Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirke 'FREE' Q&A

Paul and Simon are doing a 'live' Q&A on Facebook on August 6th. So if you have a burning question about FREE, I guess now is your chance to ask. I'm not quite sure how it will work if 1500 people log on and start asking stuff, but I guess they will pick questions as they come up in the live stream, or they have already been selected.

Seems there may be a Bad Company specific one coming too. It's a nice idea to do the each band individually and should make for an interesting couple of hours if you use Facebook.

Good to see them doing this.

Bored?? How about some Free and Bad Company on Youtube?

I've been watching Andy & Alex reviewing songs from bands they've never heard of before for some time. Both guys are in college, so this stuff was recorded almost thirty years before they were born. What is it like to hear it for the first time? Well here you go. This is what they are doing, and often it's just like the first time you heard this stuff too. So smile, and re-live it with them. Very cool.  I would have mentioned them in the FAS introductions but there just hasn't been room as I cram the magazines with everything I can about the Free albums at this point. During the lockdown its been fun watching them, and Youtube has been good for when the TV has been shite - most of the time it seems!

Sadly Youtube seems to be determined to kill its platform, and over the past few weeks the amount of ads has been ramped up to a ludicrous level, making some content on there pretty much unwatchable! Sure, they have to make money, and I don't mind the ads at the beginning of what I want to watch, but slamming them anywhere in the content of those using the channel is crazy. Halfway through a sentence... really?? The low banner ads are annoying enough, often blocking text that is currently part of what is being shown, but ads randomly lobbed into the middle of the content is distracting at BEST. Oh well... Rant over... Anyway, if you want to check out the young pups (early 20s) digging 70s rock you can find their channel here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mVjijRJ72U

The videos are fun and engaging, and they seem like genuinely nice guys. So, check out some of their other reviews.  There are plenty of things up there and sometimes their reactions are priceless. Makes my cynical and shrivelled old heart a little lighter in these really strange times (well, weird actually). All good.

They have 'reviewed' some interesting stuff and this includes both 'All Right Now' and 'Bad Company' (see here). Seems sometimes their audience leads them astray and I'm sure some of these people are the ones that shout out for 'Shooting Star' at Paul Rodgers/Bad Company shows and 'Smoke On The Water' at Deep Purple shows but there you go. I mean, who recommends 'Bungle In The Jungle' by Jethro Tull as a great track? What? Ahead of 'Living In The Past', 'Sweet Dream', 'Teacher' !! Anyway, I actually agree generally with the comments made for 'All Right Now', and Simon Kirke himself echoes some of their thoughts in a couple of upcoming introductions he's written for FAS #153 and #154. They really should have listened to the single version IMHO - also a little research on the bands before they play the track wouldn't go amiss but it's their channel and maybe just going in blind is better for them.

I have, incidentally, sent them some stuff (including the 'Mr Big' from 'Free Live!', and they have received it, but they don't seem to play much (any) of what they get mailed to them at this point, mostly it's voting online, but there you go. Again, that's up to them.

Regardless, I thought I'd give them a shout here if only for the amusement they have given me over the past four months.

Also worth checking out, if you are a bit of a muso, are the channels by people like Rick Beato, Rhett Shull and of course Davie504. Nothing Free related there (yet) but just good and informative content. Enjoy.

 

PS. Rick Beato... No FREE 'What makes this song great?', seriously??

  

Peter Green

FAS Issue #152 - Addendum [#3]

FAS Issue #152

Page 24

Addendum [#3]

 Example 1: Complete original 'Bumpers' mix (vinyl rip)
Original Free Mix #1

Example 2: Mix and Vocal differences example.

'Bumpers' LP "In the sunshine of another... Oh, another day"

'Fire And Water' LP "In the sunshine of another day"

Chris Blackwell ReMix #2

Don't know what's going on?

Then get yourself a copy of issue #152 to find out!

FAS Issue #152 - Addendum [#2]

FAS Issue #152

Page 11

Addendum [#2]

'Pink i' (Mix #2) and 'Pink Rim' (Mix #3) comparisons for the song 'Fire And Water' from the first two original UK LP pressings.

Example 1: Intro

 

Example 2 : Solo

 

Example 3: Drum Fade

Don't know what's going on?

Then get yourself a copy of issue #152 (below) to find out!

Free Appreciation Society Magazine - Issue #152

Free Appreciation Society

Magazine Issue #152

July 2020

Free - 'The Northern Heat Pt. 2'

The second of our four 'Fire And Water' issues has now gone out to all subscribers. Working through our continuing history of the band, to mark the 50th anniversary of the albums, as they were released. This 56 page issue picks up the story of Free, quite literally, from where we left off with issue #151, as we move through April to July of 1970. Free's big year.

Here we deal with the front cover photograph for the new album sleeve, the re-mix of the songs by Chris Blackwell, and the release of 'that' single.  'All Right Now' changed everything, and we look at the rise of the 7" up the charts, seeing its impact on the band as the 'Freemania' headlines begin. We deal with 'Top Of the Pops', Granada TVs 'Doing Their Thing' and all the front page headlines that made up the crazy summer of 1970 for Free. 

All of this comes with a comprehensive look at the gigs, BBC sessions and the steady rise of the band through press interviews and articles from the period.

The magazine is full of new information, gathering together the history of the band in real time. Details from the album re-mix sessions and photographs from the period, along with two more audio Addendums that will appear on the FAS blogspot to help clarify the differences between the mixes on the Island Records 'Bumpers' 2LP compilation, and the 'Pink I' and 'Pink Rim' pressings of the 'Fire And Water' album.

This is the most in depth look at this period of the Free history EVER and continues the series of issues running through until the end of August over #151, #152, #153, #154 (which is a bumper issue!)

56 pages packed with FREE!

Posted out to overseas subscribers on Thursday/Friday and to UK subscribers today (Monday).

Not got a subscription? 

Details are in the blog further back or you can simply email and ask about getting this and other issues.

fasarticle@aol.com

FAS Issue #151 - Addendum [#1]

FAS Issue #151

Page 45

Addendum [#1]

Don't know what's going on?

Then get yourself a copy of the current FAS issue (#151) to find out what it's all about!