FREE LP tons of sobs OR UK PINK ISLAND HEAVY PSYCH PROG
£
27
$
35
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Description
UK pressing on the Pink Rim Island label. The record is in NM condition and the gatefold sleeve is in EX condition.
A brilliant UK heavy blues-rock album. Great debut LP by this Power blues group from Britain, recorded 1969 with Paul Kossoff, Paul Rodgers Andy Fraser and Simon Kirk.
Tracklisting:
01. Over The Green Hills Pt. 1
02. Worry
03. Walk In My Shadow
04. Wild Indian Woman
05. Goin' Down Slow
01. I'm A Mover
02. The Hunter
03. Moonshine
04. Sweet Tooth
05. Over The Green Hills Pt. 2
Here is a review:
Being the late 1960s norm, Paul Rodgers, Paul Kossoff, Andy Fraser, and Simon Kirke were already teenage veterans of the eclectic British Blues scene before fate would unite them as Free, a name far more pleasing than the original suggestion of The Heavy Metal Kids. Island Records were trembling with excitement at the group's prospects, and sensing the quartet were capable of something special, assigned the eccentric Guy Stevens to knock their material into shape. "Over The Green Hills" is edited into 2 halves, begginning and ending the album in an anything but distinctive Free manner. Rodgers and Kossoff trade acoustic and electric licks, and all four members chip in vocal harmonies. Something of a dark horse, its full potential would be realised as a single track on the 2000 boxset "Songs Of Yesterday". Listening to the 3 or possibly 4 Free tracks likely to get exposure on daytime FM radio doesn't really prepare newbies for "Tons Of Sobs". Stevens being an energetic type, pushes the band to the limit, so what stands out, are tense Blues numbers like live favourite "The Hunter", while originals like Rodgers' "Sweet Tooth" sound both grimey and polished at the same time, possibly due to some strange use of tracking and a needlessly intrusive piano from Steve Miller, even for the group's debut, an already overused phenomenon and not really part of a vital format.
Kossoff and Kirke excel under Stevens' unusual approaches, "Moonshine" is red light blues for purists and hard rockers. Koss catering for both factions on an early indication of his gifts. Rodgers, still sounding like a nervous schoolboy, attones by writing most of the material. Andy Fraser would have to wait another year or so before laying down his marker as musician and songwriter, at barely 16 though, he had done much to make men twice his age growl with jealousy. More confident than actually competent, Free's first album wins through on a punky vitality, although Guy Stevens wouldn't be around for future glory, he had introduced the lads to some badly needed studio discipline while snippets of quality would weave their way into something altogether more special before too long. The hype would soon pass and Free could settle down to more important things.
NOTE! Postage indicated in the auction is not the actual postage as ebay doesn't allow a higher postage then 4 GBP in this category. Postage for this item is 6 GBP within Europe and 8 GBP for the rest of the world.
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