Search - Freddie & Dreamers :: You Were Made for Me / In Disneyland

Freddie knew how to have FUN with music.

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 07/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You may dismiss this as lightweight pop, but that's all it was ever meant to be. I listen to a lot of serious music, as you will realise if you look through my other reviews, but there's always room for a bit of light relief.What is particulary important about this particular release is that it not yet another hits compilation. I've got one of those, and it's brilliant, but this is something different.The first half of this twofer is a great rock'n'roll covers album, which includes one of their British hits (I think of you). They may be only one-hit wonders in America, but they had several hits in their homeland. As most of these hits were covers of American songs (including You were made for me and If you gotta make a fool of somebody, neither of which are here despite the album title), it is no surprise that they didn't replicate their British success across the pond. Anyway, they clearly had a lot of fun recording this album.The second half is a Disney covers album, further proof that they were in music for the fun of it. No serious British rock band would record an album of children's music. Yet, this should not be overlooked. I can't say I love every Disney song - some of them can only be described as ridiculous - but if anybody could get away with it, Freddie and the Dreamers could, and it works well.Perhaps the biggest surprise is When you wish upon a star. This is the one really classy Disney song here. Freddie pays it the respect it deserves, and it's a masterpiece, proving that Freddie and the Dreamers had the talent to play it straight when they chose to. They chose not to most of the time, and that makes them distinctive and memorable.If you like lightweight music, even in small doses, it doesn't get better than Freddie and the Dreamers. If you only like serious music, you and I might still have a lot in common musically, but leave Freddie alone and don't criticise."