''The Road to Freedom'' is a 1986 record album by "

L. Ron Hubbard Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianeti ...

& Friends". Artists that worked on the album include John Travolta, Chick Corea,

Leif Garrett Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik; November 8, 1961) is an American singer, actor, and television personality. He worked as a child actor, then in the 1970s became famous as a teen idol in music. He later received much publicity for his dru ...

Frank Stallone Francesco Stallone Jr. (born July 30, 1950) is an American actor and musician. He is the younger brother of actor Sylvester Stallone and has written music for Sylvester's movies. His song " Far from Over" appeared in the 1983 film '' Staying Al ...

, and

Karen Black Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portrayi ...

Production and marketing

The album was produced by the Church of Scientology and their recording studio Golden Era Productions. The Church of Scientology says the album achieved its

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

within four months of its release. The cover art for the original album and the updated version of the same cover feature a long bridge meandering off into the sky. This is reminiscent of "

The Bridge to Total Freedom The Bridge to Total Freedom, or simply The Bridge, is a metaphor used by the Church of Scientology to describe believers' advancement. Scientology holds that believers advance to a state of Clear when they have freed themselves from the "reactiv ...

" that appears on the Scientology introductory book, ''What is Scientology''. The album was promoted with a live performance, which was recorded and sold by the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology put out advertising directed towards its WISE International membership that directed them to order multiple copies of the album (offered in half-dozen lots) to give to associates as a means to introduce people to the concepts of Scientology. The advertising calls this album "the perfect dissemination tool". This album was published by Revenimus Music Publishing, the music publishing division of the Church of Scientology, which also published the album '' Mission Earth'', which was also written by L. Ron Hubbard and produced, arranged, and performed by

Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing keyboards, guitar, saxophone, and percussion, as well as singing. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group ...

Reception

The album was panned by critics. Jonathan Leggett of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' compared it to the 2001 album ''The Joy of Creating - The Golden Era Musicians And Friends Play L Ron Hubbard'' which features

Doug E. Fresh Doug E. Fresh (born September 17, 1966) is a Barbados-born American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer, also known as the "Human Beat Box". The pioneer of 20th-century American beatboxing, Fresh is able to accurately imitate drum machines an ...

and Isaac Hayes, writing, "As with Joy of Creating, the lyrics are rotten." Leggett noted, at one stage Travolta croons: "'Reality is me, reality is you. Yeah, yeah, yeah...'" He wrote critically of the album, commenting, "Although praised on websites as 'a musical masterpiece' it actually sounds like the kind of jazz noodle that they used to demonstrate CD players in Dixons in the 1980s."

In popular culture

Writer

Kyle Jarrow Kyle Jarrow (born October 7, 1979) is a Los Angeles–based writer and rock musician. Career Writing Jarrow's writing career began in theater, winning an Obie Award with director Alex Timbers in 2004 for ''A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's ...

incorporated musical themes from ''The Road to Freedom'' into the songs he wrote for his 2003 Obie Award-winning play, '' A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant''. Jarrow explained that he was trying to discover what

liturgical music Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist) and Evensong ...

existed in Scientology, and he came to believe that there were strong correlations between the album and 1980s pop.

Track listing

References

External links