''Freedom – No Compromise'' is the third solo studio album by
Little Steven
Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...
, released in May 1987 by
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
.
Following on the moderate success of
Artists United Against Apartheid
Artists United Against Apartheid was a 1985 protest group founded by activist and performer Steven Van Zandt and record producer Arthur Baker to protest against apartheid in South Africa. The group produced the song " Sun City" and the album ' ...
's " Sun City" in 1985, Steven Van Zandt's next record was a full-on
dance-rock
Dance-rock is a dance-infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and disco ...
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
and
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...
join Van Zandt on lead vocals on "Native American" and "Bitter Fruit", respectively. Politics were even more at the forefront than before, centering on U.S. transgressions in
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, and against Native Americans. By this time, the old Disciples of Soul band had almost completely disappeared.
In 2019, the album was remastered for release as part of Van Zandt's career-spanning box set '' Rock N Roll Rebel: The Early Work''. The digital deluxe edition of the album was released on November 29, 2019 containing five bonus tracks, along with the reissued ''Bitter Fruit'' bonus EP.
Background
Most of ''Freedom - No Compromise'' was written during the fall of 1984 and was recorded at seven different studios in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
between early 1985 and late 1986. Van Zandt took time out from the sessions for other projects, which included the '' Sun City'' album and film (''The Making of Sun City''), anti-
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
and
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
concerts, and the co-writing and co-production of
Lone Justice
Lone Justice is an American country rock band formed in 1982 by guitarist Ryan Hedgecock and singer Maria McKee. They have recently announced they are recording new material as per Marvin Etzioni July 2022. They are part of a new exhibit in Sep ...
's 1986 ''
Shelter
Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger.
Shelter may also refer to:
Places
* Port Shelter, Hong Kong
* Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations
* Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...
'' album. ''Freedom - No Compromise'' features contributions from a wide array of guests and session musicians.
Thematically, ''Freedom - No Compromise'' mostly deals with the struggles for freedom and
self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
in South Africa, Central America, and among Native Americans. Van Zandt wanted album opener "Freedom" to be really simple: "State the horror and oppression that surrounds us, speaking as a member of the oppressors, and do it in as few lyrics as possible," he said in a 1987 interview. "I like the album's overall theme to be very direct in the first song, and then get into specific things in the later songs." He said that the background context is the
foreign policy of the United States
The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...
, which he believes is "the underlying problem throughout most of the world."
"Trail of Broken Treaties" concerns the mistreatment of Native Americans and features long-time
Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...
pianist and collaborator Kenny Moore singing all the harmony parts on the track. Van Zandt had seen him perform with Turner on her
Private Dancer Tour
The Private Dancer Tour is the fifth concert tour by singer Tina Turner. In conjunction with her fifth studio album ''Private Dancer'' (1984), the tour helped to establish Turner as a major solo artist and live performer and is often considered ...
in 1984: "And I'm hearing Tina, plus what sounds like another Tina, singing the harmony above her. When it came time to record I remembered him and we tracked him down in L.A." Van Zandt described "Native American" as the other side of "Trail of Broken Treaties." In "Native American", he tried to "capture a moment of the uncomplicated beauty and integrity of Native American people." The track features
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
on guest lead vocals. "He and I split up the lyric lines and I sang the high parts like I used to do when we sang together," Van Zandt said.
"Pretoria" is the South African situation from a different perspective emotionally, according to Van Zandt: "The dignity, patience, and integrity of these people survive somehow - and they manage not to be angry or bitter."
The title of "Bitter Fruit" is taken from
Stephen Schlesinger Stephen C. Schlesinger is an American historian, political commentator, and international affairs specialist. He is a Fellow at the Century Foundation in New York City. He served as director of the World Policy Institute at the New School University ...
and
Stephen Kinzer
Stephen Kinzer (born August 4, 1951) is an American author, journalist, and academic. A former ''New York Times'' correspondent, he has published several books, and writes for several newspapers and news agencies.
Reporting career
During the 198 ...
's 1982 book ''Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala'', which Van Zandt read when he was doing research into U.S. foreign policy. He said in 1987, "
he book
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
dug into the 1954 coup in Guatemala, which the more I read about the more I realized was a good example of what we're continuing to do in Latin America — basically engaging in a conspiracy between the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
, the U.S. State Department, multi-national corporations, and the military to overthrow a government talking about land reform, and selling it to the American public as policing a communist threat." The song describes the exploitation of workers by big business and features
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
-born singer
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...
on guest lead vocals. When Blades came in to record his vocal part, he felt that the track needed one more percussion part. "So he picked up a mike stand and drumstick," Van Zandt recalled, "and tapped out this great rhythm, which is now a central part of the song."
On "Sanctuary," Van Zandt criticizes the U.S. for not living up to the ideals upon which the country was founded. The song is based upon the
Sanctuary movement The Sanctuary movement was a religious and political campaign in the United States that began in the early 1980s to provide safe haven for Central American refugees fleeing civil conflict. The movement was a response to federal immigration policies ...
, a religious and political campaign in the U.S., who give sanctuary to Latin American political refugees who've been denied asylum in the U.S. "It's outrageous that these providers of sanctuary are being arrested and jailed for fulfilling something they believe is a sacred religious duty and a moral obligation," he said.
"No More Party's" introduces a change of pace emotionally. "My version of comic relief, you might say," Van Zandt said. The track is his attempt at providing perspective and presenting his idealistic view of the world, dealing with different political parties and ideologies. "I wanted to go into a broader sort of statement, having more to do with my own philosophy than any specific issue and have some fun with the double entendre." "Can't You Feel the Fire" is about motivation and, "in the end, hopefully motivational," Van Zandt explained. While "No More Party's" is more ideological, "Can't You Feel the Fire" is more emotional. Both songs make up an ongoing theme that is present in much of his work, according to Van Zandt: "We must stop letting other people do our thinking for us."
Track listing
All songs written and arranged by
Little Steven
Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...
# "Freedom" - 5:14
# "Trail of Broken Treaties" - 6:05
# "Pretoria" - 5:16
# "Bitter Fruit" - 6:18
# "No More Party's" - 5:40
# "Can't You Feel the Fire" - 4:38
# "Native American" - 5:38
# "Sanctuary" - 6:04
2019 digital deluxe edition bonus tracks
#
"Bitter Fruit (Cana No Mas Dub)" (UK 12" single - 1987) - 6:48
# "Fruta Amarga" (Spanish 12" single - 1987) - 5:53
# "No More Party's (For Those About to Party...)" (Rock mix) (12" single - 1987) - 5:38
# "No More Party's (Funky Party Edit)" (R&B Mix) (12" single - 1987) - 4:18
# "Vote Jesse In" (
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...
Campaign Song - 1988) - 4:45
2019 ''"Bitter Fruit"'' digital bonus EP
# "Bitter Fruit (Cana No Mas Dub)" (UK 12" single - 1987) - 6:48
# "Bitter Fruit (No Pasaran Mix)" (UK 12" single - 1987) - 8:18
# "Bitter Fruit (Platano Quemado Mix)" (UK 12" single - 1987) - 6:54
# "No More Party's (For Those About to Party...)" (Rock mix) (12" single - 1987) - 5:38
# "No More Party's (Funky Party Edit)" (R&B mix) (12" single - 1987) - 4:18
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album liner notes.
;Musicians
*
Little Steven
Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...
– lead vocals, guitar,
dulcimer
The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments.
Hammered dulcimers
The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...
, drum programming
*
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
– additional lead vocals on "Native American"
*
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...
– additional lead vocals and percussion on "Bitter Fruit"
* Kenny Moore – additional vocals on "Trail of Broken Treaties", background vocals
* Cobra Jones – additional vocals on "No More Party's"
* Steve Jordan, David Beal,
Keith LeBlanc
Keith LeBlanc is an American drummer and record producer, and is a member of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead.
His record " No Sell Out" was one of the first sample-based releases. The song was a success, charting at No. 60 on the UK Singles ...
– drums
* Romeo Williams,
Doug Wimbish
Douglas Arthur Wimbish (born September 22, 1956) is an American bass player, primarily known for being a member of rock band Living Colour and funk/dub/hip hop collective Tackhead, and as a session musician with artists such as Sugarhill Gang, ...
Greg Phillinganes
Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...
,
Tommy Mandel
Tommy Mandel (born June 2, 1949) is a keyboardist most notable for playing with Bryan Adams from 1981 to 1998, starting with the album ''You Want It You Got It''.
Life and career
Prior to joining Bryan Adams' band, Mandel released a self-titled ...
, Richard Scher,
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both '' Late ...
,
Bernie Worrell
George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll ...
– additional keyboards
* Monti Louis Ellison, David Beal – percussion
* Hilario P. Soto – toyo
* Zoë Yanakis –
bass flute
The bass flute is a member of the flute family. It is in the key of C, pitched one octave below the concert flute. Despite its name, its playing range makes it the tenor member of the flute family. Because of the length of its tube (approximate ...
* Benjamin Newberry, David Beal – drum programming
*
Will Downing
Wilfred "Will" Downing (born November 29, 1963) is an American singer and songwriter. He is married to singer Audrey Wheeler, who was a member of the R&B group Unlimited Touch.
Biography
Downing enrolled in Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, ...
, Craig Derry, Wendell Morrison,
Floyd Westerman
Floyd Westerman, also known as ''Kanghi Duta'' ("Red Crow" in Dakota) (August 17, 1936 – December 13, 2007), was a Dakota Sioux musician, political activist, and actor. After establishing a career as a country music singer, later in his life h ...
, Tina B., Audrey Wheeler, Brenda White-King, Steve Jordan, Oren Waters, Julia Waters, Luther Waters, Maxine Waters,
Debra Byrd
Debra Byrd (born 19 July 1951, Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio) is an Americans, American Singing, vocalist who has worked with Barry Manilow in and after Lady Flash and Bob Dylan, appeared on Broadway theatre, Broadway, and serves as the head vo ...
, Elicia Wright, Benjamin Newberry - background vocals
* Sechaba Cultural Singers, Zola Dube, Tshepo Tsotetsi, Moeketsi Bodibe, Tnemba Ntinga, Mweli Mzizi, South African Students Committee of
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, Abner Mariri, Mendiswa Mzamne, Ronald Kunene, Kindiza Ngubeni, Nonhlanhla Simelane, Motlole Moseki - additional background vocals
;Technical
* Little Steven – production, art direction
* Zoë Yanakis, Benjamin Newberry – production assistance
*
Tom Lord-Alge
Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1963) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at The Hit Factory in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground f ...
– mixing
* Robert de la Garza, Steven Rinkoff, John Rollo,
Thom Panunzio
Thom Panunzio is a music producer and engineer.
His career began in 1974 at the Record Plant Studios NYC, working with John Lennon. Later, he became a staff engineer at the Record Plant, and later at The Hit Factory.
Panunzio worked often with ...
, Bruce Lampcov, Allan Meyerson, Don Smith, Clyde Kaplan, Tom Nist – engineering
* Rob Jacobs, Claude Achille, Jeff Lord-Alge, Don Rodenback, Ed Garcia, Bill Dooley, Rob Paustin, Shizuko Orishige – assistant engineering
*
Bob Ludwig
Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
– mastering
*
Dino Danelli
Dino Danelli (July 23, 1944 – December 15, 2022) was an American drummer. Danelli was best known as an original member and the drummer in the rock group The Young Rascals. He has been called "one of the great unappreciated rock drummers in hi ...
– cover design, package concept design, handcoloring, art direction
*
Manhattan Design Manhattan Design was a graphic design collective in New York City from 1979 until 1991. The studio is known for having designed the MTV logo, as well as album packaging, posters, books, and magazines. They also conceived the adaptation of the MTV "m ...
– art assistance, assembly
* Caroline Greyshock – front cover photography, insert photography
* Guido Harari – back cover photography, insert photography
*
Dumile Feni
Zwelidumile Geelboi Mgxaji Mslaba "Dumile" Feni (May 21, 1942 – 1991) was a South African contemporary visual artist known for both his drawings and paintings that included sculptural elements as well as sculptures, which often depicted the st ...
– South African art on insert
*
Oren Lyons
Oren R. Lyons Jr. (born 1930, Seneca) is a Native American Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan. The Seneca are one of the Six Nations of the historic Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
. He claims that "...in 1987, Little Steven would release ''Freedom No Compromise'' - the E Street-er's third solo record to date. Synth-laden textures, samples, and programming aside, ''Freedom No Compromise'' is an ambitious if somewhat over-produced effort. Although, certainly not as accomplished as Steven's sensational debut '' Men Without Women'', the album features some fair to very good material. Overall, a good effort, but not a great one. For a better taste of the artist, spend some quality time with ''Men Without Women''."
Chart performance
Album
Singles
*"No More Party's" was released as a single but did not chart.