Kossoff and Rodgers CD and LP re-issues 2021

Kossoff - 'Back Street Crawler'

Japan: Limited Edition SHM-2CD set

 

Paul Rodgers - 'Muddy Water Blues'

Europe: Limited Edition 2LP 180g yellow vinyl set

Okay, still hard at work here trying to get FAS issues that are ready to print sorted out and finishing the final issue for the 'Highway' series. It was 'Stealer' all day here yesterday! With the new lockdown, printing and finishing (cropping and stapling) is somewhat of a trial by fire, and yet again it's slowing things down to a crawl. Nothing we can do about it but plod on and try to get #155 out as soon as we can. When it goes into the post I'll put the usual notice up here to let you know, but it's not printed yet. My guess is it won't be for a few weeks.

In the meantime there are a couple of things going on that won't be mentioned in the new magazines anyway. In Japan Universal have issued the deluxe 2CD 'Kossoff - Back Street Crawler' set again. Paul's solo album. This comes on SHM-CD (for what that's worth) in mini LP packaging. On places like Ebay it comes in at over £40 (at best) but beware as they (Ebay) are now adding 20% VAT onto orders from overseas. Buyer beware! Why Ebay have suddenly become a tax collector I don't know, as if this gets stopped by customs coming into the UK what's to stop them charging you again? No, it's probably best if you can to buy direct and go to either CDJapan, HMVJapan or TowerJapan - all easy to find on google, but a little tricky to wrangle around if you are new to these Japanese sites.

I understand this release is limited to 150 sets, so if you want one don't hang about, and as the original is long deleted and seems to attract crazy prices, if you don't have a copy this might be a good time to buy. Also you should be made aware that shipping from Japan is currently very, very slow unless you pick a premium service like DHL (premium charge too!).

More reasonably priced is a new 2LP 180g vinyl issue of the Paul Rodgers 'Muddy Water Blues' set. This has never been issued on vinyl before is realistically priced at £25 (+P&P). It takes all of the original CD set, but none of the bonus material that has been made available previously. Why they decided to use the hideous yellow / orange (depends on the seller description of it!) coloured vinyl, no idea. This is limited to 2000 and all are individually numbered.

If you have the original releases here then really you don't need either of these, but I know there are people who will still want to pick them up. Whether the vinyl cut of PR's album here actually comes from an analogue or digital master I don't know, and nowhere seems to say. Bit of an oversight if it's all analogue as that's a vinyl junkie sales point, so I'd GUESS it isn't. Anyway, like with all these things please shop around to find the best price. I've seen huge variations.

Interestingly my understanding is that the Rodgers set isn't due for release until February 12th, and yet there are people who are already selling copies they quite obviously already have in their possession! So much for that then. The Kossoff 2CD came out in Japan on January 1st.

Happy Christmas Day From The FAS

Okay, here we are, Christmas Day and I'm correcting some 'interesting' spelling and general mistakes in the first proper drafts of issues #155, #156 and #157. I seem to recall I was doing exactly the same thing on this day last year as well! This is where doing a number of issues at once gets a bit mind numbing! Correct, check, correct, check, correct, and hope we catch most the errors... We never get them all, but we do try.

Anyway, as I have the, rather good looking, paged prints in front of me, I thought I'd give you a sneaky Christmas Day peak at them -  so here you are. A little Christmas cheer at the end of a crappy year.

#158 is little nowhere near complete yet but the cover is mocked up and the diary section (I nearly always type 'dairy' - Oops) is complete, so it's on the way. I'm really waiting for the final vinyl pieces to come in the post so I can check the matrix numbers - and as you are likely aware that's all VERY slow at the moment. Still, chins up, as we have FAS issues for January, February and March right now. They just need the final check before we print them - which is what I'm doing today. That's a pretty good FAS start to 2021, as we pull away at high speed from the very unpleasant 2020.

Also here's a 'Merry Kossmas' outtake for your enjoyment. Rabbit and I thought the one with the somewhat 'dubious' Christmas spirited (literally) drummer was quite funny - but here's one without his contribution, so just Rabbit, Koss and sleigh bells.

 

Happy Christmas everyone, and today, please raise a glass for absent friends. Not everyone got this far, and some people have empty chairs that should have family members in them. This is very sad. Moving forward I wish you all a VERY good 2021. Lets hope we all move out of all this Covid shit quickly and safely, wherever you are.

A Very Happy Kossmas

Well, here's just a little note to let you know that we are still working away here and things have been progressing well. While three of the proposed four 'Highway' related issues are pretty much done, due to the current situation they won't be coming out until next year. The plan currently is to try and get them out over the January - March period. Fingers crossed. We've not done bad though. Remember there have actually been FOUR issues this year and one of those was 88 pages! A real ballbuster. Holding the magazines back until next year will hopefully let the post get over the Christmas mess and settle back down. It's been a tricky year all round really, and I hope everyone has been keeping safe and well. Let's hope 2021 is MUCH MUCH better.

In the meantime I'd like to wish you all a very Happy Kossmas. Thanks to Rabbit, Richard Button and of course Koss for their help in getting this little treat together. Play it to the end!

 

Free & Bad Company Encyclopedia

Japanese Overview

(English Translation)

50th anniversary of the announcement of the masterpiece "Fire and Water" including the eternal rock standard "All Right Now"!

Thorough detailed explanation of all works of Free & Bad Company, including the first public photos of the arrival date and time (In Japan)

■ British rock scene before free appearance

■ Reborn in 1972 (1971) & 1972 Free visit to Japan with historical photographs including many unused parts (50 pages in total)

■ Detailed explanation of all Free works

■ Rodgers / Kossoff / Fraser / Kirke / Tetsu / Rabbit Solo Works

■ Full of first public shots! Live photo book of the original Bad Company including the date and time of the first visit (32 pages in total)

■ Detailed explanation of all Bad Company works

■ Biography of all members of Free & Bad Company

■ Explanation of video archive

■ Kossoff's Shadow - Crawler's work review & unpublished live photos unearthed!

■ Free & Bad Company: Analog Edition Gallery (Japanese Single, etc.)

■ Reprinted Interview & Report Collection (Reprinted about 30 books including the first public full version from "MUSIC LIFE" and "YOUNG GUITAR")

■ Island Records and their people

■ Free best & compilation works

■ Paul Kossoff's session sound source

■ Kossoff's Les Paul in the hands of Rodgers

■ Genealogy of British rock singer

■ A list of cover artists of Free & Bad Company songs

■ Paul Kossoff playing method analysis, etc.

 

Rough guide to ordering from HMV Japan

https://www.hmv.co.jp/en/artist_Free-Bad-Company_000000000210522/item_%E3%83%95%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC-%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E5%A4%A7%E5%85%A8_11264992

Price ¥3,850 (Approximately £28.00)

Shipping ¥2,200 (Approximately £16.00)

It is possible that the book can also be ordered from Tower Records in Japan and other sources, but it's actually quite difficult to find out!

Publisher ：Shinko Music Entertainment

Release Date ：November/2020

Japan Only

ISBN/Catalogue Number：

ISBN 13 : 9784401649822
ISBN 10 : 4401649826

Message From Simon Kirke

Hi Everybody!

I am pleased to announce that I will be performing a solo show on stageit.com 

December 18th at 4 PM EST. 

(21.00 /9pm in the UK)

I'll be playing songs from Free, Bad Company and my solo career.

Also, I'll be taking song requests in advance

(if I can do the one you chose).

I will also take some time for questions during the show.

It's gonna be fun...!

A percentage of the proceeds will go to www.nurseheros.org

Just go to this website for tickets...

https://www.stageit.com/simon_kirke/an_evening_with_simon_kirke/91403

Donations only.

Until then, stay safe & look after each other....

Love,

Simon x

 

(Photo by Monte Farber & shirt by Amy Zerner)

Stealer - 50 Years Old Today

Wow, here we go again. Today 'Stealer' (no 'The' on the single labels) is officially 50 years old. Released as the follow up to 'All Right Now' it wasn't quite the hit everyone expected, but it still sounds great. Like all things FREE it is not a straight forward release and differs in different territories. It can be found with different B-sides, incorrectly labelled B-sides that play something different to the track named, there are mono versions, some versions on 7" that play at 33rpm... It goes on and on. More will be revealed when the FAS magazine gets to that point. In the meantime here's the original German issue of the 'Stealer' single. This includes the studio 'count-in' not found on any other issues. Cool.

Also, I've finally managed to find a copy of the Canadian 'All Right Now' DJ Radio Edit (from 4.14 to 3.09). So, here it is directly from the vinyl for your.... enjoyment? Actually it's okay, if a bit brutal on first listen, and if it got the single played on the radio, bought in the shops and then into the charts, well, I guess it did it's job.

 

Simon Kirke Interview on LTV's 'Homegrown' streaming tonight.

00.30 Friday 30th in the UK (GMT)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxiTjQvGVkE