Freedom – Black On White (Nero Su Bianco)
Angel Air
http://www.angelair.co.uk/

Rating:  C+

The band Freedom was put together in late 1967 after two members of Procul Harum, drummer Bobby Harrison and guitarist Ray Royer were ousted from the group just after their smash single “A Whiter Shade of Pale” sailed to the top of the charts. Not long after the duo rounded out the group with organist Mike Lease and bassist / vocalist Steve Shirley they soon found themselves being commissioned to write a score for famous Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis. The film in question, Black On White or Nero Su Bianco, was an avant-garde piece of filmmaking with very little dialogue, so the band’s music was featured prominently throughout, and they even appeared in the film as well.  Angel Air Records out of the U.K. released the original thirteen songs the band recorded for the sound track back in 1999, and now have re-issued the album along with six bonus tracks. 

The songs which have aged fairly well over the years, don’t appear to sound too dated, and the overall sound of the group was  pretty much what you’d expect for the British music scene of the time, especially when you compare them with bands like Traffic and even Procul Harum.  The songs here can best be described as psychedelic tinged pop on tracks like “Attraction”, “The Truth Is Plain To See”, and “You Won’t Miss”, two songs which allow the organ playing of Mike Lease to come to the forefront. The bonus tracks provide an interesting glimpse into what could have been, in that they contain two singles “Where Will You Be Tonight” and “Trying to Get a Glimpse of You” from the summer of 1968, which coincidentally would turn out to be some of the final recordings of this lineup before the group called it a day the following year.      

While the music on Black on White is capable of standing on its own, I’m afraid that this curio will probably really appeal largely to the diehard fans of Procul Harum and its various offshoots.