Free – Free (2nd album) (1969)

From martinleedham.wordpress.com

Free returned to the studio in April 1969 to begin work on their second album and already there was trouble in the camp. Rodgers and Fraser had by now formed a pretty solid songwriting partnership although they were not exactly the best of buddies. This lead to Kossoff and Kirke feeling a little less than equal as both Rodgers and Fraser had very set ideas as to how they wanted the songs to sound. In fact things got so bad at one point that Rodgers and Fraser were going to leave the band and form a duo. Kirke and Kossoff actually auditioned Overend Watts from Mott The Hoople as Fraser’s replacement and Kossoff himself even auditioned for the vacant guitarist spots in both The Rolling Stones and Jethro Tull.

On to the album itself then. Well if “Tons of Sobs” was Free’s blues album then this self titled follow up was probably their folk album. Although Rodgers still insists it’s more of a soul album. The hard powerful blues that was all over the first album is still evident in places but is more controlled. If “Tons of Sobs” was a runaway horse  then “Free” is a restrained gallop.

The album opens with ‘I’ll Be Creepin” which with it’s funky and prominent bass starts the album off in tremendous style. Just to prove the longevity of these songs Rodgers used this track to open his set on his most recent solo tour. ‘Songs Of Yesterday’ has the blues feel of the earlier album and some great Kossoff guitar, but then which of these tracks hasn’t. ‘Lying In The Sunshine’ is a similar type of song to ‘Over The Green Hills’ from the first album but with more of a soul feel. ‘Trouble On Double Time’ is the out and out blues rocker of the album and is the only track on which Kossoff and Kirke get a songwriting credit. It has a Stones like strut about it. ‘Mouthful Of Grass’ closed the first side on the original vinyl issue. Virtually an instrumental with just a choir of aaah’s it is a strangely hypnotic sort of song. It is also possibly one of the Free songs owned by the most people as it was used as the b-side to ‘All Right Now’. ‘Woman’ is classic Free at their best with a nice understated intro and a great early solo from Kossoff. It was particularly effective in a live setting and is as good as anything they ever recorded. Highlight for many is the lengthy almost whispering laid back folky blues track ‘Free Me’.

On the live disc which comes as part of the “Songs Of Yesterday” 5-CD box set Kirke introduces this song as “….. one of our favourites actually”. It is not difficult to tell why as all put in faultless performances. Kossoff in particular pulling of one of his trademark crying solo’s. At at time when everyone was trying to be the fastest guitarist alive it is ironic that Kossoff was beginning to attract attention by doing exactly the opposite. ‘Broad Daylight’ was a bit of a throwaway song that wouldn’t have been out of place on the first album and was the first single issued by the band. ‘I’ll be Creepin’ was later released as a single but neither charted. The closing track ‘Mourning Sad Morning’ is an absolutely stunning piece of music that once again highlights Rodgers superb voice. Sounding in places like a two hundred year old folk song the unique mixture of Rodgers’ voice, Kossoff’s guitar and the haunting flute of Traffic’s Chris Wood closes the album on a melancholy but beautiful note.

It is also worth mentioning the album cover as it is one that regularly appears in classic album art coffee table books. It was designed by Ron Raffielli and is a photograph of a naked woman shot from below. This effect was obtained by Raffieli standing in a hole and having the woman stride over him. The outline of her body was then filled with stars and set against a blue sky background. The centre spread of the album featured a picture of a young woman on a beach with building blocks! Each member of the band was photographed in one of the boxes. The box which displayed the photo of Paul Rodgers was being held by the girl up to her mouth and she is blowing sand of it. One of the other members of the band later commented “Typical, the one the girl had hold of had to have Rodgers in it ……”

“Free” peaked at #22 in the UK chart which was not bad at all considering there was no hit single and not exactly masses of publicity. All that would change though in 1970 with two more classic albums, a worldwide hit and a tremendous performance at the Isle Of Wight Festival. Superstardom was indeed due to come creeping around the door very soon indeed.

Free Free (1969)

From starling.rinet.ru

Gee, what a nice collection of songs… I actually hated it first time around, but this is one Free album that really grows on you, unlike most of the others.

Just one thing, though, that I don’t understand nohow, is what the hell made people classify Free as a ‘hard rock’ band. Out of the nine tunes here, three are folkish acoustic ditties, two or three more are moderate blues rockers, and then there are a couple really ‘weird’ numbers thrown in, like ‘Songs Of Yesterday’ and ‘Free Me’. Just because a band records a couple hard rock classics like ‘All Right Now’ doesn’t mean it’s “hard-rocking”. This is their most consistent and enjoyable album, and there’s maybe, like ten or fifteen seconds of hard rock on the whole album, for Chrissake! But it’s still really good, anyway.

Paul Rodgers is the star on this album, reveling in its overall gloomy, creepy atmosphere, whether it be the mid-tempo blues numbers or the dreary, dragging along acoustic stuff. The way the record opens, with those ominous wah-wah notes and Andy Fraser’s famous bass riffing on ‘I’ll Be Creepin’, shows you you’re in for an ‘evil’ record – of course, just a moderately evil record, after all, these guys were no Black Sabbath, so calm down! More gritty blue-rock can be found on ‘Woman’ and ‘Trouble On Double Time’, but I’m not really discussing these here: there’s little to mention about them except that both are based on catchy little riffs, all played by Kossoff in his gruff, nonchalant manner, and dumb little lyrics, all sung by Rodgers in his gruff, raunchy way.

Not to mention that, in the best ‘blues’ tradition, he proudly announces in ‘Woman’ that his lady only comes third for him after his guitar and his car. Now that’s what I call a man who got his priorities straight… In case you’re wondering, these songs rule.

Personally, though, out of the ‘fast’ numbers (yeah, right, the quotes are there and they’re gonna stay, because ‘fast’ for Free is always mid-tempo) I prefer ‘Songs Of Yesterday’, a groovy rocker that’s distinguished by the clever way it alternates the fast, boppy parts and the slower, bluesier parts. It also has the best bass workout on the entire record – Andy is giving it his all, and Kossoff inserts an intoxicating guitar line now and then. If anything, this song is way more sophisticated, exciting and entertaining than ‘All Right Now’, although, of course, it’s nowhere near as gut-spinning and if you drink beer you probably won’t like it. I mean, if you drink beer and listen to it at the same time – ‘All Right Now’, on the other hand, is a generic beer-drinkin’ anthem.

And say, even the acoustic stuff on here is friggin’ interesting. Yes it is yes it is ohhh yes it is. There’s the totally gorgeous ballad ‘Lying In The Sunshine’ – you have to appreciate that lazy folky vibe, of course, but the acoustic guitar there is just stunning – a relaxed, almost comatose intonation that, nevertheless, totally suits the song and its lazy, distracted lyrics. Then there’s ‘Free Me’, a song that, unfortunately, drags on for far too long (it would be much better if trimmed in two), and at first glance dismissable as based on a riff stolen from Led Zep’s ‘Dazed And Confused’, but don’t you dare dismiss it until you’ve given it a couple of accurate listens. It has a certain charm of its own, you know, like that drugged out Grateful Dead stuff – not an inch of energy or anything, but so darn pleasant to listen to in any case. Oh well, maybe it’s my masochistic instincts rearing up their head (no, I’m not a masochist, but to a certain extent, we all are).

The best, of course, is still ‘Mourning Sad Mourning’, a deeply tragic ballad that’s also draggy, slow as a tortoise and creepy as a rattlesnake (no, forget that last metaphor, it ain’t one of my best), but when Rodgers chants that magic line ‘mourning mourning sad day – AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!’, you can bet your life that they really succeeded in capturing some of that hard-to-capture genuine folk tragedy feel and stuff it into the song. Definitely second best on the record, and maybe their best ballad overall.

So, despite a couple tracks that are typical Free-filler (the instrumental ‘Mouthful Of Grass’, for instance, is just plain unnecessary, a stupid acoustic shuffle based on the same melody as ‘Lying In The Sunshine’ but nowhere near as captivating – and it keeps dragging on for what seems like eternity; the dull plodder ‘Broad Daylight’, that was perversely released as a single and did nothing but mar the band’s reputation), this here record works and does everything it is supposed to do. Which is, yes, which is to present Free as a good, drunken roots-rock band with heavy folk and blues influences.

But no hard rock in sight! Not a teeny-weeny bit of hard rock! Of course, if you do not consider Paul Rodgers’ voice a hard rock instrument all by itself. I know I don’t, and, like I said, the guy’s abilities as a vocalist are somewhat overrated. All the more exciting is the fact that with so many slow, dirgey, lethargic numbers they still manage to stuff the record with various kinds of vocal and instrumental hooks and make it truly atmospheric. Unfortunately, they managed to almost completely lose that magic power by the time of their next album – perhaps the ‘cock-rock’ image was taking away too much energy.