have to try hunting that one down

[@chrisharper6088]

Very good group, never previously heard of them until a sold a bunch of albums on behalf of a work colleague. In the batch which had been sitting in his garage for years included a vinyl copy of Freedom At Last, played it, enjoyed it and began picking up much of the catalogue, great to see Freedom in a ranking show.

[@Brian-jv5me]

Thanks for the show Pete. Never heard of these guys, sound interesting and I'll check them out. Cheers Brian

[@justamops]

Thank you for introducing me to a ‘60s band I’ve never listened to! Just checked out and enjoyed that self-titled album. I was amazed to discover that “Frustrated Woman”, though credited to the band, is really a cover of the Standells’ 1965 hit “Dirty Water”!

[@garyjoyce2160]

Unknown group to me prior to. Pete. That’s why I listen daily. I did 4 spins each. Not a bad album. IMO. I originally posted a wrong order based on the third album being called just Freedom lol. So, my order. 1️⃣- third album. 2️⃣- first album 3️⃣- second album 4️⃣- 5th album 5️⃣-4th album. Thanks again Pete, another group. I would have zero clue about without SOT. 👍💯

[@garyjoyce2160]

I guess I will begin my SLY” homework this week. Thanks PETE/. Grant. 👍💯

[@logancollins7097]

Why I watch all the vids Gary always new bands to check out

[@garyjoyce2160]

@@logancollins7097 / tremendous- for a 2️⃣0️⃣ yr old. And again, happy/ HEALTHY 👍💯

[@kennbrown4638]

5. Is More Than a Word 4. Nero Su Bianco (Black on White) 3. Freedom at Last 2. Self-titled 1. Through the Years

[@gwts1171]

I have a two disc set that UK label Angel Air put out that has "Freedom At Last" & "Through The Years" packaged together. I like it but I haven't really dug in too deep, though I've had it for years. I actually didn't know they had other stuff. I'll have to grab my discs for my next road trip. Thanks, Pete!

[@jeffreyrobinson9120]

First time hearing of these guys. Sounds interesting and worth checking out.

[@jimhawkes]

Sounds interesting will have to check these out.

[@rayjohnsmusic9751]

Thanks for another great steer, listening to them now on Spotify, think they have 1500 monthly listeners. Loving Dusty track . Reminds me of Orang-utan

[@lippmb78]

I’ve heard of this obscure rock group on now spinning channel where Phil Aston did an unboxing of the band entire box set. I’ll listen to it when I get the chance.

[@alexnudler3444]

Does anyone know what happened to Ray Royer? He visually looks like an interesting character. Strangely enough, he only played on the first single for PH, and then got fired along with Harrison. They both formed Freedom and Royer only lasted that first album (Black & White) and never being heard from again. The web says he is still alive at 77 while Harrison had sadly passed away a year or so ago. Anyone have any knowledge or interesting stories about the fella? Did he not get along with his bandmates? Was he difficult? There is only one early PH gig in France showing Royer in the band and he doesn't come off technical at all - rather standard bluesy. You can find so many early pictures of him, but there is literally nothing written about him post - '69

[@tamiellis4342]

Hey Pete. Have you done a ranking the albums of Spirit? I didn’t see it on the playlist

[@wolf1977]

I've got something like 25 Spirit albums including best of's/collections & live. The first 4 are stone cold classics, with Dr Sardonicus their all time great album. Future Games from '77 (pretty much a Randy California solo album) is pretty weird, featuring mostly short song snippets separated by audio clips from various sci-fi tv shows, but I like that one a lot

[@matts9064]

Pete love your ranking videos. Can you do a ranking of WAR albums. I’ve been hunting through your channel for it …so if you’ve already done it sorry, I’ll look again. Love your content … keep up the great work!!!

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

Don’t own anything other than a hits set.

[@logancollins7097]

@@seaoftranquilityprog Album they did with Eric Burdon is great!

[@johnmichaelwilliams6694]

Totally unfamiliar with the group before this ranking but that is nothing new even after 3 to 4 years of watching/listening to SoT. Don't remember hearing anything by this group back in their day but my memory could be faulty after 50+ years. Thanks for the ranking, Pete. Will be listening to the five album collection on a streaming channel and as mentioned by Wolf in his comments. The few excerpts sampled definitely sound of their time but some opening piano riff of Seeing Is Believing caught the attention of the piano player in me. Thanks once again.

[@wolf1977]

The whole Freedom At Last album is posted to YT as well as Through The Years plus some other individual tracks. Related band Snafu (featuring Micky Moody) also has some really good stuff - 3 total albums. The first 2 are very good

[@johnmichaelwilliams6694]

@@wolf1977Thanks as always, Wolf.

[@Juliabharrison]

Thank you for reviewing my fathers music! Please check out his other bands 🫶🏼

[@matthewclark9652]

Freedom did NOT charted on Billboard Top Album Charts. What a shame!!

[@leifbylin9789]

I just bought the cd boxset with them.

[@donakin8562]

Wow I’ve never heard of them!

[@theomoor8513]

Hi Pete do you have the ISIS albums? A ranking would be kool.

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

I might have one early one. Haven’t listed to them in probably a decade.

[@theomoor8513]

thanks for responding@@seaoftranquilityprog

[@matthewclark9652]

Was the original label Dunhill/ABC, Probe/ABC or just ABC???

[@wolf1977]

Lots of great music from this late 60's/early 70's band, I've got all 5 of their studio albums plus the wonderful collection Born Again: The Complete Recordings 1967-72. As the episode description states the lineup included Harrison from Procol Harum but also featured Ray Royer on guitar who was relaced in PH by one Robin Trower. 1. Is More Than A Word & Freedom At Last (tie) - two real gems 2. Nerosubianco (aka Black On White) - the debut 3. Through The Years - "Get Yourself Together" sounds like an early James Gang tune (who they toured with). I really like "Thanks" a lot 4. Freedom - "Nobody" & "Frustrated Woman" The collection Born Again: The Complete Recordings 1967-72 has some great 'stragglers'/bonus tracks (at least 15 in all). Some are extended versions, there are demos, outtakes, alternate versions etc. If you really like their 5 studio albums you should consider this set. Some standouts: "The Butt Of Deception", "You Won't Miss"

[@franciskocher200]

Never heard that band