Free [Import]

Free | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 30, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Polygram Int'l
• ASIN: B000006YTH
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,761 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I'll Be Creepin'

2. Songs of Yesterday

3. Lying in the Sunshine

4. Trouble on Double Time

5. Mouthfull of Grass

6. Woman

7. Free Me

8. Broad Daylight

9. Mourning Sad Morning

Editorial Reviews

Second album by the British hard rock group. Their first album to chart in the U.K., it broke the their top 30, and contains nine tracks, including the singles 'I'll Be Creepin'' & 'Broad Daylight'. Includes the original cover art from when it was first released in 1969.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The one that got away?, October 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Free (Audio CD)

Probably very few people know that this is the follow-up to the first Free album (which was called "Tons of Sobs", not "Fire and Water"!)

Anyway, this album is packed with bluesy rhythms, wailing vocals from the influential Paul Rodgers, and great guitar work from the underrated, late Paul Kossoff.

Standout cuts (they all sound great, especially on this imported disc) : "I'll be Creepin'" ,"Songs of Yesterday", and "Trouble on Double Time".

I highly recommend this disc to anyone who is in to Bad Co., or holds the unfortunate belief that Free's only recording was the seminal hit, "All Right Now" from the bands third record.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Free's Underrated Sophomore Effort., October 31, 2001

By 

Derek G (Wishaw, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Free (Audio CD)

Who would have thought that Hard Rock/Blues music made over thirty years ago - by teenagers - would still be considered as a major template for the genre. I'm a twenty-five-year-old student, who has been listening to Hard Rock music for over twelve years ( gosh... half my life! ) and I have "never" heard music with such soul and groove; for sheer soul, these guys were the absolute best! I struggle to use brevity whenever describing that voice of Paul Rodgers', and, for me, this album shows him at his best.

Released in October of 1969, "Free" was a more honed and polished album than its predecessor, "Tons Of Sobs", owing, albeit partly, to the production knowledge of Island Record boss, Chris Blackwell. The album opens with my favourite Free song, "I'll Be Creepin'", which particularly demonstrates Free's natural ability to conjure up an unstoppable groove, and Paul Rodgers' vocals here are incredible; without sounding obsequious, I am in awe of the way Rodgers could masterfully oscillate between sheer power and sheer delicacy. Just when you thought you had enough soul to last you for eternity, the album then delivers "Songs Of Yesterday", another one of the album's finest moments.

The only problem with "Free" is selecting standout tracks from the album. Serious statistics show that well into this album's release, it had only sold around 20,000 copies ( I don't know if this figure applies to the UK only ), which genuinely surprises me as I consider it one of the group's best out of their six studio albums. It is consistently excellent but my other highlights include "Trouble On Double Time", "Woman", "Broad Daylight" and "Mourning Sad Morning".

This album demonsrates a young band in their prime; don't think for one minute that I am glamourising this album to the maximum just because it was teenagers who made it. No way Jose. This is music of the highest order by anybody's standards. I cannot speak highly enough of this band, and I would dearly have liked to have seen them "Live" between 1969-1971 before their first split ( rumour has it that they were never the same after this first split ). You might hear a teenage quartet in today's music climate make music like this, but only if the sun rises in the west. What a band, and what a singer!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Sleeper of '69, May 25, 2001

By 

BluesDuke "A sacred cow is worth but one thin... (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Free (Audio CD)

Free's second album was the sleeper of 1969 - unobtrusively crunchy, bluesy rock in the harder numbers and striking ethereality in the soft spots (particularly the surprising acoustic ballad, "Mouthful of Grass," the unlikely future flip of their only U.S. hit - you know what that was). Simon Kirke and Andy Fraser hold down a brisk rhythm section, Paul Kossoff nudges forth the kind of tightly-wound blues licks for which he became legend, and vocalist Paul Rodgers matures from the band's promising but somewhat nervous debut ("Tobs of Sobs") into a strong front man with genuine command of his material. In retrospect, it was a warm-up for their biggest success, but taken in its own right, "Free" was a bright keeper, though the occasionally weak recording docks a star.