Free Ride (1973) 9/19/20

Fans of Great '70s Music certainly remember the Edgar Winter Group's'1973 classic instrumental, “Frankenstein,” (which we highlighted back on January 3. https://cuuuk8.wixsite.com/mysite/post/frankenstein-1-3-20

The group had a few other hits, but none quite like today's choice—also from 1973!

“Free Ride” was written and sung by group member Dan Hartman and the album version was quite a bit different than the single release. That sort of thing is certainly not unusual, but in this case, the version you heard on the radio depended on whether you were listening to an AM Top 40 station...or an FM Album Rock station. Both versions clocked in at just over 3 minutes, but the mixes and instrumentation were different.

It came down to this: FM stations played the album version, while AM stations played the single (which, by the way,made it to #14 in the US and #3 in Canada)

Both versions are “Great Songs of 1973,” but opinions have always been divided as to which version of “Free Ride” was the best. I will leave it up to you to decide! :-)

Single version:

Album version: