Saturday, 16 March 2019

Andy Fraser. Four Years. 1952 - 2015


March this year is certainly busy. With the other two 'Tons Of Sobs' anniversary issues all due to go out in the next couple of weeks I don't think I've ever done so much at one time.



Its very sad Andy didn't live to celebrate 50 years of the FREE debut. Certainly it was only in the final couple of years he really came to terms with how much FREE meant to people after a long time of dismissing what he did 'then' for what he was doing 'now'. He's been gone four years today, and while that makes me rather sad lets not dwell on it and celebrate something he did. 'Train Of Love' actually featured on Andy's second solo album, 'In Your Eyes', where it is given a very 'soul lite' treatment. Nothing wrong with that. I like the album. However the song was actually originally covered by the much more bombastic fantastic Andy Fraser Band. Fuzz Wah Bass indeed !!



I love this band. They rocked! Nick Judd and Kim Turner were great in this tough little unit and the single album they released still sounds like nothing else. They didn't record the 'Train Of Love' track in the studio but they did perform it on the tour and also here on the John Peel BBC session from April 1975. Enjoy.



Below that you'll find one of Andy's final pieces, 'The Big One'. I didn't like 'Naked.. And Finally Free' at all. I still don't. Andy knew that. We had talked about it and had a conversation about where he was then (Free) and where he was now, musically. When 'The Big One' came out, I loved it, and I still love it. Great groove, and a bit of a return to form I thought. I sent an email telling him. He shot an email back. "Yeah Dave, I knew I'd get ya!". I think that was perhaps the last time I heard from him. I'm so pleased we ended our friendship on a positive note -  because Andy was a positive guy.



Turn it up!
 

 








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