Chronicles - Free Album Review

Album Review

Songs of yesteryear from one of the greatest rock bands of all time.If Led Zeppelin was the heaviest folk band,then Free was surely the heaviest Blues band.

Free was the first rock band I saw live.As I recall,it was 1971.It was part of their farewell tour.The venue was the Boxing Arena on Bixteth Street Liverpool.Sadly the site is now a car park.It was a momentous experience for a 16 year old.I was with a gang of school mates from the sixth form.After queuing in a long snake-like row which seemed to go on forever,I eventually entered the arena and into what would change my life forever.This was the night pop music got left behind as I entered the world of Rock.The air was thick with that strange smelling oil worn by dope-heads.

Also on the bill was a trashy outfit called Junkyard Angel,followed by gentile medieval song-smiths Amazing Blondel.The former was a music disaster,whereas the latter were sublime,if rather quaint.Then came Free.Sitting stage left in a huge arc and quite near the front,I saw first hand the moment my mature music tastes took hold.

In all departments they were awesome.Lean singer-cum-sex symbol Paul Rogers sang his rocking heart out.Rhythm section bassist Andy Frazer(the funkiest bassist ever)and pounding sticksman Simon Kirke held it all together.Then there was 'Koss'-lead guitarist Paul Kossoff.Right in front of me was the first legend I ever saw:he gave a virtuoso masterclass in style and technique.Great riffs and wailing finger vibratos.No one has ever managed to hold a note quite like Koss did.On record,he tended to be understated-on stage he'd really let rip.Despite breaking a string during one solo,he casually slipped between the speakers and restrung in a flash,and fell back in line with the song as if nothing had happened.The mark of a pro on top of his game.With a capacity crowd of two and a half thousand they took the place by storm.The big ones will stay with me forever-The Hunter,Mr.Big,My Brother Jake,Little Bit Of Love and their all conquering signature tune All Right Now.If you were not lucky enough to be there,then simply buy this magnificent Blues scaling marathon,because it's a close as you're going to get to a band who achieved so much in an all too short an existence.Also includes tracks from the later Free line-up before the group finally disbanded after five years in 1973.Kossoff died from a drug-induced heart attack on a flight bound for New York in 1976.Rodgers went on to form Bad Company with Kirke,while Frazer formed Toby and later joined Chris Spedding in The Sharks.

The new Queen line-up is fronted by none other than Paul Rodgers.

Elly Roberts