Free Appreciation Society Magazine - Issue #165

Free Appreciation Society

Magazine Issue #165

December 2022

Following hot on the heels of #164 is Issue #165. This has just gone out into the UK mail for all FAS subscribers today. Overseas magazines went out on Friday and Monday. It's an attempt to beat the postal strikes as best I can. So, these should be with you all very shortly.

We move forward now through the activities of KKTR, Peace & Toby. This includes a comprehensive look at all the recording that was done by each of the splinter groups, and any gigs that were done. Plenty of new material here as we deal with the Peace BBC session, Kossoff going out to Mussel Shoals in Alabama to play with Jim Capaldi, and Alexis Korner going to Germany with Andy Fraser in his band. We wrap up in December 1971, as the solo projects all close for business, and Free reforming becomes more and more "a likelihood" according to 'Disc & Music Echo' magazine.

Lots of press, photo's, posters, gig ads, promo material, tape boxes and memorabilia. This issue checks in at 56 pages and includes quite a bit of material never included before.

There are two addendums in this new issue, and they will be coming to the FAS 'blogspot' at the weekend. So be sure to come back and check them out when you reach them in the text. I'm hoping that by then, all the UK issues will have landed on their respective doormats. Fingers crossed on that one!

A hugely comprehensive issue. Enjoy!

56 pages absolutely packed with FREE

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Mailed out now to all FAS subscribers.

It is cheaper to buy directly here (from the FAS itself) than it will be on Ebay, where there are other fees involved for both UK and overseas buyers. ALL payments are via Paypal, so it's all very easy and secure.

Casual buyer? Want the magazine cheaper? Get a subscription!

A subscription is the cheapest way to get the FAS magazine.

For subscription information email: fasarticle@aol.com

You can buy this individual issue from the email address above.

Drop me a mail giving your location and a Paypal money request will be sent to you. It's cheaper than buying them on Ebay where they are £6.50 (UK)

UK price including postage from here directly is £5.80 for this issue.

This includes postage and Paypal fees.

A subscription for three issues (UK) is £14.85.

Elsewhere, please ask.

Nothing Stops The FAS!!

It's one thing having your head stuck in 1971 with the music and the press to work on the FAS, because you are writing about it, but it really is quite freaky to relive it in 2022 as a reality!

I know what, let's all go on strike for 20% wage rises, have threats of power cuts, rising inflation, national unrest. Oh, we have that now... Seriously, does what goes around truly come around? It seems it does! History really does repeat itself and teaches us NOTHING! Wasn't that a song by Sting in like, 1987 or something? 

Due to the nature of the current postal worker strikes in the UK, and the random nature of the announcements of them, I'll start the posting out of issue #165 next week. This will hopefully bring some small modicum of cheer to the pre-Christmas mash-up of forced merriment and shopping, shopping and shopping. Along with Slade, Wizzard, Cliff Richard, crap supermarket adverts, DREADFUL REPETITIVE Christmas songs in the shops and, of course, the horror at the expense of it all! Bah, Humbug!

This FAS 'care package' will start with the mailing out to America, Japan and Australian on Monday (5th), then Europe straight after that, and finally the UK around the 10th. Once everything has been mailed I'll put the usual magazine overview up here so you'll know the issue is on it's way.

Regards the 'Festivities'... Treat yourselves well, and look after the ones you care about. Spare a thought for those who may be on their own, especially those who have lost loved ones, and be patient with all the idiots (yes I know, there are a lot of them). Be nice to each other. Tell your friends how much they mean to you, and raise a glass to those no longer with us. Sometimes it just seems like everything is shite, but it really isn't. Good people will continue to do good things. Strive to be one of those good people.

You'll be getting another FAS after the New Year has faded from focus a little, to help with hangovers, and the brutal truth of how much you owe on your credit card. In the meantime the diary for the next section dealing with 'Free At Last' is almost complete, and I'll be sitting trying to make some sense of it all over this whole period. The FAS NEVER sleeps!

FAS #164 'Addendums'

Free Appreciation Society

Issue #164 (November 2022)

Audio and video addendums

As promised here are the audio/video extra 'bits' of content that apply to the current issue of the Free Appreciation Society magazine. For further details refer to the relevant pages there.

 Addendum #1 (Page #32). Rick Lancelotti.

(Above) Sky Oats - 'Pacific Vibrations'

  

(Above) Frank Zappa - 'Wondrerful Wino'' (Complete w/Rick Lancelotti)

 

  (Above) Frank Zappa - 'Zomby Wolf' (Breakdown w/Rick Lancelotti) 

 

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 Addendum #2 (Page #52). Blackwell.

(Above) Blackwell - 'Dirty Story'

 

(Above) Blackwell - 'Long Long Ago'

Free Appreciation Society Magazine - Issue #164

Free Appreciation Society

Magazine Issue #164

November 2022

A few moments ago I dropped the last of the UK subscription issues at the post office. Overseas magazines went out on Monday. Magazine #164, coming to your door! That's if you subscribe of course.

We back step a little here, to June 1971, and everything that happened there, before moving forward into the split of Free, and the formulation of the three splinter groups, KKTR, Peace & Toby. Lots of new information and material here, especially around the activities of Paul Kossoff, who was quite busy during this initial couple of months. There's a comprehensive look and the 'coming and goings'. Tetsu arriving from Japan, Rabbit's journey from Texas, via Sweden, to the Basing Street Studios, and who the mysterious singing  'Rick' was.

There's an in depth look at the start of solo recordings, and John Martyn's 'May You Never' sessions, with Kossoff, Kirke & Tetsu, that spawned the 'Time Away' instrumental piece. 

All this comes headed with a brand new introduction, written especially for this issue by Simon Kirke, dealing specifically with this period of new freedoms from the old regime, and the gathering storm caused by the break-up.

This issue checks in at 56 pages and covers quite a bit of stuff I've never included or written about before. There are two addendums in this new issue, and they will be coming to the FAS 'blogspot' in a couple of days. So be sure to come back and check them out when you reach them in the text.

A hugely comprehensive issue. Enjoy! 

56 pages absolutely packed with FREE

 

---------------------------------------

Now mailed out to all FAS subscribers. 

It is cheaper to buy directly here (from the FAS itself) than it will be on Ebay, where there are other fees involved for both UK and overseas buyers. ALL payments are via Paypal, so it's all very easy and secure. 

Casual buyer? Want the magazine cheaper? Get a subscription!

A subscription is the cheapest way to get the FAS magazine. 

For subscription information email: fasarticle@aol.com 

You can buy this individual issue from the email address above.

Drop me a mail giving your location and a Paypal money request will be sent to you. It's cheaper than buying them on Ebay where they are £6.50 (UK) 

UK price including postage from here directly is £5.80 for this issue.

This includes postage and Paypal fees.

A subscription for three issues (UK) is £14.85.

Please feel 'free' to enquire about overseas prices.

.

Next FAS Issues Winter 2022

Good Times Magazine Germany #179 FREE POSTER!!

Free appear on the cover, and feature over eight pages inside, of the new issue of German music magazine 'Good Times' (all text in German of course). There's a six page Free article with photographs (P12-17), an intervew with Paul Rodgers (P18), an interview with Simon Kirke (P111) and daughter Lola Kirke (P114)!

Along with this the cover is reproduced in full over the two page center of the magazine (not quite what I'd call a poster but very nice AND a new image!) If you want a copy the direct link to order is below. 

Good Times Magazine - Issue 179

Remember 'Vereinigtes Königreich' is United Kingdom! It did stump me for a minute but they do take 'Paypal' payments, which is very helpful.

Thanks to Addy Adams, Roger Drosdatis & Thomas Lehn for bringing this to my attention.

Chris Blackwell – The Islander (Book Review)

Chris Blackwell – The Islander

Nine Eight Books (416 Pages). ISBN-10 : 1788705750 

Reviewed by Russell Airey.

Chris Blackwell has led a charmed life. Born into wealth he has a fascinating genealogy. The BBC could produce an entire series of Who Do You Think You Are? on the Blackwell clan. Following his parents’ divorce his mother became close to Ian Fleming around the time he was writing the James Bond novels. The connection with Fleming gave Blackwell the opportunity to work as a production assistant on the first Bond film, Dr. No.

Although Blackwell had a privileged colonial upbringing on Jamaica he witnessed appalling injustices inflicted on some of the poorest natives. These experiences left a deep impression on young Blackwell. He became rebellious and restless, embracing different cultures and eccentric personalities, qualities that subsequently served him well in the music business.

Like most serial entrepreneurs he is an individualist and not afraid to go against the grain. He has the humility to acknowledge that an element of good fortune and good timing contributed towards his success. The good fortune, for instance, to accidentally stumble across a young Steve Winwood performing with the Spencer Davis Group at a small Birmingham pub in 1964. The recruitment of Winwood became pivotal to the growth of Island Records and helped attract other talented artists to the label.

Blackwell didn’t always have the Midas touch though. He passed up the opportunity to sign a shy singer-songwriter whom he felt didn’t have much of a future as a performing artist. Shortly thereafter Reg Dwight morphed into Elton John to become one of the biggest stars of the following decade. In 1968 Blackwell narrowly missed out signing Led Zeppelin and also passed on Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Madonna.

The book contains numerous entertaining anecdotes. In 1969 Cat Stevens auditioned for an ambivalent Blackwell who was about to turn him down when he played a stunning new song called Father and Son. At the time Stevens was unhappily locked into a contract with Decca and keen to leave. Blackwell suggested Stevens issue Decca with an ultimatum. His next album would be a classic but in order to make it he needed the works. A full orchestra with choir, a large recording budget, and so on. The horrified suits at Decca took the bait. Thinking Stevens had completely lost the plot they dropped him like a stone and Decca’s loss became Island’s gain.

As for Free approximately half of Chapter 8 is devoted to his time with the band. Blackwell recalls their reluctance to accept a radio-friendly edit of All Right Now and dismay at having to appear and mine on Top of the Pops. Blackwell sensed he had a hit on his hands, stood his ground and was ultimately vindicated as ARN shot up the charts across the globe. After hanging out with Miles Davis he had acquired a taste for fast cars and used some of the profits from ARN to treat himself to a new Mercedes sports car.

Blackwell gives the impression Free were often in turmoil and liable to implode at any point. Things came to a head in May 1969 when an increasingly isolated Paul Kossoff became fed up of being bossed around by the younger 16-year-old Andy Fraser. A disillusioned Kossoff discreetly auditioned for Jethro Tull and The Rolling Stones. Blackwell cottoned on to this and tactfully had a quiet word with Kossoff behind the scenes persuading him to stay on thereby keeping Free alive. Phew!

If Blackwell hadn’t intervened and held the band together at such a critical point, the only recorded output of Free on Island Records would be Tons of Sobs and the Broad Daylight single. There would have been no Fire and Water, Highway or Free Live! and you wouldn’t be streaming the likes of Heavy Load, Be My Friend and Mr. Big Live. It’s almost unimaginable.

There are a few factual errors in the book. ARN was not conceived at Durham University in March 1970. Free didn’t play any gigs at Durham University during March 1970 by which time they were already in Trident Studios recording the song. In numerous interviews throughout 1970 both Andy Fraser and Paul Rodgers said the bad gig happened at Manchester. And of course Free initially split up in 1971, not 1970 as stated.

Some of the most interesting parts of the autobiography are the final few chapters and cover the financial difficulties Island encountered during the mid-1980’s. A potential crisis was averted when U2 wisely agreed to take a minority stake in Island in lieu of royalties owed. Blackwell realised it was time to exit and after the enormous success of U2’s The Joshua Tree he sold Island to PolyGram in 1989. Quite a journey from the days of driving around London selling 45’s from the boot of his Mini to the various Jamaican communities.

Blackwell will most likely be remembered in the music industry for his association with Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, Grace Jones and U2. To my mind though the golden age of Island Records will always be synonymous with Guy Stevens, pink label pressings, the front cover of the LP You Can All Join In, and the emergence of Steve Winwood, John Martyn, Traffic, Jethro Tull, Nick Drake, Spooky Tooth, Fairport Convention, Mott The Hoople and Free. What an incredible roster of artists and what a legacy.

Arise, Sir Christopher!