Name: Someday We'll All Be Free by Donny Hathaway
Brand: Donny Hathaway
SKU: 603497951444
Price: 9.9 USD
Availability: OnlineOnly
Rating: 4.5 (427 reviews)

ALBUM

Donny Hathaway's legacy has been mostly lost to the mainstream in the years since his untimely death. His contemporaries during the late '60s and 1970s, including Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Al Green, are more recognizable by name to the masses, but Hathaway's impact on popular music cannot be overstated. Someday We'll All Be Free collects virtually all of his solo output from Atlantic minus his work on the Come Back Charleston Blue soundtrack (with the studio version of "Little Ghetto Boy" being the lone exception), an interview from a live compilation from 2004, and a live version of "Nu-Po" from his In Performance album (which has been replaced with an alternate live version from Carnegie Hall). The difference between this set and the similar collection entitled Original Album Series released around the same time is that the Someday We'll All Be Free collects five previously unreleased demos and two previously unreleased live cuts. For the bonus material alone, Someday We'll All Be Free eclipses the Original Album Series box. Some of the previously unreleased compositions were picked up from an anthology that was inexplicably pulled before its release in the mid-2000s. Included is a studio version of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" that was previously only available in a live format. The general performance, although extended by a half minute, is roughly the same with its trademark quick ivory tickles presumably by Hathaway himself. The remaining demos are from 1974 and 1975 and showcase a man with incredible talent that ranges from two bouncy jazz vocals ("No Other One But You" and "The Essence of Destiny"), a gorgeous -- albeit short -- ballad ("Make It on Your Own"), and a piano jam with pomp ("Going Down"). The liner notes speculate these were from sessions for a fourth solo album that never came to fruition, in part because of the burgeoning success with duet partner Roberta Flack. The packaging is top-notch, as the compilation's four discs are housed in a DVD-sized case that opens into a trifold with the liner notes, written in French, neatly tucked into a small slit. Photographs of Hathaway, sheet music, and picture sleeves of 33s and 45s adorn the pages of the notes. The only negative aspect for the box set is that the collection breaks up albums, ordered chronologically, to fit the collection onto four discs. It's a small complaint for a compilation that honors the late singer's memory with such precision and care. In no way does it diminish its overall mission to present a macroscopic view of a master at work. Flack and Wonder were in awe of the totality of Hathaway's gifts of arranging, writing, singing, and performing. Someday We'll All Be Free serves the initiated and uninitiated alike to be the definitive collection for Donny Hathaway as a solo performer. It is a release unequivocally not to be missed.
© Eric Luecking /TiVo

Someday We'll All Be Free

Product information

Release options

1. Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)

2. Je Vous Aime (I Love You)

3. I Believe to My Soul

4. Misty

5. Sugar Lee

6. Tryin' Times

7. Thank You Master (For My Soul)

8. The Ghetto

9. To Be Young, Gifted and Black

10. Giving Up (2007 Remaster)

11. A Song for You (2007 Remaster)

12. Little Girl

13. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

14. Magnificent Sanctuary Band (2005 Remaster)

15. She Is My Lady

16. I Believe in Music

17. Take a Love Song

18. Put Your Hand in the Hand (Single Version)

19. I Love the Lord, He Heard My Cry (Pts. I & II)

20. Someday We'll All Be Free

21. Flying Easy

22. Valdez in the Country

23. I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know

24. Come Little Children

25. Love, Love, Love

26. The Slums

27. Magdelena

28. I Know It's You

29. Jealous Guy (Studio Version)

30. No Other One But You (1974 Demo)

31. The Essence of Destiny (1974 Demo)

32. Going Down (1974 Demo)

33. Make It on Your Own (1978 Demo)

34. This Christmas

35. Little Ghetto Boy

36. A Dream

37. Be There

38. Lord Help Me

39. You Were Meant for Me

40. What a Woman Really Means

41. What's Going On

42. The Ghetto (Live)

43. Hey Girl

44. You've Got a Friend

45. Little Ghetto Boy (Live)

46. We're Still Friends

47. Jealous Guy

48. Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything) [Live]

49. To Be Young, Gifted and Black (Live at the Troubador, Los Angeles, CA)

50. A Song for You (Live at the Troubador, Los Angeles, CA)

51. I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know (Live at the Bitter End, New York City, 1971)

52. We Need You Right Now (Live at the Troubador, Los Angeles, CA)

53. Sack Full of Dreams (Live at the Troubador, Los Angeles, CA)

54. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (Live)

55. Yesterday

56. Superwoman

57. Flying Easy (Live)

58. Valdez in the Country (Live)

59. Someday We'll All Be Free (Live)

60. Nu-Po (Live at Newport Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, 1973)

61. Love, Love, Love (Live at Newport Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, 1973)

Technical Specifications