Artist:Michael McDonald
Song:Sweet Freedom
Album:The Ultimate Collection
If you have read this blog for a while, you will probably know that sometimes I like to feature discography orphans. These are hit songs that do not appear on an artist's standard discography. These days the song will usually appear on a movie soundtrack. Sometimes the song can be hard to find but not in this case. Most music fans should be familiar with Michael McDonald from his 70s hits with The Doobie Brothers. He went solo in 1982 and scored a top five hit with I Keep Forgettin'. He also topped the charts with the 1986 duet with Patti LaBelle On My Own. That was on a Patti LaBelle album so it is not a discography orphan. The 1986 single Sweet Freedom is McDonald's other top ten hit. It is from the 1986 film Running Scared starring Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines. Sweet Freedom was written and produced by Rod Temperton. He produced the whole album. Mark Isham's score was on a separate album. The problem was the soundtrack album was on MCA and McDonald was on Warner Bros. The album Lookin' Back was released in 1985. And McDonald released his next album in 1990. So Warners re-released Lookin' Back with Sweet Freedom added. Then they released a 1986 comp and titled the album Sweet Freedom just so you know the song is on the album. At the time, McDonald had only released two albums. Normally a comp would be premature. There are two Michael McDonald comps available as budget CDs. Ultimate Collection is the better of the two as there is Doobie Brothers on it along with McDonald's duets with James Ingram and Patti LaBelle. So there you go. Another discography orphan solved. Here's the video of Sweet Freedom by Michael McDonald.
Thank-you very much Frank. I just watched the video. It had strong 80's vibes all over it. Loved it for the nostalgia. Michael McDonald has done some real good work over the years. I loved the Doobie Brother and their music. David.
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