The Freeborne

The Freeborne was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1966. The band was one of the numerous groups associated with the infamous "Bosstown Sound", and is noted for releasing one eclectic album, Peak Impressions, in 1967, which exemplified the young members' versatility embedded in psychedelia.

History

The Freeborne was organized from the remnants of two local frat rock groups, the Indigos and the Missing Links. The two groups performed covers of Top 40 radio hits, but key players sought to move on from both bands in hopes of penning original material.^[1] From the two bands, the lineup of the Freeborne, a name inspired by the film Born Free, consisted of Bob Margolin (bass guitar), Dave Codd (lead guitar, vocals) Nick Carstoiu (rhythm guitar, vocals), Lew Lipson (drums), and Mike Spiros (keyboards, trumpet), who was not a member of either the Indigos or the Missing Links, but was added for his versatility.^[2] In early 1967, the band began playing at music clubs and fraternities before attracting the interest of Barry Richards, a blues musician who, through his connections with the New York-based Monitor Records, had the Freeborne signed to a recording contract.^[3]

They entered A&R and CBS studios in New York to record their debut album, Peak Impressions, named for the Codd-written song of the same name, which described the peak of a LSD trip. Despite the Freeborne's age range—between ages 17 and 19—the group featured three capable multi-instrumentalists, who played a wide variety of orchestral instruments including piano, harpsichord, cello, trumpet, flute, and recorder.^[4] Coupled with the band's highly psychedelic theme is traces of blues, which Margolin picked-up from watching a Remains concert prior to the Boston act's tour with the Beatles.^[1] Music historian Richie Unterberger notes that Peak Impressions was unusual in regards to its instrumental diversity, but "the moods shift seem more like an attempt to be as eclectric as possible than they do like genuinely well-thought-out compositional statements".^[5]

The album was released in mid-1967 to moderate success on the East coast. However, Peak Impressions suffered from being associated with the "Bosstown Sound", a commercial campaign that advertised groups such as Ultimate Spinach, Beacon Street Union, and Orpheus with the intention of competing with the San Francisco Sound. It began with moderate commercial success until reviewers criticized the bands' for their lack of originality.^[6] Another factor that lead to the album's commercial disappointment was the Freeborne's lack of touring, although they did perform alongside the Velvet Underground and the Left Banke at a venue called the Boston Tea Party. After firing their manager, the group lost their contract with Monitor Records. In 1968, the Freeborne disbanded though variations of the band continued to perform well into the 1970s.^[1]

Margolin was the only member of the band to achieve considerable success after the Freeborne, performing with Muddy Waters in the 1970s.^[6] In 2014, Arf! Arf! Records reissued Peak Impressions with bonus tracks. The album is now considered one of the better psychedelic pieces to emerge from Boston during the "Bosstown Sound" movement.^[7]

References