Post by paulclarkson on Jan 16, 2006 14:20:26 GMT
I first became aware of the group Free in the summer of 1970. They released their most famous single ‘All Right Now’, it came very close to topping the charts at the time, only to be beaten by ‘In The Summertime’ by Mungo Jerry. I loved ‘All Right Now’, it had everything I loved about music at the time, great vocals, brilliant guitaring, a heavy bass line and very powerful drumming. As I was only 13 years old I could only afford the single but I soon saved up and bought the LP ‘Fire and Water’. On first hearing the LP I soon realised that ‘All Right Now’ was not what Free were about. There was a heavier more bluesy sound going on here and I loved it.
I had to wait 2 years before I got my chance to see them live and by then they had gone through a line-up change. By October 1972, Andy Fraser had left the group and had been replaced by Japanese bassist ‘Tetsu’ and John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick on keyboards. I went with my friends to The Dome Theatre in Brighton where we had very good seats with a great view of the group. Paul Rodgers (vocals); Paul Kossoff (guitar); Simon Kirke (drums); Tetsu (bass) and John Bundrick (keyboards). Free played a fantastic set, opening with ‘The Stealer’. We were only a few yards away from Paul Kossoff and I can still visualise him standing there with his Gibson guitar in hand and sporting a shorter haircut than usual. Paul Rodgers took centre stage, he was only 23 at the time but his voice was incredible. Simon Kirke was in good form, very powerful and great to watch. Free played ‘My Brother Jake’ and ‘Little Bit Of Love’ as they had been singles in the previous year. I remember them playing ‘Heartbreaker’ which stayed in my head until I bought ‘The Free Story’ a couple of years later, what a fantastic song. ‘Fire and Water’ and ‘Mr Big’ also went down very well on the night. Their encore had to be ‘All Right Now’ as it was by then, their anthem.
To see Paul Kossoff play live was a real privilege, he is one of my all time favourite guitarists, his facial expressions told the story of his playing, he felt every note and obviously loved what he was doing. As a 15 year old I didn’t realise at the time what pain he was going through with his drug addiction. I thought it was a bit strange that after the show I went towards him for his autograph and he was still standing in exactly the same spot where he’d been playing all evening, he hadn’t moved an inch. He came across as a very pleasant and polite person, signed for me and pointed me in the direction of the other group members. I did what came naturally for me at the time and got all their autographs, they didn’t seem to mind but looking back on the history of the group I think I was probably treading on thin ice as apparently the group were in freefall and going through an off-stage crisis. If this were true then it certainly didn’t show on stage as they were brilliant.
For me, there was one thing missing on October 18th 1972 because Andy Fraser wasn’t there. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Tetsu and Rabbit were great on the night but I would have loved to have seen the original line-up of the group. It seemed all was not lost though as in 1973 a new group called Roxy Music were appearing at the Dome. I liked their first album so I got tickets, imagine my joy when I saw on the ticket that the support act was Sharks, Andy Fraser’s new group. So on 11th April 1973 I saw the final piece of the Free jigsaw. Sharks were Andy Fraser, Chris Spedding, Marty Simon and Snips. Unfortunately I can’t remember any of the songs they played but I remember I just sat there in awe of Andy Fraser playing bass. Sharks played a great set that was well received, Roxy Music weren’t bad either!
Paul Clarkson
Please note that all articles used on this site are © to The Beat Goes On And On Fanzine and must not be used without permission.
I had to wait 2 years before I got my chance to see them live and by then they had gone through a line-up change. By October 1972, Andy Fraser had left the group and had been replaced by Japanese bassist ‘Tetsu’ and John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick on keyboards. I went with my friends to The Dome Theatre in Brighton where we had very good seats with a great view of the group. Paul Rodgers (vocals); Paul Kossoff (guitar); Simon Kirke (drums); Tetsu (bass) and John Bundrick (keyboards). Free played a fantastic set, opening with ‘The Stealer’. We were only a few yards away from Paul Kossoff and I can still visualise him standing there with his Gibson guitar in hand and sporting a shorter haircut than usual. Paul Rodgers took centre stage, he was only 23 at the time but his voice was incredible. Simon Kirke was in good form, very powerful and great to watch. Free played ‘My Brother Jake’ and ‘Little Bit Of Love’ as they had been singles in the previous year. I remember them playing ‘Heartbreaker’ which stayed in my head until I bought ‘The Free Story’ a couple of years later, what a fantastic song. ‘Fire and Water’ and ‘Mr Big’ also went down very well on the night. Their encore had to be ‘All Right Now’ as it was by then, their anthem.
To see Paul Kossoff play live was a real privilege, he is one of my all time favourite guitarists, his facial expressions told the story of his playing, he felt every note and obviously loved what he was doing. As a 15 year old I didn’t realise at the time what pain he was going through with his drug addiction. I thought it was a bit strange that after the show I went towards him for his autograph and he was still standing in exactly the same spot where he’d been playing all evening, he hadn’t moved an inch. He came across as a very pleasant and polite person, signed for me and pointed me in the direction of the other group members. I did what came naturally for me at the time and got all their autographs, they didn’t seem to mind but looking back on the history of the group I think I was probably treading on thin ice as apparently the group were in freefall and going through an off-stage crisis. If this were true then it certainly didn’t show on stage as they were brilliant.
For me, there was one thing missing on October 18th 1972 because Andy Fraser wasn’t there. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Tetsu and Rabbit were great on the night but I would have loved to have seen the original line-up of the group. It seemed all was not lost though as in 1973 a new group called Roxy Music were appearing at the Dome. I liked their first album so I got tickets, imagine my joy when I saw on the ticket that the support act was Sharks, Andy Fraser’s new group. So on 11th April 1973 I saw the final piece of the Free jigsaw. Sharks were Andy Fraser, Chris Spedding, Marty Simon and Snips. Unfortunately I can’t remember any of the songs they played but I remember I just sat there in awe of Andy Fraser playing bass. Sharks played a great set that was well received, Roxy Music weren’t bad either!
Paul Clarkson
Please note that all articles used on this site are © to The Beat Goes On And On Fanzine and must not be used without permission.