Elly Roberts reviews
Free: Chronicles
Distributed by
Island Records (Universal)
- Cat.no: 9822554
- Released: April 2005
- Rating: 10/10
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 non other than Paul Rodgers.
The full list of tracks included are :
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
