I got into Free because my friend had bought a couple of their greatest hits albums and he had happened to mention on how much he liked them. I had never ever thought of Free before when it came to buying music as they only had a few hits and were not a band that was well published or advertised. I jumped in by buying the five disc box-set "Songs of Yesterday" and then bought the remastered albums (with bonus tracks) when they were released in 2001.
Free tend to get lumped in with Led Zeppelin quite a lot, but apart from the first album "Tons of Sobs" they are a total different beast to Zep as they have a more soulful singer in Paul Rodgers and have a more rounded sound. The comparison also came about because of the heaviness Free sometimes had too.
The first album "Tons of Sobs" was released late 1968 and has a very strong blues feel. The most famous track is "The Hunter" which was also issued on the first Led Zep album the next year. As Paul Rodgers said about playing in Sunderland, the locals would request every band to play this track whether they knew it or not. A competant album by a very young group, but to my ears, the production sounds a little dated.
"Free" was released about a year later and is my favourite album. It has less of a blues feel as some of the tracks are slower and verge into folk type territory. The track "Mourning Sad Morning" is sublime and features female co-vocals as well as flute. I probably like this album more because it features the most bonus tracks which makes it a good listen and a bargain-to-boot.
"Fire and Water" from 1970 features the ubiquitous hit "Alright Now". This album is considered to be Free's best album and did quite well sales-wise, but I wasn't convinced originally. I am slowly coming round to liking this album more as I sing the opening lines to the title track virtually every day at the moment. The arguments between Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser started about this period and were to continue until Andy left the group and Paul Kossoff was also having problems due to his extreme drug taking. One point to note is that the group were very unhappy with the single version of "Alright Now" as it was an edited version and they felt that the full version should have been released instead.
Free's fourth album was called "Highway" and contained the single "The Stealer". It is quite a poppy album with a fair bit of soul in places. Not one I tend to play very often. I must listen to it more.
In 1971, the band split and a live album was released. A good album which was recorded at Sunderland and Croydon. The studio track "Get Where I belong" was also added. A good live album, but does not do a lot for me, not because of the quality but because I am not always keen on some live albums. The original US version of this album included the single "My Brother Jake".
1972 came around and Free got back together again to record "Free At Last". When this album was originally released, it wasn't a big seller reaching the late sixties in the US charts. I quite like this album as it has a magical feel to it, even though not many of the songs are known out of Free fandom. A very psychadelic and memorable cover too.
Andy Fraser leaves the group and Koss is quite ill due to his drug problems, so two new members are brought into the group even though Koss is still featured on some of the tracks. The final album "Heartbreaker" has some good soulful numbers on it, but doesn't quite make the mark as previous albums did. I still happen to like this album a lot though due to the soulfulness that some of the tracks have.
The "Songs of Yesterday" box-set is a five CD compilation of various out-takes, early versions, unreleased studio/live tracks and a selection of band member tracks with other groups they formed. In one way it is fascinating, but in another way it proves to be quite cumbersome as a number of the tracks featured are inferior to the original released versions. Worth obtaining for the few unreleased tracks and the unreleased live material if live versions are your bag. To the unitiated, sticking to the albums first may be the best thing to do.
"Live At The BBC" has recently been released and comprises of two discs. The first disc is of material recorded for the sessions that Free did for "Top Gear" and other BBC Radio Shows. Not all the session tracks are available due to either the BBC wiping the tapes or to Koss recording over a track or two. Still, a very fine album centreing around the first three albums. Disc two has two short recordings giving eleven tracks of Free performing live for the BBC. The quality of the first two tracks and the last two tracks is quite poor as all this discs material is taken from home recordings off the radio. The songs "Free Me" and "Remembering" are astonishing and remind me very much of the early Whitesnake. Not suprising as David Coverdale came from Paul Rodgers home town too.
Also recently released, is the DVD "Forever". I have only seen a smattering of this on the first disc. Does Paul Rodgers have the lyrics written on the inside of his eye-lids, I wonder. The second disc comprises of some viewing material, but is mainly audio from the Isle of Wight festival in 1970 and uses still photos only. An interesting and fascinating document, but only meant for hardcore Free fans.
Anybody who has an interest in music should own some Free music especially if they like groups such as Led Zeppelin, Deep purple etc etc. There are three good quality compilations available which are priced quite favourably. The current one is "Chronicles" which has just been re-released at a price of around UK pounds 9.99 and has 35 tracks on 2 discs.
All together now ( Bob singing opening lines to Fire and Water). I would have quoted the lyrics, but I have to be careful of copyright restrictions. Sorry.
Free tend to get lumped in with Led Zeppelin quite a lot, but apart from the first album "Tons of Sobs" they are a total different beast to Zep as they have a more soulful singer in Paul Rodgers and have a more rounded sound. The comparison also came about because of the heaviness Free sometimes had too.
The first album "Tons of Sobs" was released late 1968 and has a very strong blues feel. The most famous track is "The Hunter" which was also issued on the first Led Zep album the next year. As Paul Rodgers said about playing in Sunderland, the locals would request every band to play this track whether they knew it or not. A competant album by a very young group, but to my ears, the production sounds a little dated.
"Free" was released about a year later and is my favourite album. It has less of a blues feel as some of the tracks are slower and verge into folk type territory. The track "Mourning Sad Morning" is sublime and features female co-vocals as well as flute. I probably like this album more because it features the most bonus tracks which makes it a good listen and a bargain-to-boot.
"Fire and Water" from 1970 features the ubiquitous hit "Alright Now". This album is considered to be Free's best album and did quite well sales-wise, but I wasn't convinced originally. I am slowly coming round to liking this album more as I sing the opening lines to the title track virtually every day at the moment. The arguments between Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser started about this period and were to continue until Andy left the group and Paul Kossoff was also having problems due to his extreme drug taking. One point to note is that the group were very unhappy with the single version of "Alright Now" as it was an edited version and they felt that the full version should have been released instead.
Free's fourth album was called "Highway" and contained the single "The Stealer". It is quite a poppy album with a fair bit of soul in places. Not one I tend to play very often. I must listen to it more.
In 1971, the band split and a live album was released. A good album which was recorded at Sunderland and Croydon. The studio track "Get Where I belong" was also added. A good live album, but does not do a lot for me, not because of the quality but because I am not always keen on some live albums. The original US version of this album included the single "My Brother Jake".
1972 came around and Free got back together again to record "Free At Last". When this album was originally released, it wasn't a big seller reaching the late sixties in the US charts. I quite like this album as it has a magical feel to it, even though not many of the songs are known out of Free fandom. A very psychadelic and memorable cover too.
Andy Fraser leaves the group and Koss is quite ill due to his drug problems, so two new members are brought into the group even though Koss is still featured on some of the tracks. The final album "Heartbreaker" has some good soulful numbers on it, but doesn't quite make the mark as previous albums did. I still happen to like this album a lot though due to the soulfulness that some of the tracks have.
The "Songs of Yesterday" box-set is a five CD compilation of various out-takes, early versions, unreleased studio/live tracks and a selection of band member tracks with other groups they formed. In one way it is fascinating, but in another way it proves to be quite cumbersome as a number of the tracks featured are inferior to the original released versions. Worth obtaining for the few unreleased tracks and the unreleased live material if live versions are your bag. To the unitiated, sticking to the albums first may be the best thing to do.
"Live At The BBC" has recently been released and comprises of two discs. The first disc is of material recorded for the sessions that Free did for "Top Gear" and other BBC Radio Shows. Not all the session tracks are available due to either the BBC wiping the tapes or to Koss recording over a track or two. Still, a very fine album centreing around the first three albums. Disc two has two short recordings giving eleven tracks of Free performing live for the BBC. The quality of the first two tracks and the last two tracks is quite poor as all this discs material is taken from home recordings off the radio. The songs "Free Me" and "Remembering" are astonishing and remind me very much of the early Whitesnake. Not suprising as David Coverdale came from Paul Rodgers home town too.
Also recently released, is the DVD "Forever". I have only seen a smattering of this on the first disc. Does Paul Rodgers have the lyrics written on the inside of his eye-lids, I wonder. The second disc comprises of some viewing material, but is mainly audio from the Isle of Wight festival in 1970 and uses still photos only. An interesting and fascinating document, but only meant for hardcore Free fans.
Anybody who has an interest in music should own some Free music especially if they like groups such as Led Zeppelin, Deep purple etc etc. There are three good quality compilations available which are priced quite favourably. The current one is "Chronicles" which has just been re-released at a price of around UK pounds 9.99 and has 35 tracks on 2 discs.
All together now ( Bob singing opening lines to Fire and Water). I would have quoted the lyrics, but I have to be careful of copyright restrictions. Sorry.
