Free as the Wind
| Free as the Wind | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1977 | |||
| Studio | Hollywood Sound Recorders, Los Angeles, California | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:49 | |||
| Label | ABC Records | |||
| Producer | Stewart Levine, The Crusaders | |||
| The Crusaders chronology | ||||
| ||||
Free as the Wind is a studio album by The Crusaders issued in 1977 on ABC Records.[1] The album reached No. 8 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart.[2]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [3] |
Richard S. Ginell of AllMusic, where it received four stars out of five, wrote "When the material is this good, everything falls into place from there; the grooves are deeper, the soloing by all five Crusaders is more melodic and probing, and while Sample provides a few brass and string arrangements, this is just harmless decoration, neither a necessity nor a hindrance. This would be the Crusaders' high-water mark in the post-Wayne Henderson years, and it can stand tall with anything they've done."[3]
Track listing
Adapted from album's text.[1]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Free as the Wind" | Joe Sample | 6:17 |
| 2. | "I Felt the Love" | Stix Hooper | 5:10 |
| 3. | "The Way We Was" | Robert Popwell | 5:24 |
| 4. | "Nite Crawler" | Larry Carlton | 4:45 |
| 5. | "Feel It" | Stix Hooper, Lamont Dozier, Larry Carlton, Robert Popwell, Wilton Felder | 4:15 |
| 6. | "Sweet N' Sour" | Joe Sample | 8:57 |
| 7. | "River Rat" | Wilton Felder | 2:29 |
| 8. | "It Happens Everyday" | Joe Sample | 5:40 |
Personnel
Adapted from album's text.[1]
- Robert "Pops" Popwell - bass
- Stix Hooper - drums, percussion
- Arthur Adams (track: B4), Dean Parks, Larry Carlton, Roland Bautista (tracks: B1, B3) - guitar
- Joe Sample - keyboards, string and horn orchestration
- Paulinho da Costa - percussion (track: B1)
- Ralph MacDonald - special percussion
- Wilton Felder - saxophone
- Technical
- Rik Pekkonen - engineer, mixing
- Frank Mulvey - art direction
- Tim Ritchie - album design
- Ed Simpson - photography
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Top LPs & Tape[4] | 41 |
| US Top Soul LPs (Billboard)[2] | 9 |
References
- ^ a b c The Crusaders: Free As The Wind. ABC Records. December 1976.
- ^ a b "The Crusaders Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard.
- ^ a b S. Ginell, Richard. "The Crusaders: Free As The Wind". AllMusic.
- ^ "The Crusaders: Free As The Wind (Billboard 200)". billboard.com. Billboard.