Free Will (12")

From what I gather, Free Will is a firm favorite amongst fans of Electronic, it's not hard to see why either. It was originally released as a B-side to Get The Message in 1991. I must admit, whilst I do love Get The Message I do prefer Free Will. Two versions of the track exist: a 7" and a 12" edit. As you could imagine, 7" singles featured the 7" edit whilst CD singles and 12" records hosted the 12" mix. I have to say that the longer mix is easily the more superior version for me at least. It's just because it's such a good song for me, that more is indeed better in this particular case! To tell you the truth, I could count on one hand the amount of times I've listened to the shorter edit. Free Will is an instrumental (one of a number of instrumentals in their discography). It is a very high energy dance song that covers a lot of ground in its near six minute total running time. Really, the title Free Will is an accurate description of the track as it has meanders off in various musical directions during the course of the track. It definitely makes for a track that is always interesting to listen to, such is it's ever-evolving nature. To be honest, I think it would have fitted in well on Electronic. The music doesn't sound too far removed from that found on the album and it would have been a good centerpiece I think. The track is only available in its original forms on the various Get The Message single packages. A 2013 edit was released on the recent Electronic special edition but it's vastly inferior to the original. Quite frankly, I don't see the point in doing a new edit of it whatsoever, and it wasn't the only track on the bonus disc to get such treatment either. In any case, the 12" of Free Will is a great, underrated track that is quite a hidden gem. I can only hope that one day the original will surface on an original release!