Ultra Naté 'Free' (Strictly Rhythm 1997) (SR12512)

What makes this pressing matter now is simple. This is the original recording, on the original label, mixed by the people who made it. Over the years “Free” has been remixed and reworked many times, but every version leads back to this one. If you want to hear where it began, it’s here: twelve minutes of musicians playing, a choir singing, and Ultra Naté telling the room exactly how to live. Some records are bigger than the label they came out on. “Free” is one of them. Released by Strictly Rhythm in the spring of 1997, it went to number one on Billboard’s Dance Club Play chart, reached number 4 in the UK, and has never really left the dancefloor since. But before it belonged to the world, it was a 12” with a red brick label and three Mood II Swing mixes on it. The label credits the song to U. Naté and L. Springsteen, and the production to Lem Springsteen and John Ciafone for Mood II Swing. That pairing is the key to the record. Mood II Swing were New York’s masters of deep, musical house, and here they built something that sounds like a band in a room. The label backs that up: guitar, bass, drums and keyboards are all credited to named players, with Lem Springsteen among the keyboard players and John Ciafone on programming. Danny Madden produced all the vocals, with Cindy Mizelle, Zhana Saunders and Audrey Wheeler singing backgrounds. It was recorded and mixed by Phil Pagano and Doug Deangelis at Groove On Studios, NYC, with Anthony Saunders assisting. The A side gives the song all the room it needs: the Mood II Swing Extended Vocal Mix runs to a full twelve minutes, which is longer than many records’ entire sides. It’s the version that lets the live playing breathe, building patiently before Ultra’s vocal arrives and carrying it far past the point where a radio edit would have faded out. Flip it over and there are two more ways in: the Live Mix at seven minutes, and the Dub Mix at seven and a half. TRACKLIST Side A A — Free (Mood II Swing Extended Vocal Mix) — 12:00 Side B B1 — Free (Mood II Swing Live Mix) — 7:00 B2 — Free (Mood II Swing Dub Mix) — 7:30 TRACK BY TRACK A — Mood II Swing Extended Vocal Mix. Twelve minutes long, and every one of them earned. Live guitar, bass, drums and keys build slowly under Ultra’s vocal and that three-voice backing choir. This is the definitive version: patient, musical and enormous. B1 — Mood II Swing Live Mix. The band-in-a-room feel turned up, at seven minutes. It’s the mix for DJs who want the musicianship front and centre. B2 — Mood II Swing Dub Mix. Seven and a half minutes of deep New York dub. The vocal is used sparingly and the groove does the work. It’s a secret weapon for the deeper end of a set. ESSENTIAL FOR: Anyone who loves this song and wants it as it was first pressed, Mood II Swing collectors, and DJs who need the twelve-minute version and the dub. Subscribe to Strictly Rhythm: http://po.st/StrictlyRhythmSubscribe Web: https://store.strictly.com/ Facebook:   / strictlyrhythm   Instagram:   / strictlyrhythm   Twitter:   / strictlyrhythm   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/strictl...