Free as the Wind

by The Crusaders

Overview

There's a terrific reason why the triple-CD Crusaders retrospective The Golden Years included six of Free as the Wind's eight tracks -- the material. Indeed, side one of the LP version may be the strongest single side of original tunes that the band ever put together. It opens with Joe Sample's driving, tense title cut, and flows flawlessly through Stix Hooper's subtly funky "I Felt the Love," Pops Popswell's infectiously finger-popping "The Way We Was" (a high point in the Crusaders' groove collection), and Larry Carlton's steamy vehicle for Wilton Felder, "Nite Crawler." Even the two tracks that the box set left out -- the galvanic "Feel It," driven by Sample's clavinet and Hooper's tom-toms, and "River Rat" -- are as funky as you can stand it. And from out of the blue, Sample concludes the album with a lovely, wistful tune that may have become a standard, "It Happens Everyday." 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. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Product Details

Release Date:	06/30/2023
Label:	Universal
UPC:	4988031565049
Rank:	70630

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Crusaders   Primary Artist
Roland Bautista   Primary Artist,Guitar
Ralph MacDonald   Primary Artist,Percussion
Paulinho Costa   Primary Artist
Dean Parks   Primary Artist,Guitar
Arthur Adams   Primary Artist,Guitar
Pops Powell   Bass
Stix Hooper   Percussion,Drums
Robert "Pops" Popwell   Bass
Joe Sample   Keyboards
Wilton Felder   Saxophone
Larry Carlton   Guitar
Paulinho Da Costa   Percussion

Technical Credits

Frank Mulvey   Art Direction
Tim Ritchie   Design
Stix Hooper   Composer
Stewart Levine   Producer
Robert "Pops" Popwell   Composer
Joe Sample   Composer
Wilton Lewis Felder   Composer
Wilton Felder   Composer
Rik Pekkonen   Mixing,Engineer
Lamont Dozier   Composer
Larry Carlton   Composer
Bernie Grundman   Mastering