The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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FREE
“ALL RIGHT NOW”
(Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser)
A & M 1206
No. 4 October 77, 1970
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Guitarist Paul “Koss” Kossoff (b. Sept. 14, 1950, London) and drummer Simon Kirke (b. July 28, 1948,
Shropshire, England) were unhappy playing in a band called Black Cat Bones. When they happened to
catch a glimpse of lead singer Paul Rodgers (b. Dec.14, 1949, Middlesbrough, England) fronting Brown
Sugar, they knew he would fit into a new band they were hoping to create. A mutual friend introduced the
three to 15-year-old Andy Fraser (b. Aug. 7, 1952, London), then playing bass in John Mayall’s Blues
breakers. Andy was not keen on the jazzy direction that Mayall was moving toward, and agreed to drop by
and jam with the other three.
“We were just a bunch of kids who loved rock’n’roll and the blues,” said Kirke to Circus’ Andy Secher.
“When we got together, the oldest of us was 20, and while that might have been the reason we had a great
deal of inner turmoil, it also helped us sacrifice just about everything for that music,”
The living British blues institution Alexis Korner gave the guys the name “Free” and walked them into
Island Records and a contract. The band’s first two LPs--Tons of Sobs (1968) and Free (1969)–passed by
both U.K. and U.S. audiences without much notice. Album three, Fire and Water (1970), contained
something just too fine to be ignored by anyone, even by those who only listened to Top 40 radio. “All
Right Now” had a pulsating, electric sound, packed with blues power and rock excitement. Rodgers was
gritty, the riff was contagious, and Kossoff’s guitar was hot.
“There was a purity to what we were doing that was very special,” Kirke explained. “We weren’t that con
cerned with making hit records, and we weren’t jaded by the industry–we just wanted to keep everything
as simple as possible.” Highway (1971), their next LP, offered “Stealer” (#52, 1971) as a single. The boys
would never make the stateside pop/rock 45 listings again, though British fans would later rechart the
group name with takes on “My Brother Jake,” “Little Bit of Love,” and “Wishing Well.”
Free ran its course; way, way too fast. Their label packaged a live set (Free Live, 1971). Rodgers went off
and formed Peace; Kossoff formed Toby. Both efforts were short-lived. Kossoff then rejoined Kirke to
record an instrumental LP with Tetsu Yamauchi and John “Rabbit” Bundrick called Kossoff Kirke Tetsu
and Rabbit (1971).
The original band members reunited for one explosive occasion and a resulting album, Free at Last
(1972). Fraser departed, then Rodgers dropped out. Rabbit and Tetsu functioned as replacements for the
band’s last effort, Heartbreaker (1973). Rodgers and Kirke formed Bad Company and carried on for
another decade or more. Fraser joined the Sharks and later fronted his own Andy Fraser Group; Rabbit
recorded with Pete Townsend and toured with the Who; Tetsu joined Rod Stewart’s Faces.
Paul Kossoff, possibly the group’s most talented individual and certainly one of rock’s most distinctive
guitarists, formed Back Street Crawler (later billed Crawler), but died on March 19, 1976, of a drug
induced heart attack on an airplane en route to New York City.