I like the song and all but just not on 1999. So many other songs (way better) could have been on the album . oh well, still my fave album!

It shouldnt be. Its Moonbeam Levels cousin...and if there was no free, there would be no Purple Rain.

I've always loved "Free" since the very first time I heard it. I've never seen what's so great about "Little Red Corvette" unless it's the 12 Inch version. But the album version is the song I listened to the least on the entire album.

vainandy said:

I've always loved "Free" since the very first time I heard it. I've never seen what's so great about "Little Red Corvette" unless it's the 12 Inch version. But the album version is the song I listened to the least on the entire album.

But..."Free" isn't funky. I'm confused.

Adorecream said:

I kind of like it, and if you play it loud it is quite powerful, but what grinds our gears is one thing... A much better song called Moonbeam levels was axed from the album in place of it.

Moonbeam Levels is one of those Prince unreleased nuggets that people just love to hear. If you have not heard it, I suggest you do. Many feel that this song should have gone on 1999 instead.

Same thing happened on Purple Rain, The Beautiful Ones which is an excellent song was put on the album instead of an even better song called Electric Intercourse.

I've heard "Moonbeam Levels". I like "Free" much better though. As for "Electric Intercourse", that one should have replaced "Take Me With U".

vainandy said:

Adorecream said:

I kind of like it, and if you play it loud it is quite powerful, but what grinds our gears is one thing... A much better song called Moonbeam levels was axed from the album in place of it.

Moonbeam Levels is one of those Prince unreleased nuggets that people just love to hear. If you have not heard it, I suggest you do. Many feel that this song should have gone on 1999 instead.

Same thing happened on Purple Rain, The Beautiful Ones which is an excellent song was put on the album instead of an even better song called Electric Intercourse.

I've heard "Moonbeam Levels". I like "Free" much better though. As for "Electric Intercourse", that one should have replaced "Take Me With U".

AGREEE!!!! I can't stand "Take Me With U" . I wish he did put "Electric Intercourse" in its place.

Would have been a bit presumptious of Prince to play Electric Intercourse while on the bike on his first date with Appollonia though

I love Free! i think it goes well with the theme of the album. I always get an apolocalyptic feel with the 1999 album and Free is a slow track in the middle to calm down the chaos.

Plus i love the vocals on the song as well

Gunsnhalen said:

I love Free! i think it goes well with the theme of the album. I always get an apolocalyptic feel with the 1999 album and Free is a slow track in the middle to calm down the chaos.

Plus i love the vocals on the song as well

My point exactly. ppl don't get it. It's a contemplative ballad (not a love song) in the midst of a foreboding electric apocalyptic world transition, with sex as therapy

Gunsnhalen said:

I love Free! i think it goes well with the theme of the album. I always get an apolocalyptic feel with the 1999 album and Free is a slow track in the middle to calm down the chaos.

Plus i love the vocals on the song as well

My point exactly. ppl don't get it. It's a contemplative ballad (not a love song) in the midst of a foreboding electric apocalyptic world transition, with sex as therapy

that cause He NEVERRR played it completely...

The beginning is really beautiful, sounds like a lullaby.

purplemajesty23 said:

vainandy said:

I've heard "Moonbeam Levels". I like "Free" much better though. As for "Electric Intercourse", that one should have replaced "Take Me With U".

AGREEE!!!! I can't stand "Take Me With U" . I wish he did put "Electric Intercourse" in its place.

^^^^^ This!

MadamGoodnight said:

purplemajesty23 said:

AGREEE!!!! I can't stand "Take Me With U" . I wish he did put "Electric Intercourse" in its place.

^^^^^ This!

No way..cant have to ballads back to back.

MadamGoodnight said:

purplemajesty23 said:

AGREEE!!!! I can't stand "Take Me With U" . I wish he did put "Electric Intercourse" in its place.

^^^^^ This!

He could have let this one be on Apollonia 6, and replaced it with another

But G-Spot & Electric Intercourse were replaced by the Beautiful Ones

jaawwnn said:

Would have been a bit presumptious of Prince to play Electric Intercourse while on the bike on his first date with Appollonia though

lol

datdude said:

Gunsnhalen said:

I love Free! i think it goes well with the theme of the album. I always get an apolocalyptic feel with the 1999 album and Free is a slow track in the middle to calm down the chaos.

Plus i love the vocals on the song as well

My point exactly. ppl don't get it. It's a contemplative ballad (not a love song) in the midst of a foreboding electric apocalyptic world transition, with sex as therapy

I agree with both of you

For some reason I think of the Ladder when it comes to Free, I wish the Ladder had a bit more punch like Free, which I could easily see fitting on ATWIAD

jaawwnn said:

Would have been a bit presumptious of Prince to play Electric Intercourse while on the bike on his first date with Appollonia though

I agree as much as I like "Electric Intercourse",there really was no room for it in the movie.But it should have surfaced as a B-side to one of the Purple Rain singles.

HonestMan13 said:

Free is a great song with a relatable message but it gets hated on because it knocked Moonbeam Levels off the album. Moonbeam Levels is a great track but two songs about nuclear armageddon on the same album would've been too much. Probably why it never made it as a b-side, 1999 (the title track) already touched upon the subject matter and was a funkier dance track.

I agree..."Free" has a universal,easy-to-understand message that everyone could relate to.I like "Moonbeam Levels" but I think alot of people would not have understood the true meaning.The main line in the chorus ("please send all your moonbeam levels to me") would have confused some listeners.

...

[Edited 3/7/13 20:22pm]

djThunderfunk said:

SoulAlive said:

There are no "throwaways" on the 1999 album. that album is perfect from beginning to end

Right. Except for International Lover...

come on now...we all know he needed to do at least one bedroom/seduction ballad,especially after the great reception that "Do Me Baby" received,on the last album.

SoulAlive said:

djThunderfunk said:

Right. Except for International Lover...

come on now...we all know he needed to do at least one bedroom/seduction ballad,especially after the great reception that "Do Me Baby" received,on the last album.

Yes, there was a need, but International Lover was just way too over the top. Of course, I feel the same way about Do Me Baby.

vainandy said:

As for "Electric Intercourse", that one should have replaced "Take Me With U".

Screw that. Take Me With U belonged on A6's album and PR should have had the extended version of Let's Go Crazy.

In my not-so-humble opinon...

SoulAlive said:

djThunderfunk said:

Right. Except for International Lover...

come on now...we all know he needed to do at least one bedroom/seduction ballad,especially after the great reception that "Do Me Baby" received,on the last album.

Yeah, but I like Do Me Baby. Great track! Int. Lover? NO...

Don't knock International Lover...

Why not? It's among the cheesiest of his "seduction ballads".

In my not-so-humble opinion...

That's the kind of cheese I like!

Fonkyman said:

Didn't like it then and still dont. Worst song on 99 for me. Cheesy cheesy cheese cheese.

This...

This thread's had me pulling all kinds of faces. Some of you are funkin bananas.

"Shadows of Purple Rain" "If there was no Free there'd be no Purple Rain" "People don't get it"?

I get it. I couldn't give a monkeys how profound the message's supposed to be. Nothing to do with Moonbeam Levels why I don't like it. I didn't own a boot when I first heard Free. It's just a shitter to my ears. Apples n Oranges, earwax and cotton buds.

I would have preferred "Moonbeam Levels" instead on the album as it's a better song to me, but "Free" probably just conveyed the message that Prince was sending out with his music at the time (which was, well, freedom).

Didn't many records around that time have some sort of a "patriotic rock" song on them anyway? At least in the sense that they were appraisals of the original values of the American society (even if critical of the contemporay one)?

I like the instrumentation a lot though. I suppose people just find the lyrics too corny.

Fonkyman said:

This thread's had me pulling all kinds of faces. Some of you are funkin bananas.

"Shadows of Purple Rain" "If there was no Free there'd be no Purple Rain" "People don't get it"?

I get it. I couldn't give a monkeys how profound the message's supposed to be. Nothing to do with Moonbeam Levels why I don't like it. I didn't own a boot when I first heard Free. It's just a shitter to my ears. Apples n Oranges, earwax and cotton buds.

I suspect that very, very few people first heard "Free" and "Moonbeam Levels" at close to the same time. I think that I first heard the 1999 album in the fall of 1996 and it was not until 2004/2005 that I first heard "Moonbeam Levels."