Customer Reviews

Bachman Turner Overdrive/Freeways

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like and respect Randy Bachman, but this album was a little too much him and not enough the rest of the band. I missed Fred Turner's vocals, and I guess I got spoiled on BTO's basic overdriven type sound. This album is worth buying, and it has its moments, but overall its sort of like BTO with a prophylactic wrapped around it.

I purchased this album in it's original vinyl format. I'm so sorry that it's now so hard to get on disk 'cause it really was one of their best efforts. Easy Groove is a great song , and easily one of Randy's best. Try to get your hands on a copy...it's worth it.

Although Freeways is not a classic BTO hard rock sounding album, it definitely has some very good tracks: "Down, down", "Shotgun Rider", "My wheels won't turn", "Can we all come together" and the title track "Freeways" to name my favorites. I see this album as a send off for Randy Bachman and "the end of an era" style album, comparable to the Beatles' "Abbey Road", with some melancolic lyrics and some softer, jazzier sounds. My only negative critique for this album would be that it might sound a little too melow at times. Although it is majoritarily a Randy Bachman project (I also miss Fred Turner's voice and songwriting), I honestly think that this is one of the best BTO albums I have in my collection (and I have all of their albums). I find their evolution refreshing. In my opinion, "Freeways" was their peak album (at least where Randy Bachman is concerned) and I don't think they were ever the same afterwards. If you love the "Four Wheel Drive" sound (4 lines per verse, 4 repetetive lines per chorus), this is not your album. But if you're in to some creatitivity, and don't necessarily need a defined rhyme pattern in the lyrics or a "4 by 4" structure in the music, you will love this album!

BEST CD THEY'D EVER RELEASED ! AFTER GRUELING YEARS ON THE ROAD RANDY STILL TRIED TO LEAD THE GROUP IN NEW DIRECTIONS TO REMAIN ON TOP ! AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED, THEIR INFLUENCE ON ROCK WILL BE MISSED ! WISH YOU WERE STILL AROUND ,GUYS !

IN DEFENCE OF THE CD AND THE BAND YOU WOULD BE JUST A "tad burnt out" AFTER SO MANY GRUELING YEARS ON THE ROAD ! THE ENTIRE BAND POURED EVERY OUNCE OF THEIR CREATIVE EFFORT INTO EMBRACING A NEW DIRECTION TO REMAIN FRONTRUNNERS IN THE "DOG EAT DOG" WORLD OF ROCK ! I RATED THE CD AS FIRST RATE HAVING BEEN A LOYAL FAN SINCE "DAY ONE" ! I WISH THEY WERE STILL AROUND TODAY TO SHOW WHAT THE "REAL SENSE" OF ROCK IS ALL ABOUT !

Okay, so it didn't rock with a lot of Not Fragile-style thunder. But this 1977 effort (the last with the classic Bachman/Bachman/Turner/Thornton lineup) showed BTO could do a number of styles very well. The title track has a killer melody and Down Down shows Randy Bachman doing his best version of Cream's White Room.

this is a hard album to find.i have been looking for along time.i always thought it was one oftheir betteralbums.iliked all of their albums but this one was different from others.iam going to see about getting it.

I bought this album back in april 1977 and I'am still listening to it(on cd of course) especially the title song wich is one of the greatest rock song of the 70's.I think it's very underestimated BTO album.I rate it next best after Not Fragile a great solid rock.

I expected better for the follow-up to Head-On. That album has some good stuff on it, but Freeways was a letdown. Randy experimented with a different sound, more mellow, less thunder, and the music suffered greatly. I continued purchasing albums from these guys, but my expectations were shattered. If you are a serious collector of BTO, then this album is a must. If you are looking for a sound to identify with the late 70's, this ain't it.

This was one of the first albums that I had every owned, it was during the mid-70's when classic rock was great. Freeways (title song) is best and its sad not to see it on the Anthology set. My favorite is Shotgun Rider though, its a good song with a good story and if it's every redone by a "counrty rock" artist today it would do well. BTO was never one of my top groups but this album made you proud of being Canadian and made alot people consider BTO,Rush, April Wine and Heart as great Canadian groups of that time.