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Considering how many lives he’s led and all the obstacles he’s overcome, David Crosby must have been born in the Year of the Cat, right? Actually, Croz was born in the Year of the Snake (1941), which might serve to inform how he’s instinctively slithered through any storm crossing his path. For Free, his seventh solo album, is further proof Crosby remains an artist unbowed. Though his deliberately soothing, contemplative vocal tone may be the literal definition of adult contemporary, there’s nothing lax in the way Croz emotes every blessed syllable to intended effect (see the empathic narrative firing lines of “Shot at Me”). The funky-tunk groove of “Rodriguez for a Night,” ever-so-sleekly buttressed by Steve Tavaglione’s tenor sax and Walt Fowler’s flugelhorn and trumpet lines, comports itself like a long-lost Steely Dan track—no surprise, really, given Donald Fagen’s co-writing credit—while the vocal blends on the skyward-looking “The Other Side of Midnight” and cascading harmonizing with Michael McDonald all throughout “River Rise” are the very embodiment of sonic bliss. For Free is worth every damn penny you’ll pony up for the privilege of hearing Crosby carry the torch for creative perseverance.
By Mike Mettler
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