Notes

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Freeways was the final Randy Bachman album of the first BTO era, released in 1977 after their first of many "greatest-hits" collections put much of their chart activity in a tidy package on 1976's Best of B.T.O. (So Far). The price for Freeways fluctuates on Ebay and Half.com, making the album one of the more collectible of the post-hit BTO era. A Swedish seller listed it at six dollars in April of 2002 while a NY merchant had it at $24.99. At Half.com it went for $100.01 and $89.99. Rare and out of print, there is also a combo CD pairing this classic up with Bachman-Turner Overdrive II. "Can We All Come Together" isn't a bad album track, nor is C.F. Turner's "Life Still Goes On (I'm Lonely)," but there are no nuggest as found on Four Wheel Drive, Not Fragile, Bachman-Turner Overdrive II, or even Head On . Everything flows nice enough, resulting in a consistent and easy-to-listen-to batch of songs; it's just that what's missing is the antagonism, the push and pull of Bachman's partnership with a Burton Cummings or someone else to vent his frustrations on — the thing that makes for more interesting material. Having no one causing trouble or even the attitude to point fingers and get mad enough for another "Hey You" to creatively emerge, the band simply goes through the motions. "Shotgun Rider" is as passable as "Bus Rider" from the Guess Who's Share the Land album seven years earlier while "Just for You" might be the brightest track — Randy's "My Generation" stuttering from "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" making its reprise. It's the closest thing to a potential hit, and has some real passion mixed with gliding guitar riffs. Seven of the eight compositions belong to Randy Bachman and, outisde of a few standouts, it's all very B-grade non-offensive rock. "Wheels Won't Turn" comes off like BTO's version of Steve Winwood during Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory, so "Uninspired," which he was, and BTO are here. The wheels aren't turning, he's going "Down, Down," and as the guitarist states in the title track "Drivin' in a beat up car/The highway's long but we come so far" (the title of the previous album). Rob Bachman , Blair Thornton , and C.F. Turner would try to take the legacy further on 1978's Street Action and the Jim Vallance-enabled Rock N' Roll Nights in 1979 with little success. In 1984, Tim Bachman , C.F. Turner, and Randy Bachman would team up with original Chad Allan & the Expressions /Guess Who drummer Garry Peterson to try to recapture the magic on the self-titled Bachman-Turner Overdrive album on Compleat Records/Polygram, after a live Reunion album from the Guess Who . Completists may want Freeways for their collection, "Easy Groove" is certainly a fun little ditty from Randy Bachman , but worth 100 dollars? — only if you're the publisher willing to take a risk on possible future return.

As BTO's success began to wane with the 'Head On' album, Randy's increasing work on outside projects became the target of the other members frustration. According to C.F Turner, "The dissention happened because we were saying these songs aren't good enough." Randy tried to move BTO toward a more progressive style with the 'Freeways' album, but it was not a success. He essentially took control of the album, writing most of the songs for it and allowing C.F. only two vocal leads. According to Robin, C.F. didn't allow any pictures of himself from the front on the album sleeve because in his mind he was just a "sideman" on this album. Randy Bachman remembers that "We had recorded seven albums together, and I was tired out from all the road touring". He said the band "...wanted to temporarily disband, but it was decided by management it wouldn't work. We also ran out of common interests."
This is the album which really caused the critics some consternation as BTO completely left its Not Fragile path. A good album not immediately recognizable as being from BTO, and the last before the band started to break up. It was almost entirely written by Randy Bachman, and has little of the heavy-duty sound of earlier records; in fact it better resembles his solo "Survivor" and his later band Ironhorse. The title track sounds downright tinny compared with pretty much anything from Not Fragile. The treble is up, the bass is down, the guitars are conventional, and the sound is so different you'd hardly know it was released before Bachman left.
One can quickly understand why many fans were upset, not to mention the group members. Most of the band members felt they had run out of steam at this point, and the record was only released because Randy Bachman controlled that aspect of the business; the others would not have produced it. We still like it but you should know it's not the BTO you expect.