Customer Reviews

Songs of Yesterday

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an imported 5 cd anthology which summarizes the career of the British band Free. The first three discs contain remastered versions (excellent sound), alternate takes, non-lp tracks and unissued tracks from their career. The fourth disc contains alternate versions and unissued tracks from their live album. The last disc summarizes the solo career of the members of the band. The booklet is excellent with many pictures, chart information and other useful information about the band. Free was unjustly overshadowed by bluesy vocalist Paul Rodgers' and drummer Simon Kirke's later band Bad Company. I find this band much more interesting. While the material is less commercial than their later work with Bad Company, this material is delivered with more feeling. The late guitarist Paul Kossoff with his impressive blues laden vibrato attack was highly influential. Ex-John Mayall bass player Andy Fraser was an excellent musician, witness "Mr. Big" for an example. This song along with the anthem "All Right Now" and "Wishing Well" are probably the band's most requested songs. Some of my favorites include "I'll Be Creepin'", "Broad Daylight", "The Stealer", and "Little Bit Of Love" among many others. Free was reportedly a big influence on Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band pretty much burned out with the departures of Paul Kossoff and Rodgers' song writing partner Andy Fraser. One album was released after they departed. The band played such festivals as the Isle Of Wight during their halcyon days. It may be useful to compare this set with the domestic 2 cd anthology "Molten Gold". While this set is much more comprehensive "Molten Gold" does contain some tracks which are not on the "Songs Of Yesterday" box set. Excellent songs such as a cover of Albert King's "The Hunter", the great instrumental "Mouthful Of Grass" and "Catch A Train" among others are included on the "Molten Gold" anthology but not the "Songs Of Yesterday" anthology. Some of the cuts on the "Songs Of Yesterday" box set appear only in alternate versions while the original versions appear on the 2 cd "Molten Gold". However, this comparison aside I recommend the "Songs Of Yesterday" box set to long time fans of the band like myself or novices alike. The price is worth every penny for the rare tracks and alternate takes as well as the remastering and booklet. If you are on a limited budget as least invest in the "Molten Gold" 2 disc set you will be converted.

This lavish five-disc box set is mainly for serious Free fans. It does include most of the band's best known songs, but only a few of them are in their original album version.
Listeners who are less than totally devoted to Free will find that "Songs Of Yesterday" is sort of an alternate version of the band's legacy, and those fans would be better off with "Molten Gold - The Free Anthology". But those who already own Free's original albums will find this box set to be a treasure trove.

Most of these 80 tracks are alternate takes, remixes, or live recordings which weren't used on "Free Live", offering a wealth of interesting material as well as a fresh look at Free's music. A very nice purchase for diehard Free fans, but not quite right for most other listeners, since it doesn't work as a proper hits collection (and the price is _very_ steep for an 80-song set).

Many reviewers have said that Led Zeppelin had it all and, to a certain extent, they did. But for me, Free were the band that was masterful in every tempo of song - whether it be the straight blues rocker or the ballad. Not that this review is about comparing Led Zeppelin and Free, but even though Robert Plant was competent at ballads, he could never touch you the way Paul Rodgers did.

My inroduction to Free occurred one night I was going through my record colection and, quite bizzarely, one of my dad's tapes was in my collection. This album happened to be "The Free Story". Almost immediately, I was hooked and subsequently I now own seveal Free albums, including this one. Cd's 1-3 chronicle a journey through all six Free studio albums with alternate takes, alternate mixes, singles masters, stereo mixes and unreleased recordings. Cd 4 is unreleased live recordings from shows they had done in Sunderland and Croydon in England. This, for me, is the highlight of the box set as it demonstrates the unequivocal talent of Free; one can almost feel how much of a tight unit they were on this disc. While many of Free's contemporaries ( Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath ) bludgeoned their audiences with sheer volume, Free mesmerised their audience by laying back; even their heavier songs groove more than they rock. Not one bad song on offer on this disc, my personal favourites are : "Ride On A Pony"; "Be My Friend" ( beautiful singing ); "I'll Be Creepin'" ( unstoppably groovy ); "Free Me" ( about 3 minutes into this song you'll hear what has to be the most powerful rock singing ever - a volcano of raw emotion ); "All Right Now" ( of course! ); "Crossroads". This is unquestionably the best live cd you are likely to hear in a long time. ( Incidentally, the sound is immaculate as is the whole of the box set, owing to state-of-the-art technology. )Cd 5 is various recordings that the individual members of Free created during the band's couple of break-ups which occured during 1971 and 72. During these break-ups Paul Rodgers formed "Peace"; Simon Kirke and Paul Kossof formed "KKTR"; Andy Fraser formed "Toby". I have to say although this is competent enough, it is the weakest of all the 5 discs - the musicianship and emotional zest of the Free ensemble is absent and you feel that they needed each other, as they complemented each other pefectly.

Overall, this is an exciting journey through the Free legacy - refreshing with a phenomenal sound on each disc. It's pristinely packaged and the 60 page colour booklet is intelligently compiled. Free were the most charismatic, talented band to grace the planet... ever!!

I have spent the last ten years of my life scouring every record store on the eastern seaboard for any recording by Free or one of its offshoots (Back Street Crawler, Peace, Sharks, KKTR, etc.).

But finally, this incredible band gets its just deserts. From recording quality to liner notes to band photographs, whoever put together this boxed set must have been a rabid Free fan. There's a lot of love here.

Free are often called the fathers of blues rock minimalism--meanning they produced layers of sound using just one guitar, bass, and drums, and also their first three albums had very little production to get in the way. The reason they could pull this off so well was because they were so extraordinarily talented: Simon Kirke was an amazing drummer, especially in Free(just listen to his footwork on "Songs of Yesterday"). Andy Fraser played inventive, plodding bass lines. Kossoff differed from other guitar gods with a command of sustain: the guy could break your heart with about three notes. And Paul Rodgers just happens to be the best male hard rock vocalist of all time. He made it sound easy. If more 70's rock bands sounded like Free (as opposed to ELO or Boston), there would never have been a need for punk.

As for song selection, all the good ones are here (except "Catch A Train"), and many of the tracks are enhanced by studio chatter. Fans of live music will go gaga for disc four. The one down side: two previosuly unreleased studio covers, "Long Tall Sally" and "Honky Tonk Women," are really just portions of studio jams, and Rodgers doesn't seem to know the words. For those who dig interesting covers, you may be disappointed.

But that's looking a gift horse in the mouth. "Songs Of Yesterday" is a godsend to die-hard fans of Free, the most underrated band in the history of rock.

This set is loaded with great stuff for the Paul Rodgers and Free fans. My favorite disc is the live disc. The others are loaded with all sorts of alternate versions and singles verions etc. Good stuff if you already have all of the Free CDs which I do. If you don't then I recommend them over this set. I enjoy listening to the originals in order of release and hearing the evolution of the band as they morphed into more of Bad Company sound.

Realmente es espectacular este box que encierra en 5 cds el legado de un grupo maravilloso, que no pudo ser apreciado en su esplendor como se merecia...
Sonido espectacular, booklet grandioso, un trabajo de fans para fans.... el cd 4 te lleva directamente al corazón de esta banda...el escenario!!! el quinto cd reune grabaciones de los integrantes en sus aventuras fuera del grupo, y si bien no son excepcionales no desentonan del resto!!! Sencillamente es un album altamente recomendable, que vale bien la cantidad de dolares que cuesta!!!

First, you must let go off the fact that you are shelling out BUCKS for music recorded roughly 35 years ago...once you do that the journey is like a trip to heaven.

Basic Tracks:

All the classics are here...Mover, The Hunter, All Right Now, and Be My friend. I am very impressed by the remastering effort. Free were a great band but poor production can really kill enthusiasm. Exile on Main St is a great example of an amazing record almost lost in the muddle of poor production. These songs make Koss, Simon, and Paul JUST jump out at you!!!! After years of listening to the hiss laden lps and cassettes, these songs were now a revelation.

B-sides

I think we have all forgotten the true nature and purpose of the 45. It delivered a hit and often an equally good but overlooked song. Thankfully for FREE, and fans, they did quite a few singles which resulted in a large number of B-sides. I love them and real fans should too. They are every bit as good as the A-sides once again showing the amazing musical talents of Simon, Andy, and Paul.

Alternate takes.

This can be a thorny issue. OFten bands fill collections of altenrate takes as a means to fill space and jack up the price. Sometimes we get glimpses of how songs evolve and entirely different interpretations prior to song's actual release. I believe all of the above happens. We get different arrangements, interpretations, and some filler. That is entirely OK by me.

Live Songs

Unbelievable!!!!! The live material on this disc reminds us all that this band was amazing and was well ahead of its rivals.

This is one of the best FREE CD's I heard! Although it's priceie it's well worth it for any die hard FREE fan. It has many of their best hits on it but it shouldn't be called a greatest hits CD. If your looking for a greatest hits I would suggest "Molton Gold, The Anthology" or "The FREE Story" or "Completely FREE" or "Best of" which used to be on vinyl a record.

This is an excellent box set! If you are a fan of Free get this. Or if you are a fan of Bad Company, get this. Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke were both members of Free before Bad Co. was ever thought of. It's like getting an alternate album of every Free album.(pretty much) Plus you get b sides from singles as well as 1 cd of Projects from members after Free. Plus the original version of Like Water on Bad Co.'s from Burnin' Sky done by Peace.

This is a fairly expensive set of rarities, b-sides and live cuts. Much of the material is good, although heavy on mid-tempo ballads and rockers, and the alternate mixes of "All Right Now"
and other greatest hits do not surpass the originals, or even equal those. In fact, the alternate version of "All Right Now"
will strike most as a rehearsal or working version. The live CD is a better bag, although the sound on some of the cuts is surprisingly thin, and not as good as the official live LP that originally came out. I saw this band live in the early 70s, and
know that they sounded much more powerful than this set.

One interesting thing, the majority of the cuts here sound more like Bad Company outtakes, so will appeal to those who like that band's output. Also, if you're a Paul Rodgers fan who liked his "Silver and Gold" or "Seagull" sound a lot, this has a lot to offer. Those who liked the hard hitting mixes of the original singles will find this set too thin in most cases.

For the price, this is mainly for hardcore fans and collectors, but it's a good set for that crowd as the quality of the material is superior for this type of rarities box set. Sound is also good in most cases.

I recommend that you buy a standard greatest hits by this band first, or the Fire and Water CD first (Highway also if you find a twenty lying on the sidewalk on your way to the record store). If you like the greatest hits, you'll probably want much of the stuff on this set. If you buy this first, it will give you the wrong impression of Free, which is an essential rock band for any CD collection.