Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Funky, soul-infused electro-jazz, September 6, 2005
"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.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pretty good dancy/lounge music type album - a little cheesy sometimes, but you'll probably like it a lot - 4.5 stars, January 9, 2006
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
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
PASS THE MARTINIS!!!, January 3, 2006
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!
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