Andy Fraser - July 3, 1952 - March 16, 2015

Take the time to give a bit of thought and remembrance to Andy Fraser today. Rather than pull out the usual material here's a couple of contributions Andy made to the career of Robert Palmer. For me Robert was always a bit hit and miss, but he was a great singer, and for the briefest of moments he was actually part of a group with Andy Fraser and Paul Kossoff (1974). There are some rough rehearsals - including a version of Allen Toussaint's 'On Your Way Down', (also covered by Little Feat of course) but nothing more than a glimpse of what might have been. I don't know if this was 'pre' or 'post' the 'Sneaking Sally Through the Alley' recordings, where Palmer played with Lowell George and Toussaint. Possibly his finest moment actually, and if you've never heard the album -  you should! Anyway...

 

 

'Every Kinda People' (Written by Andy Fraser)

Dutch show 'TopPop', broadcast on October 21, 1978

This appeared on Palmer's 'Double Fun' album and charted well as a single in America (#16), scratching just outside the top 50 (#53) in the UK. The song got, and still gets, a lot of US radio play, so helped keep Andy's funds buoyant during some of his leaner times. Bob Babbitt provided the very sweet bass-line - of which I am sure Fraser approved.

Andy told me he actually wrote the song around the time of his unsuccessful 'Andy Fraser And The Stealers' project, and while I believe the song was demo'd for that proposed (but unreleased) album, Palmer heard the song and told Fraser he wanted to record it. Andy was very happy for him to do so. He made a good choice giving it to Palmer, otherwise it may never have been heard at all. The song is not included on the acetate of Andy's unreleased LP, so it may be that Andy himself got no further than the demo once Robert Palmer expressed his interest. Later Andy played excellent bass on a couple of tracks on Palmer's 'Clues' album, including 'Sulky Girl', showing he'd lost none of his talents.