COMING SOON...

FAS #138 has just gone into print production.
Should be out to subscribers in a couple of weeks.

PAUL KOSSOFF.. We miss you Paul

We Miss You Paul...

Paul Kossoff

September 14th 1950 - March 19th 1976

Another sad anniversary... So lets go somewhere different. Yes, play some Paul Kossoff music -  and play it LOUDLY. 'Tuesday Morning' on a Sunday... why the hell not! But here's something very 'left field' I think you might like to hear about.

In cyberspace Paul Kossoff Lives!

'Elite' goes WAY back where home computers are concerned and was originally released by developers David Braben and Ian Bell by Acornsoft for the BBC Mirco and Acorn Electron computers in September 1984. It used 3D wire graphics and was basically a combat and trading game but with massive gameplay options. You could be a miner, a trader, bounty hunter or even a pirate and it took the idea of the old role playing text games to a whole new level. I first became aware of it on the Commadore 64 and then the Amiga but truthfully I found it WAY to complex and really, I didn't get very far. Yup, it sure was geeky and some people really got lost in it's immense playing world and gameplay.

Over the years there were various versions released but in 2012 a 'Kickstarter' campaign for funding from players themselves provided developers the opportunity to really bring the game into the 21st century with ludicrously VAST playing area based factually on the stars and planets within the Milky Way. Players can explore anywhere they like in what is a completely real time experience while interacting with others programmed into the game or on the multi-player platform aided greatly by faster broadband speeds via Fibre. Wikipedia explains better than me that;

The player is able to explore the game's galaxy of some 400 billion star systems, complete with planets and moons that rotate and orbit in real-time, resulting in dynamic day/night cycles. Around 150,000 of the game's star systems are taken from real-world astronomical data, while the remainder are procedurally generated according to scientific models. Throughout the galaxy, the player is able to dock with space stations and outposts to trade goods, purchase new spacecraft, re-arm their ship, effect repairs and to seek or complete missions from text-based station "bulletin boards". The player may also find cargo or encounter other ships while in flight by investigating 'Unidentified Signal Sources'.

Scanning to see who's aboard AND... Its Koss!

So yeah, its pretty deep. People who gave money to the project were offered different 'incentives' to donate. One of them was the option to NAME an in-game player, and that's where Angus Manwaring; an Elite player and a huge Paul Kossoff fan, decided the choice was obvious. Why not have Paul Kossoff flying around the Elite universe for eternity, doing his own thing, and allowing anyone with the audacity to go out there and find him. It works for me -  and so on this, the sad 41st anniversary of Paul's death we are pleased to announce he's been spotted by Angus - who has been looking for him for a couple of years - and he's doing fine. He appears randomly in the game so just finding him in the HUGE Elite universe is an accomplishment all in itself. Over to Angus...

In Space, There's one great bluesman...

Life had been pretty good, I’d made a fortune running missions and bounty-hunting – to the point where I’d finally achieved a lifelong ambition, I could finally afford a Federal Corvette, a very serious combat ship, not a dogfighter (but not far off one in the handling stakes) but a ship powerful and heavily enough armed to take down the fearsome Anacondas and Cutters, and an accompanying wing of dogfighters if need be. Yeah, she was something all right, but what I hadn’t fully appreciated was so was the money I’d need to fit her up properly. Make her tough enough to defend herself and not become a token kill for some hotshot Vulture pilot. Well, I got that pretty much done, but that left me broke again, I needed her to earn her keep. I needed some quick, good paying jobs to replenish what I’d spent, to give me some security. In short, putting some money back under the mattress.

With this in mind I accepted a lucrative bounty job, down in the Rahu system. It seemed an Alliance convoy had been shot up by local outlaws, and the efforts to rescue the survivors needed some additional security. It looked pretty standard, most of the activity took place off the Rings of Rahu 1, and I spent several days flying patrols and racking up a bounty tally on a fairly unimaginative enemy. It would have been the 4^th or 5^th day of the operation that it happened.

Now you should know, I’m a Bluesman – not the stuff they churn out these days, I mean back in the 20^th and 21^st century, the real stuff, when it wasn’t a career option – they did it because they had to. A guy from back then, a Paul Kossoff, he could play guitar so pretty it would make a grown man weep, or smile, or just stand there and feel it, well, that day I ran into a ship drawing fire from every direction. There must have been four or five guys gunning for him. He wasn’t calling for help, he was just fighting them off, casual, methodical like. Methodical or not, there was no way he could win, not with those odds, then I saw the name on my scanner display- Paul Kossoff. So I pitched in – now truth be told, I’m no great fighter pilot, but I had the ship, and I had the firepower – and together we took down all those ships. When it was over we just flew along side by side for maybe a minute or two, he didn’t answer my hails, never said a word, then he just rolled out, and 'high waked' out of there – it was the damnedest thing.  

 

Hi-Res Version Here...

Elite

If you had any involvement with the “home micro” game scene in the early/mid eighties, it would have been hard to avoid the legend that was (and is) Elite. Cambridge university students David Braben and Colin Bell came up with a unique game that was at once a shoot-em-up, a role-playing-game, and an adventure. It blurred the lines of established genres, and it did it in first person perspective 3D! The player was presented with a capable but poorly equipped spaceship, the Cobra Mk III, and could choose his own method of progression: Trader, Bounty Hunter, Pirate, Miner or any combination. There was no score, no ‘three lives’ it was just you, your ship, the eight galaxies, and whatever path you decided to take. David Braben (now OBE) made a couple of sequels in the nineties but since then let the game be, to await better technology to further develop it.

 Well, that time came a couple of years back with the release of Elite: Dangerous. Now a multiplayer, online game, taking place in a 1:1 scale simulation of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Every star you can see in the night sky is there in the game, mapped as accurately as the current data allows. Beyond that, the developers have had to create star systems using procedural generation software - what they call the Galactic Forge, which works from first principles to place and populate stars, 400, 000, million of them, as realistically as they can. This goes down to the type of minerals and gases most likely to exist on the orbiting planets. And it seems they’re doing something right because when NASA recently announced 7 Earth-like worlds in the Trappist 1 system, that’s just how Elite Dangerous had already rendered the system at that location.

 Over the intervening years between the sequels and the present, David Braben quietly had his company, Frontier Developments,  working on possible development tools for the sequel. At one point, Elite IV was announced, but this proved premature and was not released. Work did continue on the Cobra engine however, and over the years , in the background things steadily began to take shape.

In 2012 it was decided the new game would be crowd-funded, and by the end of the funding period, the game was confirmed as were a host of stretch goals which included additional ships, and a Mac version. Backers received various perks, depending on their generosity and these included the right to name a non-player character who would appear randomly within the game. Who would you have chosen? I chose Paul Kossoff. In December 2014, the game, having passed through its alpha and beta phases was released to its backers, and shortly after, to the world in general.

Since its release, a host of updates have been added, including Planetary Landings, Wings, Engineers, and as I type the Commaders update (allowing multi-crewing of a single ship) is undergoing its beta period. The future of the game, its players, and its non-player characters, looks good.

View of Paul's ship (left) from the cockpit 25-02-2017

ANDY FRASER - Two years Gone...

Andy Fraser 

July 3rd 1952 - March 16th 2015

Don't forget to play some stuff by Andy today. Give it some volume with 'Mr Big' live and remind yourself of how awesome that bass playing is. Check out 'Mouthful Of Grass' and admire his acoustic picking talents. Then how about that CBS 'Andy Fraser Band' album from 1975 showing him as a writer, bassist and singer. All well worth your attention, especially today. And that's just scratching the surface.

Andy and Simon Kirke often get overlooked when Paul Kossoff and Paul Rodgers were so much the 'face' of Free, but make no mistake that band wouldn't have been the same without them. Fraser's bass playing was central to the whole 'swing' and 'groove' that Free had, especially around the time of 1969's eponymous album. 'Songs Of Yesterday', 'Trouble On Double Time' and 'I'll Be Creepin' all feature stunning bass work where the whole arrangement of the song hinges on what the bass and drums are doing. Never underestimate the power of a great rhythm section.

Andy left a great legacy. Sail on brother...

Bad Company - 'Run With The Pack' and 'Burnin’ Sky' Deluxe Editions May 26

Bad Company - 'Run With The Pack' and 'Burnin’ Sky' Deluxe Editions

Bad Company

'Run With The Pack' and 'Burnin’ Sky' Deluxe Editions

Double CD and 2LP 180g Vinyl sets due May 26th, 2017

oooooOOOOOooooo

Run With The Pack: During a rare break from touring, Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke and Boz Burrell got together in France to record new songs using the Rolling Stones mobile recording studio. Those sessions produced Run With The Pack, a 10-song album that came out in early 1976 and rose to #4 in England and #5 in America, where it sold three million copies alone. Radio stations embraced the title track along with a cover of The Coasters’ Young Blood, while Silver, Blue & Gold became one of the band’s signature tracks, even though it was never officially released as a single.

The bonus disc that accompanies RUN WITH THE PACK: DELUXE EDITION includes unreleased early mixes for Honey Child and Simple Man, as well as an extended version of the title track. There s also the previously unreleased Let There Be Love, an outtake from the recording sessions. In fact, the acoustic version of Do Right By Your Woman, previously only available as the B-Side of the single release of Run With The Pack, is the only song on the bonus disc that has ever been previously released.

Tracklist [CD1]
1. Live For The Music (Remastered)

2. Simple Man (Remastered)
3. Honey Child (Remastered)
4. Love Me Somebody (Remastered)
5. Run With The Pack (Remastered)
6. Silver, Blue & Gold (Remastered)
7. Young Blood (Remastered)
8. Do Right By Your Woman (Remastered)
9. Sweet Lil’ Sister (Remastered)
10. Fade Away (Remastered)

Tracklist [CD2]
1. Live For The Music (Take 1, Alternative Vocal & Guitar)
2. Simple Man (Take 3, Early Mix)
3. Honey Child (Early Mix, Alternative Guitar Solo)
4. Run With The Pack (Extended Version, Alternative Vocal)
5. Let There Be Love (Take 1)
6. Silver, Blue & Gold (Take 1, Early Mix)
7. Young Blood (Alternative Vocal)
8. Do Right By Your Woman (Alternative Vocal)
9. Sweet Lil’ Sister (Live Backing Track)
10. Fade Away (Early Mix, Alternative Guitar Solo)
11. Do Right By Your Woman (Acoustic Version) (Remastered)
12. (I Know) I’m Losing You (Studio Jam)
13. Young Blood (Alternative Version 2)
14. Fade Away (Island Studios Demo)

oooooOOOOOooooo

Burnin' Sky: During the summer of 1976, the band returned to France yet again to record 12 songs for what would become Burnin’ Sky. They chose Château d’Hérouville as the studio, which is where David Bowie would record Low later that same year. Burnin’ Sky was released in March 1977, and broke into the Top 20 in both the U.K. and U.S.

The BURNIN’ SKY: DELUXE EDITION bonus disc features unreleased versions of nearly every song on the album, including alternative takes and mixes of Man Needs A Woman and Morning Sun, plus the full version of Too Bad. The session tapes also unearthed Unfinished Story, a song that was completed, but never released.

Tracklist [CD1]
1. Burnin’ Sky (Remastered)

2. Morning Sun (Remastered)
3. Leaving You (Remastered)
4. Like Water (Remastered)
5. Knapsack (The Happy Wanderer) (Remastered)
6. Everything I Need (Remastered)
7. Heartbeat (Remastered)
8. Peace Of Mind (Remastered)
9. Passing Time (Remastered)
10. Too Bad (Remastered)
11. Man Needs Woman (Remastered)
12. Master Of Ceremony (Remastered)

Tracklist  [CD2]
1. Burnin’ Sky (Take 2, Alternative Vocal & Guitar)
2. Morning Sun (Take 3, Early Version)
3. Leaving You (Take 1, Alternative Vocal)
4. Like Water (Take 1, Rough Mix)
5. Knapsack (The Happy Wanderer) [Early Run Through]
6. Everything I Need (Take 2, Rough Mix)
7. Peace Of Mind (Alternative Version)
8. Passing Time (Alternative Vocal)
9. Too Bad (Full Version)
10. Man Needs Woman (Alternative Vocal & Guitar)
11. Too Bad (Early Version, Mick Ralphs Vocal)
12. Man Needs Woman (Take 2, Early Version, Mick Ralphs Vocal)
13. Burnin’ Sky (Take 1, Alternative Vocal)
14. Unfinished Story (Previously Unreleased Song)

FREE CONVENTION 2017

Free Convention

Tynemouth

March 18, 2017

Paul Rodgers 'Free Spirit' Tour 2017

Paul Rodgers has announced that he will be heading out across the UK this May on the ‘FREE Spirit’ Tour performing songs strictly from the Free catalogue. The tour will culminate with a show at the famed Royal Albert Hall in London.

On the subject of performing songs from Free’s renowned back catalogue and why the decision was made to name the tour the ‘FREE Spirit’ Tour, Paul Rodgers had the following to say:

“It was 50 years ago in 1967 when Paul Kossoff and I met and later formed Free. We first jammed together at the Fickle Pickle Blues Club in Finsbury Park, we wanted exactly that, to be free to play the music that we loved, blues and beyond. We knew we had something special between us when people told us that when we played time stood still. He brought in the rhythm section, Simon Kirke from his band The Black Cat Bones and found the advertisement at the Nags Head Battersea for a “Bass player ex-John Mayall looking for a gig” Andy Fraser.

Not only was Koss the soul of the band, playing every note deeply…from his very soul he also had great organisational skills, everybody loved him and rightly so.

The first song that Koss and I wrote together was “Moonshine”. I remember him playing the music and he asked if I could write the melody and lyrics. In fact it was that song we were playing when Alexis Corner walked in to our rehearsal and gave us the suggestion for a band name “Free At Last”.

We went with just Free and I am still reeling from the memories.

It was so inspirational playing Free material with Deborah Bonham’s band, led by guitarist Pete Bullick, when we played charity gigs to support Willows Animal Sanctuary and Assisted Therapy Unit, which my wife Cynthia and I plus Deborah Bonham and Pete Bullick are Patrons of, that I promised myself that someday we would tour the UK with this band. Well…that someday has come. Pete will be on guitar, Ian Rowley on bass, Rich Newman on drums and Gerard Louis “G” on keyboards. Special guest will be Deborah Bonham featured with a keyboardist.

We are calling the tour “Free Spirit” and the back story is that two ponies were abandoned by their guardians on the Shetland Islands when concerned neighbours contacted Willows who agreed to rescue them. After a fourteen hour ferry ride the two arrived, one heavily pregnant and both full of worms. The drugs needed would most assuredly kill the unborn foal. However miracles do happen and a healthy foal was born christened “Free Spirit” by Willows. Which in turn inspired the name for the tour.

What better way to thank the fans for their years and years of devotion to Free than to do this “Free Spirit” UK Tour”. PAUL RODGERS

Full FREE Spirt UK Dates. For tickets and more information visit the TOUR page. General public on-sale starts Friday, January 27th at 9:00 AM.

May 2017
Friday 5th – Clyde Auditorium | Glasgow
Sunday 7th – City Hall | Newcastle
Monday 8th – O2 Apollo | Manchester
Wednesday 10th – Colston Hall | Bristol
Friday 12th – Pavilions | Plymouth
Sunday 14th – New Theatre | Oxford
Wednesday 17th – De Montfort Hall | Leicester
Friday 19th – City Hall | Sheffield
Saturday 20th – Royal Concert Hall | Nottingham
Monday 22nd – Cliffs Pavilion | Southend
Tuesday 23rd – Regent Theatre | Ipswich
Thursday 25th – Guildhall | Portsmouth
Saturday 27th – Symphony Hall | Birmingham
Sunday 28th – Royal Albert Hall | London
VIP Packages including Meet & Greet available from vipnation.eu/PaulRodgers