07. Free Fire and Water 1970 (Island)
Hard rock
It's all right now.....but sadly it wasn't.
Overview
For a lot of bands at this time their third album was often pivotal. It either meant that the band was already established commercially, because by their third album they often hit the height of their commercial appeal. Or on the other hand, a band's first two albums hadn't achieved the commercial success that had been expected and the pressure was often on the band to then produce that breakthrough on their third release. Free most definitely fell into the second category and melded their creative powers to finally achieve the commercial success that was expected. This had actually been achieved after quite a lot of inner-group tension that had plagued their previous album, where Paul Rodgers had tried to exert greater control over the band, but by
Fire and Water a compromise had been reached and most of the band compositions were often jointly written, by both Paul Rodgers and bassist Andy Fraser. For the album, they took the heavy blues aspects of
Tons of Sobs and the tunnelled melodic tunes from their sophomore set Free to write what was often seen as their most polished affair yet. They would also produce the album themselves, after having their first two albums produced by Guy Stevens and Chris Blackwell. The album was their big commercial breakthrough largely thanks to the single "All Right Now" one of the most famous hard rock tunes from the 1970s music scene. The album would clock in at just 35 minutes, which for such a seminal album might seem a bit on the short side compared to some of their rivals. The album cover is great as well and features a great shot of the band.
Paul Rodgers- Vocals
Paul Kossoff- Guitar
Andy Fraser- Bass
Simon Kirke- Drums
Production- Free
Album
Fire and Water- The swaggering title track has Paul Rodgers sounding as soulful and dominant as ever, a real gem of a track.
Oh I Wept- The type of heartfelt composition that the band did so well and another very strong track.
Remember- A typical Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser penned track, just the sort of thing that they would excel with in Bad Company.
Heavy Load- One of the showpiece tracks on the album and some amazing guitar work by Paul Kossoff.
Mr.Big- Kicks of the B-side and is famous for being one of the best tracks that Paul Kossoff ever laid guitar down on, an amazing piece of work without a doubt.
Don't Say You Love Me- I always felt that this was one soft track too many on the album, but is still well sung and penned.
All Right Now- The most famous song by the band, it has that instantly recognizable feel about it and is kept fresh throughout with several changes in tempo. As a footnote I was never actually a huge fan of the song, I guess it just got so overplayed over the years that it ended up bothering me.
Verdict
A highly polished rock album full of well crafted songs that still stands the test of time. The band produced themselves on this album with some help from a young Roy Thomas Baker and the production sounds superb, with the singing and instrumentation tight-knit throughout. Amongst Free fans, this is often seen as their best album and indeed it is excellent, but on a personal level I slightly preferred the 'freer' sounding (excuse the pun) of their debut album
Tons of Sobs. Around this time and for a brief period, Free shared the same table as Led Zeppelin in terms of popularity and were also at the top of the commercial pile. They were also headliners at the well known Isle of Wight festival, which usually attracted around 600,000 people every year! After this album the band were now under pressure to produce both a follow-up album and a single to match "All Right Now" which sadly they couldn't, as their follow-up album
Highway and the single "The Stealer" both also released in 1970 both bellyflopped, to be honest it was one lifeless and boring album as well, effectively seeing their commercial aspirations coming to a premature end. They would of course though, come back with one more excellent album a few years later in
Heartbreaker, before Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser would both go onto greater success in Bad Company.