Free Live! - FREE****

All Right Now/I'm A Mover/Be My Friend/Fire & Water/Ride On A Pony/Mr Big/The Hunter/Get Where I Belong

The sole live album from the highly regarded blues-rock band Free. As this recording testifies, despite their relative youth they were all musicians of the first rank. (US:89 UK:4)

“The stage was their favourite place to live and perform; and you can feel it by the fan's enthusiastic screams. Paul Rogers sings with a solid husky and powerful soulful voice while Paul Kossoff replies with trenchant guitar playing and creative solos. The rhythmic section bass and drums is very efficient, strong and dynamic. Free’s music sounds like deep hard-blues, sometimes close to hard-rock.”

“While Andy Fraser and Paul Rodgers quickly assumed leadership of Free's studio albums and developing sound, it's Paul Kossoff that shines when they play live. Whether it's because there's less opportunity for additional instruments to reduce his role as had happened in the studio, or simply because Kossoff excelled in a live environment, he's very much to the fore here. Free had the rare combination of being great players raised to another level by the chemistry they had as a unit.”

“This has to be one of my favourite live albums - Free sound fabulous throughout - tight, playful and enormously listenable. Simple blues rock played with great feeling and honesty.”

“Almost all the best songs from Free's first three records are here, and they sound raw and gritty in this live setting. The arrangements are lean and powerful, and Paul Kossoff's sparse, muscular riffs leave plenty of room for drummer Simon Kirke's thumping backbeat to breathe.”

“One of the best recorded and performed live album of all time, this release features the always great Free storming through a number of classics including, predictably enough All Right Now which is extended for both audience and listener joy.”

“Free's one live album captured the band in full flight, at the top of their game. Whereas some of their studio material sounds restrained and restricted, here the material is rampant and benefits from a much looser approach.”

“A simply brilliant live album, rock and roll at its rawest and most powerful, with a pinch of the blues thrown in for good measure. The live concert venue is where Free gained their faithful followers.”