Customer Reviews

Mr. Freedom

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

 

 

"Mr. Freedom," the most recent offering from Gabin, is an eclectic mix of funky soul and ambient, groove-oriented jazz, all subtly (and sometimes not-so-subtly) set atop pulsing electronic beats. Think Moby's "Play" with even more of an edge. When the songs are good, they're really good. Standouts include the tribal-esque "Bang Bang to the Rock and Roll," (which sounds something like Fatboy Slim-meets-Paul Simon's "The Obvious Child,") and the fifth track, the steadily grooving "Midnight Coffee," which could practically be straight off of a St. Germain album.

Unfortunately, the low point of the album comes with the singing of China Moses, which occurs more often on the album than it should. The vocals are decent in a Macy Gray way, with possibly more soul but less poignancy, but at times don't fit with the jazzy, house-feel of the album. Frankly, one wishes that many of the China Moses tracks were simply left as instrumentals, as they would have then been more captivating and innovative. It's the heavily jazz-influenced tracks of the album that really make for a complex and captivating listen.

Overall, Gabin isn't really doing something that's never been done before in electronic music. The combination of soulful (primarily female) vocals with jazzanova-like ambience has been pretty mainstream for several years. And still, there's just enough energy on this album to make it seem fresh and catchy. It's the perfect background music for any funky urban evening at the club.

Italian duo Gabin has done a masterful job of concocting 10 tracks fused with bossa nova, electro-jazz, soul, blues and electronica. Not quite as dance-floor oriented as their debut that brought us "Doowap, Doowap, Doowap", "Mr. Freedom" still has stellar moments that will have you shaking a tail-feather, like the infectious 60s influenced, "Into My Soul", sung marvellously by Dee Dee Bridgewater, and the uplifting "Just Be Yourself" to only name a few. This CD is perfect for your next soiree of bougie wanna-bes--just make sure they bring the vodka!

Compared to his first album with 'doo uap', this album takes a completely different approach from its former Buddha Bar Hotel Costes style. To be honest, I am absolutely in love with this album, sadly, China Moses, although has talent, doesn't just quite cut it with jazzy house feel of the music, but overall...I tell you what..this is a feel good album through and through....definitely worth buying!

Gabin's "Mr. Freedom" is a breath of fresh air from most of the stuff I listen to these days, but that's not enough to warrant it a "5". I would argue that it's a little cheesy and repetitive in spots (see the female singer in "Into My Soul" for the first part, and "Bang Bang To The Rock N Roll" for the second). Overall, however, it's a very good lounge music album that I think genre fans will like a lot. I don't have any other album that sounds like it, so I don't know the best way to describe it - I suppose it's bluesy/jazzy early 1900's-ish sounding lounge music (sorry if that was confusing hehe). There are no bad songs here, but I think most would agree that the first 3 are the best songs on the album. The only problem with the album is its slight repetitiveness and it's slightly cheesy and guilty nature, but otherwise I think genre fans will really like it. Overall I would highly recommend this!

Highlights include:
"Into My Soul"
"Bang Bang To The Rock N Roll"
"It's Gonna Be"
the rest are good, too, but these are the standouts I'd argue

I come to this album from the other one I own by them which depicts a Citroen over a lime cover (ever buy an album just for its cover art, mm'hmm?), and I was expecting more of the same.
An interesting thing happened on the way to the DVD player though; Gabin came up with something far, far different from the earlier stuff I'm familiar with. While the former album was a soft confectionary number filled with easy listening eurolounge, this one is a really excellent synthetic blend of old time Rhythm & Blues music and the 'new sterophonic sound spectacular' found in the works of Japan's P-5 (except not as campy and manic) overlaying dance or house grooves to bring the sound up to contempo.
If the mix sounds a bit suspect, suffice it to say that I too was sceptical that I'd take a cotton to this musica and my first couple of listens had me wondering if I'd wasted my money. Yet, the funky smooth, sly but joyful, and low-key gaiety characteristic of this album's songs bring one back to it each time, perhaps with trepidation and every expectation of being disappointed but, you know what?, it fails to do so.
Having said that, I seem to find myself about done with the album before it has played through, although I enjoy it very much up to that point.
I recommend this especially to anyone who remembers the Brand New Heavies and remember wishing at the time that there had been a bit more there there. This is the album they wished they'd done I should think.

I love to listen to music when I cook. This CD had the whole family dancing in the kitchen. Great stuff.

Gabin's second album, MR. FREEDOM, is much more uptempot than their eponymous debut and is reminiscent in many ways of the work that comes out on Germany's Stereo Deluxe label. The jazzy-loungey vibe is still a strong presence, but there's also quite a bit of boogaloo here too ("Bang Bang to the Rock 'n' Roll" is a perfect example of this). The swinging "Into My Arms" sets the pace early on; this is music for finger-snapping. There's also a downtempo-blues song, "It's Gonna Be," similar to St. Germain's work. "Midnight Caffe" is more along the lines of the earlier work, but with an catchy funk bass, but the title track takes a blues-funk-rock approach, assisted by the erstwhile Edwyn Collins. "Just Be Yourself" takes a more digital approach, blipping its way into jazz. So while MR. FREEDOM might be derivative in many ways, it's still a pleasurable listen, well-crafted and carefully done. And sometimes that's all you can ask. For proof, listen to the pure R&B lounge of "A Thousand and One Nights," or better yet, the dream-like remembrance of "...And She's Still Watching Me." It's so unlike the rest of the album that it stands out -- and in my mind, that's a good thing.

This album is fabulous. It is easily listened to while throwing a party or cleanin get house with a glass of wine. Great mix, great groove.

For "Mr. Freedom" alone -- five stars !

After I listend to his amazing singles like 'maison', 'Doo Uap...', I totally became a big fan of him. his job WAS great and unique.
so I bought this album with no hesitate.
but I found all the music in this is too average...just normally mixed with some jazz singers.