Free - Free Story (19 tracks) +Album Reviews

Superb collection

tomislavrocker | Rijeka, Croatia | 06/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is generally the 'second greatest' Free collection, after "Molten Gold: The anthology". It is by far superior to the later "All right now - best of" which has an awful remaster treatment - the songs was sounding like late eighties, not early seventies (wow, what a mistake!), and was suffering in song selection.
Anyway, this was originally double LP compilatiaon-album, and here on CD you get almoust 80 minutes of classic Free numbers. It covers all of the albums (I'm only missing here more stuff from the first album, and offcourse, "Wishing Well" from the "Heartbreaker" album), and you also get two live cuts, "Mr.Big" and "The Hunter", both concert stamples. Maybe would be better if they included album version of "All right now", which I prefer much more than the single version. But single is single. You'll anyway have to get "Fire and Water" album!
And maybe the sound qualitiy isn't so good, but this is probably the best way to get into Free, the classic early seventies rock band, which could be one of the biggest groups around if they had lasted.
But don't stop here, get "Fire and Water", and then superb 1968. debut "Tons of Sobs" (That's for start)."

Be free and naked

.Richard | england | 01/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"free-yes paul rogers was in another band before the reformed queen he hosted a fantastic blues/rock band that set the world alight with the monsterous song everyone would of heard once in theiir lifetime i'm talking about "all right now" but that isn't just one song you have 19 other classics from a band who i don't think has got their crown of being kings of rock..they get forgotten in the mist of drugs and booze..

this complitation features 19 sharp songs full of enough power

too make the earth quake

from the first cut "the mover" too the every last song "come together in the morning" with it's sexual innuendo

in-between you've got "mr big"

"fire and water" "heavy load" "all right now" from their classic album "fire and water"

and you've got one of the most beautiful ballads in the form

of "mourning sad mourning"

a excellent compliation theonly gripe i've got is, is it me or is the solo bit on "all right now" different to the one of the album "fire and water"? it's been drivin' me mad

well anyway classic band classic album and paul rogers is not just the singer for the reformed queen he was a blues rock dog

"rock and roll baby""

Great tracks... only that sound

Gab Mo | Alphen aan den Rijn, Zuid-Holland Netherlands | 07/16/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Actually I rate this one with three and a half stars. The tracks are great, but the sound dry, boxy and thin. This was the first album I heard of Free, which since then became one of my all time favorite bands. It's too bad that the soundquality is poor. I have an old vinyl single of Allright Now that sounds the same or even better as that classic on this CD. However, most of the classics are here like Allright now (the single version, I prefer the longer LP-version), Come together in the morning, The Stealer (much underrated), Heavy load (with that typical slow bluesrock-sound of the Free), Little bit of love, Fire and water (my personal favorite) and Travelling man. It's a pitty that two of the greatest tracks of the Free: Wishing well and Heartbreaker are missing on this anthology. Mr. Big and the Hunter are here present as the live versions from the 1971 Live! album. Each track on this album is far better sounding on the individual Free-albums or on the anthology Molten Gold. The remixes of Bob Clearmountain on 1991's The Best of are even sounding as if coming from another planet."

Free styling mix of blues and rock on classic anthology--thi

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 07/20/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Over look the stupid cover artwork and you'll find a terrific album. Free had a history that was as far removed from its name as one could imagine. When the band first formed their record company rejected their name initially feeling it wasn't too commerical but lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Paul Rodgers, bassist/songwriter Andy Fraser (who would later go on to write the Robert Palmer hit "It Takes Every Kind of People"), lead guitarist Paul Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke (who would go on to join Rodgers in Bad Company and briefly join Kossoff in the spin-off group Kossoff,Kirke,Tetsu and Rabbit)stuck to their guns and still managed to generate three massive hits ("All Right Now", "Stealer" and "Little Bit of Love"), record six powerful albums before the band fell apart (for the second time)due to the pressure of stardom, egos and drugs.

"The Free Story" is THE BEST anthology to get because it features the original mixes of the songs ("Molden Gold" has all been remixed by Bob Clearmountain sometimes to good effect but more often than not diminishing the originals) and even their remaster discography (which liberally uses No Noise to elimiante all tape hiss--it also effectively makes the album sound like all the air was sucked out of the room and that a blanket was thrown over the speakers).

Duplicating the exact order of the original two record vinyl set (minus one song that couldn't be included for time reasons--whcih is too bad because it is a stunning live version of "Heartbreaker". The sound quality is extremely good and what it might lack in clarity compared to "Molden Gold" it makes up for because the original mixes the band intended to release are included.

The booklet includes all of the original liner notes touching briefly on Kossoff's problem with drugs that sidelined him and his eventual death on a plane flight from a drug induced heart attack. The selection of songs is excellent including one track from the spin-off KKTR (with bassist Tetsu Yamauchi and keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick eventually joining Free after Fraser departed upon completion of their album "Free at Last"). "Heartbreaker" is woefully underrepresented here but, aside from that, it has MOST of the essential tracks from this terrific band that had a tragic history."

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