Customer Reviews

Freeways

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This is not a bad album and it has some good songs on it. But it is almost a Randy Bachman solo album. Fred Turner (who in my opinion was the better singer in the group) only has one song on the album. I think this contributed to friction within the group as Randy left the band after the release of this album. It was also a commercial flop. I think it would have been better had they allowed Turner to contribute about half the songs as had been done on previous albums.

By 1975 Randy Bachman had grown tired of BTO, although they are thought of as a fond memory of 70's radio rock, this band had a lot to offer in terms of blue collar rock and roll. They were the masters at what they did. And thus had talent to spare. Even by their 1975 Head On album, it was clear Bachman had squandered his writing potential, although the BTO name still had marketing panache. So whether for record company reasons or personal ones, the group hung out till 77-78 and recorded their final 'real' album Freeways. Of course its often thought of as just another run of the mill 70's artifact, dated and disposable. However, for fans of 70's rock, this is a nugget of a record. The opener 'Can We All Come Together' is pretty good, lots of electic sounds going on and a nice uptempo feel. Life Still Goes On, and Easy Groove and the title track are all good songs but the real highlights come with Shotgun Rider and the You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet clone 'Just For You', a great mellow rock tune with a feel good chorus. The songwriting department really shows how exhausted with fame and this band in general Bachman is. Though one cant really understand why he was so eager to end the group as he never went on to anything successful again. To pick tracks apart would be unecessary considering its just the kinda album that needs to sneak up on you. Most people outside BTO's core fan base probably wont listen to this, there were no familiar radio staples like Hey You, Let It Ride, or Takin' Care Of Business but for fans of 70's worker rock, this is a great album. Let it be known however there are no 'heavier' guitar dominated songs like on the groups first 3 albums.

The change of direction put this album into unfamilar waters. Lost in the mudded middle of their traditional tough grinding sound came what "i believe" to be some of their best work. Check out "life still goes on.. (i'm lonely)" and "down down" possibly their best songs ever.

The song "Shotgun Rider" which is included on the BTO album "Freeways" has a western flavor in the tradition of a Marty Robbins ballad. It's a little more "rockin'" than Marty would play, but it'd do.