Highway - FREE****

The Highway Song/The Stealer/On My Way/Be My Friend/Sunny Day/Ride On A Pony/Love You So/ Bodie/ Soon I Will Be Gone

It is surprising that the chart placing of Highway was so low given that the blues-rock band Free had very recently enjoyed widespread critical acclaim following the huge international hit All Right Now. (US:190 UK:41)

“Free go mellow on Highway, but without sacrificing their trademark earthy, grounded sound, defined by Paul Rodger's smooth, charismatic vocals. This sounds more folky and measured than previous Free albums with the penultimate track Bodie even having a country flavour.”

“Their softest album, with only a few of the ingenious rockers they'd featured previously, and Paul Rodgers' lyrics were rapidly going downhill. Second side is pretty much a write-off. What happened to the spark of the first two albums?”

“Through the first three albums they had built up a solid reputation as a hard working solid blues rock band. For each of these albums the songs had been written and honed on the road. That wasn't the case with Highway though, and for the first time they were forced to write in the studio. There is a marked change in style. With far more piano than on previous albums this is certainly the softest Free album, although this does give added punch to the harder rockers.”

“It suffers from a poor selection of material, with far too many soulful ballads, and little, if any rock. It appears to be mostly just a vehicle for Rodgers' crooning. Their weakest to date, and just another step on the way down to Bad Company.”

“Highway has a very consistent, slow-paced earthy feel. Really it’s no heavier than pop, but you still get a real band here, leaving each other lots of space, but languidly gelling perfectly. Lyrically, there are lots of good romantic love songs, not sappy at all, just honest and heartfelt.”

“Recorded in a hurry on the heels of their massive commercial breakthrough, Highway reflected the first signs of growing internal tension and artistic fatigue. Musically the album wasn't a draconian change from earlier work. The songs weren't bad, just plain in comparison.”