Freedom (1989)

"I knew that I wanted to make a real album that expressed how I felt," says Neil Young of his most recent album, Freedom. "I just wanted to make a Neil Young record per se. Something that was just me, where there was no persona, no image, no distinctive character like the Bluenotes guy or the guy in Everybody's Rockin'. It's the first time I've felt like doing an album like this in years." (Rolling Stone, 1989)

The seeds of Freedom started in 1987, as shown by the recently released Summer Songs collection on Neil Young Archives. On that lovely eight song collection of “sketches,” three of Freedom’s songs appear in stripped down versions. “Someday” is one of the weaker songs on Freedom, but this solo piano version is a bit more sincere sounding than the eventual saccharine released version. Sometimes less is more. “Wrecking Ball” is a beautiful ballad and I appreciate the unaccompanied piano here. I wouldn’t say either version is better than the other on this one, though. “Hangin’ on a Limb” is another gorgeous ballad and while I like the solo acoustic vibe of this one, the atmosphere and duet with Linda Ronstadt on Freedom’s gives the song a fuller feeling.

Of course, Neil would go on to record a couple records before coming back to these songs. His initial concept was an album called Times Square, but there was some debate about it, so he pulled it and instead released the Japan-only Eldorado EP, which also includes three songs that would end up on Freedom. “Don’t Cry” is notorious for its sudden and shocking turn into guitar feedback which is expanded on the EP edit. Apparently he was talked out of the “free form” solo on the EP version when it came time to do Freedom. Otherwise this song, “Eldorado” and “On Broadway” are virtually identical here (it’s possible the mix is slightly different). By the time Freedom would come together, he had recorded versions of half the songs, some released, some unreleased.

Apparently the behemoth “Rockin’ in the Free World” was first performed a few days after Neil latched on to a phrase Poncho said offhandedly. He bookends the album with acoustic and electric versions of the song that vaulted him into the heart of fans like myself in 1989-1990. Especially when he gave the definitive television performance of it (some say the greatest televised live performance ever) on Saturday Night Live. You should watch it. It’s available in the Neil Young Archives’ Movietone library for subscribers. I only see the rehearsal on YouTube. Poncho, Steve Jordan (who played on Landing on Water) and Charlie Drayton play for the rafters on this one.

I love that he intentionally recalls Rust Never Sleeps with the acoustic/electric bookends to this album. It’s almost like saying “I experimented for 10 years but now I’m back.” That’s certainly the sentiment a lot of fans had with Freedom. The acoustic version is even a live recording! I’ve always had a grudging love for song. It’s a very trite and cheesy title and the chorus doesn’t do it any favors, but the lyrics are poignant and strong, calling out Reagan’s successor Bush without ever acknowledging he supported the man that caused the very issues Bush was saddled with. And now of course, everyone chants the chorus assuming the song to be a celebration of America, instead of a lament and repudiation (including one recent horrible President, who Neil sued for using it at rallies).

As I mentioned in my Bluenote Cafe thoughts, I love “Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero Part 1”) and particularly like Freedom’s acoustic-led version more than the electric version played during the Bluenote tours. For nearly nine minutes, Neil paints the picture of a country on edge, rife with injustice and corruption. It’s called “Part 1” because there is a 20 minute version only played live. I heard it once in a preview on Neil Young Archives and it’s electric as well. I would love to hear Neil play this full song, just him and an acoustic.

“Eldorado” is such a strange song, with its castanets and Spanish/western tale, but you have to love that wall of feedback that punctuates the bullfighter’s confrontation. I love the way he’s playing with feedback on these songs. It takes the past experiments and uses them in new ways. This will become very prevalent soon, culminating in the feedback collage Arc. In the meantime, “The Ways of Love” could not be more different, a nice harmonized and soaring country-influenced song. Just a song about love that sounds nice.

I already mentioned “Someday” and it’s oddly saccharine version here. Not only does it have odd twinkling chimes, but it has a bad “praise the Lord” chant in one part, sound effects, and the most 80s saxophone of all his 80s output. Putting it up against his light touch on the solo piano version, there’s no contest. Neil does love his cheesy moments and this song could have easily been a tv theme song. When I was a teenager listening to this album, I was always really drawn to “On Broadway,” though. It’s just great that he took an early 60s Drifters soul song and drenched it in feedback. It was like two of my loves melding together! I’ve heard a few soul renditions of this song, and Neil sort of massacres it, but that’s part of the fun. To say nothing of the unhinged final minute or so, with Neil yelling about crack and running Old Black roughshod over the whole thing. There’s a quote about Neil originally intending this album to just be abrasive from end to end, and I can see what he was going for here.

Following this up immediately with such a subdued and heartfelt song as “Wrecking Ball” is prime Neil. I used to listen to this song as sort of a guilty pleasure, it being so sweet and hushed compared to everything else I was into at the time. It’s just special. I love the piano and minimal drum beat. I really dislike the poppy intro to “No More” but once it breaks into the first verse and his voice and guitar take over, it’s a very interesting song, with a dramatic chorus and two of the best solos in recent years. Yeah, two solos. There’s the soulful mid song solo and the utterly mind boggling staccato work he does on the denouement. No clue what’s he’s doing here but it’s astounding, somewhat like the “dancing across the water” portion of some versions of “Cortez the Killer.”

I love “Too Far Gone,” a song that goes back to at least 1975. It’s almost always featuring a mandolin, as it does here played by Poncho. The version on the Songs for Judy live album is a funny rendition, with Neil’s mid-song comments about the events that inspired here. I think I prefer the stripped back versions without the pedal steel and percussion. The mandolin makes this song and I want to hear more of it. In that way, the best version is the 1975 one on Neil Young Archives Vol. II.

Freedom feels like a breath of fresh air after the strange 80s. You’d never get this without those experiments, though. It’s as if he had to get some stuff out of his head so that he could come back fresh, but also relevant. He was embraced by the grunge scene that was big right at this time and it invigorated him.

Top 3:

1. Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero Part 1)
2. Too Far Gone
3. Don’t Cry

Cut song: Someday

Eldorado is nasty. The guitar tone is so gnarly. “Cocaine Eyes” starts out with an ugly hum that guitar tech Larry Cragg was trying to fix, but Neil got impatient and said it was fine, launching into one of his most brutal sounding songs of all time (and Crazy Horse isn’t even on it!). It seems to be an angry rebuke of David Crosby’s drug use. Neil had try to help him out of it and Crosby refused. This is garage rock 100%. The other non-Freedom song, “Heavy Love” is likewise pretty rough. It’s somewhat Roy Orbison in rhythm and vocal, but with a huge dose of distorted guitar and sky shattering drums from Chad Cromwell. The breakdown sounds like a factory being blown up. Such an intense EP.

Summer Songs is everything that Eldorado isn’t. It’s closer to the sound of my beloved Hitchhiker, although not as good. Just Neil, an acoustic, a piano, and some minimal overdubs on harmonies. “American Dream” is another lament for the bygone days and later appears on a bad CSNY reunion attempt. It sounds like it was meant for the CSNY harmony style. It’s better here in the stripped down version, but still a bit forgettable. “Last of His Kind” is still unreleased in any form. It’s a little scattered here, but I like the mix of instrumentation, with Neil still experimenting with synths but using them in a more atmospheric way. I like the picking he does to punctuate the chorus. The lyric content is a bit basic and a retread of a lot of Neil’s farmer-based songs. The next non-Freedom one, “For the Love of Man,” will appear 25 years later on the Crazy Horse-backed Psychedelic Pill as one of the quieter moments. The piano is nice, but Neil is striving for something here that he can’t pull off. I’ll probably save “One of These Days” for when I review Harvest Moon, because I can’t remember how this rendered on that album. “Name of Love” is another that will appear on CSNY’s American Dream album. I like Neil’s version here. It’s very gentle with nice guitar and a good back and forth with himself. It’s kind of surprising this doesn’t appear in a Ragged Glory style anthem anywhere, given its basic message and structure.