I'm Giving You Your Freedom

Here's a fav of mine. Recorded [[or completed) this day in 1962. The b side to "Run, Run, Run" and on the WDOLG album, "I'm Giving You Your Freedom" is one of my absolute favs. The ladies sound so good here. This mix does not include the Andantes who were added in as "sweetening", and it boggles my mind why anyone thought the Andantes were necessary on it in the first place. The original Supremes sound beautiful on their own. Diana's lead is commanding. She doesn't sound sad. There's an air of "pissed off" to her voice, and I love it. For the life of me I don't know how anyone could listen to her sing this and think she wasn't at the very least a really good singer. Flo and Mary's harmony is on point. They sound gorgeous and sweet. I wonder if they ever performed this one live. And of course I'm a sucker for that track. Definitely one of my favorite Supremes songs.

Anyone else love this one? Anyone hate it? Thoughts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlQhvmL8Ek

this is a lovely song. after all of the action on side one of WDOLG, this was a great opener for side 2

I like it a lot. I first heard it when I bought the Pickwick re-issue of their second album. I love the harmonies as well as Diana's lead. But I usually love recordings that feature her lower register.

Thanks for posting this. I haven't heard this mix before. You are right - Diana's lead is commanding and Flo & Mary are on point.

This has been one of my favorites from WDOLG from the beginning. I love Diana's lead and the backing harmony. I didn't even know about the Andantes way back then. I especially liked the the guitar lead, especially in the break and at the end. The crispness and beauty of the musicianship reminds me now of Smokey's production on the whole Floy Joy album. I'm aware that Freedom was an HDH song but the style was close to Smokey's. It would have been suitable for Mary Wells and I think it could have been a viable follow-up for Breath-Taking Guy [[If Breath-Taking Guy had been released months earlier instead of My Heart Can't Take It No More).

It contains a nice relaxed vocal from Diana, being an early glimpse as to what makes her voice so special.

There’s no sense in making in making us each other blue , thank you for posting , Diana’s vocals make us want to hear more of her , she is without a doubt one of the most beautiful singers ever

An amazing production, especially for such an early Motown recording. It had none of the oddball antics that marred many of Motown's early sixties music. I was very surprised something this beautiful was done so early on. HDH had an astonishing way of stripping productions down to only what was necessary. Here, it's down to some of the most gorgeous guitar work ever placed on any record and a nice, simple but crucial piano part. This could have sounded sparse but instead it sounds beautifully atmospheric.

That sound in turn gives Diana plenty of room to concentrate on telling her story. You're right RanRan, Diana sounds good and pissed off; but rather than going off into histrionics, she displays the same brilliantly nuanced delivery that made "Where Did Our Love Go" work so well. In turn, Flo and Mary were given the room to weave some remarkable and essential backing parts that added just the right shading to everything else going on. This is one of those songs you wish they had allowed to go on a lot longer at the end.

i don't know that "oddball" would be the word i'd use to describe a lot of the early motown sounds. Unrefined or raw might be though. in many of these tracks there's a rawness that sounds like they, literally, hit record and the band and singers just all started. there might be some slightly missed notes, balance wasn't as even.

Freedom is very polished. glossy

I must admit I had not done my additional reading of the booklets that come with the expanded cds because I was not aware that the original recording which was on the original Where Did Our Love Go album had the Andantes added on it. I need to go back and dig into the content of those booklets. I can definitely tell a difference between the backing vocals of this and the backing vocals of the original album version. Seriously, I didn't see the need to add the Andantes...doing so, in my opinion, didn't really enhance the production. I am also surprised, based on the quantity of output at that time, that there was actually enough time to spend on adding additional background vocals [[which were used to subliminally) for an album cut.

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Originally Posted by reese

I like it a lot. I first heard it when I bought the Pickwick re-issue of their second album. I love the harmonies as well as Diana's lead. But I usually love recordings that feature her lower register.

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Reese you've given me an idea for another thread. And I'm with you, I love Diana's lower register.

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Originally Posted by lucky2012

Thanks for posting this. I haven't heard this mix before. You are right - Diana's lead is commanding and Flo & Mary are on point.

This has been one of my favorites from WDOLG from the beginning. I love Diana's lead and the backing harmony. I didn't even know about the Andantes way back then. I especially liked the the guitar lead, especially in the break and at the end. The crispness and beauty of the musicianship reminds me now of Smokey's production on the whole Floy Joy album. I'm aware that Freedom was an HDH song but the style was close to Smokey's. It would have been suitable for Mary Wells and I think it could have been a viable follow-up for Breath-Taking Guy [[If Breath-Taking Guy had been released months earlier instead of My Heart Can't Take It No More).

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Honestly Lucky, I always assumed this was a Smokey production. I was surprised when it turned out to be HDH.

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Originally Posted by WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance

An amazing production, especially for such an early Motown recording. It had none of the oddball antics that marred many of Motown's early sixties music. I was very surprised something this beautiful was done so early on. HDH had an astonishing way of stripping productions down to only what was necessary. Here, it's down to some of the most gorgeous guitar work ever placed on any record and a nice, simple but crucial piano part. This could have sounded sparse but instead it sounds beautifully atmospheric.

That sound in turn gives Diana plenty of room to concentrate on telling her story. You're right RanRan, Diana sounds good and pissed off; but rather than going off into histrionics, she displays the same brilliantly nuanced delivery that made "Where Did Our Love Go" work so well. In turn, Flo and Mary were given the room to weave some remarkable and essential backing parts that added just the right shading to everything else going on. This is one of those songs you wish they had allowed to go on a lot longer at the end.

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Histrionics was never really in Diana's wheelhouse IMO, but yeah, some other singer might have gone in that direction. I was thinking she could have interpreted the song in a more sad tone, sort of sad resignation. Instead her voice seems to say "Aight fine muthafucka, go on, get out of my life, there are other fish in the sea".

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Originally Posted by jobucats

I must admit I had not done my additional reading of the booklets that come with the expanded cds because I was not aware that the original recording which was on the original Where Did Our Love Go album had the Andantes added on it. I need to go back and dig into the content of those booklets. I can definitely tell a difference between the backing vocals of this and the backing vocals of the original album version. Seriously, I didn't see the need to add the Andantes...doing so, in my opinion, didn't really enhance the production. I am also surprised, based on the quantity of output at that time, that there was actually enough time to spend on adding additional background vocals [[which were used to subliminally) for an album cut.

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You might have to double check Jobucats, but I was pretty sure this was one where the original version had the Andantes added in somewhere. But I've been known to get information wrong, so....

I don't believe that the Andantes are on this song at all. I checked the booklet of the Where Did Our Love Go Expanded Edition, and there is no mention of any additional background vocals on I'm Giving You Your Freedom. I listened to the original mono mix, the original stereo mix, and the alternate mix. What I hear is on the original mixes there is some sound processing, a substantial amount of reverb, on the vocals, and actually across the mix. The alternate mix has less reverb, especially on the background vocals, and they are a little louder and much clearer in the mix. However, on all of the mixes I only hear two voices with the background vocals, and there is not one instance at all of three part harmony. All of the harmonies are only two part. Even the first line of each of the verses where Mary and Florence are singing with Diana is in only two part harmony.

I'm inclined to believe that once information started coming out in regards to either additional, or substitute background vocals being on Supremes recordings, due to "the shock of it all" it might be now easy to assume that it happened more than it actually did. In this case though, it really sounds like there are only two voices, with and without the reverb. The next time I see or talk to Brian Holland I may ask him about it!