Posts Tagged ‘Simon Kirke’

FREE – ” Free Live “

Posted: February 16, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This live album was recorded in Sunderland and Croydon, places where the band had a strong following, during January and September 1970. Although only two tracks, namely ‘The Hunter’ and ‘All Right Now’, could be used from the Sunderland show, producer Andy Johns did use a lot of the crowd noises from that gig between tracks, to create a virtually seamless live experience.

Interestingly, the final song on the album is actually a studio recording, and is one of four they did before splitting up; the other three surfaced on the ‘Highway’ album. One of the pleasures of this album is that the original recordings were clearly not altered in the studio. Everything is heard as it happened on stage. And what it proves overall is that Free were a masterful live band.

‘Free Live!’ is a fine representation of how good the four were when in this environment and the enthusiastic crowd response is utterly authentic and sets the atmosphere for the whole event.

Because that’s what this album  is…a true event. Capturing FREE at their peak.

In the pantheon of blues-rock there has never been a band that burned so brightly, was more commercially successful and made so much great music in so comparatively short a period of time as Free. They are probably best known for their 1970 signature song, ‘All Right Now’ but theirs is a rich deep catalogue, surprisingly so given their comparatively short career.

Free disbanded in 1973 and lead singer Paul Rodgers became the frontman of Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums. In 2004 Paul Rodgers worked with Queen offering a different take on Freddie Mercury’s vocals for the band. Bass player Andy Fraser formed Sharks and wrote ‘Every Kinda People’ that Robert Palmer covered, while the brilliant lead guitarist Paul Kossoff formed Back Street Crawler and then tragically died from a drug-induced heart failure at the age of 25 in 1976.

BAD COMPANY – ” Bad Company ” and ” Straight Shooter ” Remastered

Posted: April 5, 2015 in MUSIC
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Deluxe 2CD editions of ‘Bad Company’ and ‘Straight Shooter’ are available from Monday 6th April.

Both albums have been re-mastered form original tapes each set features bonus disc of rare and unreleased recordings. Formed in 1973, the British hard rock outfit Bad Company was a supergroup comprised of ex-King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell, former Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs, and singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke, both previous members of Free. Powered by Rodgers’ muscular vocals and Ralphs’ blues-based guitar work, Bad Company was the first group signed to Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song vanity label.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikrrxJVG18

Bad Company’s eponymous 1974 debut was an international hit, topping the U.S. album charts and scoring with the number one single “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love.” The second disc of the Deluxe Edition features 12 tracks, including eight previously unreleased recordings such as the demo for the ballad “The Way I Choose,” a take of “Bad Company” recorded right before the album version, and an unedited version of “Superstar Woman,” a song that Rodgers later recorded in 1983 for his solo album Cut Loose. Also featured is the single edit of “Can’t Get Enough,” and the B-sides “Little Miss Fortune” and “Easy On My Soul.”

Bad Company has helped shaped the sound of an entire rock era with iconic powerhouse rock anthems and popular ballads. Having unearthed the original multi-track tapes and discovered previously unreleased tracks, takes, and mixes the band has remastered their first two albums to create new Deluxe Editions.

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rodgers, along with guitarist/songwriter Mick Ralphs, bassist Boz Burrell, and drummer Simon Kirke released the band’s second album Straight Shooter in April 1975, 40 years to the month of the new deluxe edition. The album features the hit singles “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad” as well as the rock radio staple “Shooting Star.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQfTe6ta36I

Of the 14 bonus tracks, all are previously unreleased except the B-side “Whiskey Bottle.” Among the standouts is a stripped-down version of “Shooting Star,” a remix of “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad” with alternative guitar and vocals tracks, as well as two lost gems, never released before: “See The Sunlight” and “All Night Long.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_MG4TS55RA

NEWS: On tomorrow’s Classic Rock Magazine show, Nicky Horne speaks to Bad Company‘s Mick Ralphs about the band’s history. Find out more here:http://goo.gl/ML1KcS

FREE – ” Heartbreaker “

Posted: February 20, 2015 in MUSIC
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Free For A Final Time

The sixth and final studio album by Free provides a strange ending to the story of one of Britain’s finest blues-rock bands, but a very successful one. The record was ‘Heartbreaker,’ and it entered the UK chart 42 years ago, on February 3rd, 1973. It would see them bow out in some personal disarray, but ironically with a top ten LP and one more top ten hit single in the mighty ‘Wishing Well.’

After the relative failure of their fourth studio album ‘Highway,’ Free had decided to go their separate ways in 1971 — whereupon, perversely, the ‘Free Live!’ set released by Island Records that year went into the UK top ten. Partly for the sake of Paul Kossoff, a brilliant guitarist but a troubled soul who was fighting addiction, they came back together for 1972’s ‘Free At Last,’ which took them back into the UK top ten and contained another signature hit, ‘Little Bit Of Love.’

The success was sufficient, barely, to carry Free over into one final album. But the fragile harmony within the band had been undermined by the fraught tour to support ‘Free At Last,’ which brought personal issues to a head and showed all too painfully that Paul Kossoff was not up to the rigours of the road. Bassist Andy Fraser, still only 20 years old at that time left the band.

‘Heartbreaker’ was recorded late in 1972 at Island Studios with a new line-up in which Fraser was replaced by Japanese bass man Tetsu Yamauchi, later to join the Faces. They also added a fifth member in keyboard player John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick, also later to be closely associated with another British rock institution, The Who.

Andy Fraser had been the chief writing collaborator of Free with frontman Paul Rodgers, so now the lead singer contributed four songs on his own, Bundrick wrote two, and an ailing Kossoff was credited on a pair, including ‘Wishing Well.’ The album debuted in the UK, 42 years ago,  climbing to its peak of No. 9 in its second week, as ‘Wishing Well’ became a No. 7 success in the UK.

But the live dates to support the album proved to be a tour too far. Paul Kossoff, a bit part player on the record, was too ill to travel, and was replaced for the dates by Wendell Richardson of Osibisa. When the tour finished, so did Free, moving into other notable areas of rock history.

Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke co-formed Bad Company, and Andy Fraser had songwriting success, notably with the Robert Palmer hit ‘Every Kinda People.’ Kossoff, tragically, would pass away from a heart attack in 1976 after some success with the band Back Street Crawler. ‘Heartbreaker’ was a strange but memorable post script to Free’s time together.

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