They were teenagers when they recorded this, it's an object lesson in how to leave space. How they hell they knew how to play like this when they were SO young. Just brilliant.
Crazy how talented and young bassist Andy Fraser was during his time with Free. He wrote or co-wrote a lot of their songs. I learned to play bass chords listening to Andy’s work with Free. Guitarist Paul Kossoff is known for his incredible vibrato that many envy still to this day.
This is an excellent live cut of this song, although the studio version on the album 'Fire and Water' sounds like it was live in the studio so the effect is equally as good, but cleaner of course. The whole F&W album is incredibly good. Absolute standout vocal performances on EVERY track, with 'Oh I Wept' and 'Don't Say You Love Me' being greater highlights! Well worth a listen to the whole album.
I saw Free in 1969 and 1970 at a small club in Wolverhampton (England) sitting only a few feet from the stage. Andy Frasers' bass solo was superb and Simon Kirke on drums was amazing. He used to break numerous drumsticks in the course of a gig and I still have a repaired set that I rescued from the bin.
That’s incredible, and I’m more than a little envious. I was born in 73, so I was too young to go see live shows, through the 70s, but the 1968 through 1980, era of music was the best, bar none. Has deeply influenced my playing and how I hear music. There was so much heart, soul, and feel in all the music of this era. A lot of skill, as well, but the emotion in this era of music can’t be denied..
The bassist Andy Fraser had just turned 19 at that point. Andy wrote the music for all Right Now. The drummer here Simon Kirke went with Rodgers to Bad Company. Andy had a few bands with some success including the band Sharks before moving to LA and writing a half dozen mega hits for various artists - and the Obama election campaign song Obama(Yes We Can) before he tragically died from AIDS in 2015. The guitarist Paul Kossoff had a long and ultimately failed battle with drug addiction. Free were a magnificent band and are legendary in Europe despite their relatively short existence 1968-73.
As you can tell, Paul Kosoff and Andy Fraser were what made Free a unique band. Check out Sharks and Back Street Crawler. + Heartbreaker and Free at Last albums ❤🎉❤
I didn’t realise when I was listening to Free and going to their gigs at about aged 16 that they weren’t much older than me at the time. I also didn’t quite appreciate how special they were live. Everything was slowed down, deceptively simple, almost basic … but actually the ambiance they created, the ‘feel’, the atmosphere was utterly mesmerising. They gelled together superbly. One of the most underrated aspects was how Andy Fraser had that ‘swing’ on the bass. Apart from being their leader and songwriter with Rodgers. He was a stylish player and great musician. He made them ‘not just another blues rock band’. Bloody brilliant band. I had the great pleasure of meeting Andy about a year before he passed away. Shook his hand and said ‘thank you for my adolescence’. The answer to your question is ‘Free’. Because they had soooouuull. And they weren’t ’hard rock’
I got into free in 73 when someday a mate gave me the fire and water album but they had broke up by then I thot what a band to break up wat a waste off talent seen bad co 3 times and Paul rodgers on his own but never got to see free which am sad about great band
Back in the 70's when I was at technical college we had the honour of having Free play at so many of our college dances it became a standard expectation for them to play. Every time they were incredible and I feel very privileged to have been lucky enough to have been at every one of them.
There is a video version of this where you see the band totally locked into the hypnotic groove. It's so powerful. Free were more elemental and more soulful than Bad Company who were more slick and commercial, so it's Free every time for me.
I prefer Free. Bad Company are a dumbed down, commercialized version of Free. Was my selection and glad it made it through to be reacted to. I liked all what you said except about guitarist Paul Kossoff. Pity you didn't feel the emotion in his solo. He put Gilmour in the shade when it comes to "feel" The drummer is Simon Kirke and bassist is Andy Fraser. It was Rogers and Kirke who formed Bad Company along with ex King Crimson's bassist Boz Burrell and ex Mott the Hoople's guitarist Mick Ralphs. Enjoyed this reaction 🙂
@@SightAfterDark I meant it in, for my tastes, they compromised pure raw rock for chart success. Not saying that's wrong. Bad Company were a great pop/rock group.
Seen Paul Rogers, in concert w/ my late girlfriend late 90s Fresno, Ca, Selland Arena he teamed up w/ Neil Schon, guitarist doing Free, & Bad Company, & Journey, songs, they rocked….
You reacted here to one of my favorite songs ever and to the best version of it (I heard several live versions of it and find this is the best). The instrumental bridge, notably when the bass solo begins, makes me shivering everytime I listen to it since I heard it the first time. And I bought the album the year it was released (I was a young teen). It's completely unique et thrilling. For me, there's no comparison between Free and Bad Company. Free is on an other level, either for songs quality (the bassist was the main composer) and instrumentally (these four guys formed a genius team). Hope you'll do more from them.
All right now was their top song, Mr Big live was full off energy & passion live. Sometime you must try out Wishing Well for Paul Rodgers at his finest. They were a very talented group of musicians.
Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirk (drums) formed Bad Company with Mick Ralphs (guitar) from Mott The Hoople, who had supported Free on tour in the early days. They auditioned for a bassist and found Boz Burrell, ex King Crimson, not long playing the bass. 1st album on the new Swan Song record label (Zeppelin) and managed by Peter Grant (Zeppelin)
Mr Big and Heavy load are great Free songs, a unique band who in the late sixties were up there with the best of UK bands. I've watched quite a few of mostly American reviews of this band and obviously most had never heard of them apart from the commercial song released by Free which was All Right Now, out of character to be honest . What does surprise me is that the best Free album is never mentioned which was Tons of Sobs, their first album which was the first album I bought back in late sixties, very raw to say the least !! This was the case with Rory Gallagher, his greatest album was the first Taste release. A great time for getting into music.
Essentially a 3 x piece band, guitar bass drums plus Paul on vocals; so when you look at how each 3 x piece band has to use space and dynamics to give such a full sound, particularly Live (The Police, Jimi Hendrix, The Chillies, The Jam, etc.) it requires a great deal of imagination to come up with arrangements that work in a Live context for each song. Check out the rest of the album to hear how each member plays more, or less, prominently to accomplish this. Some achievement given their age 😎
Free were the finest British blues rock band ever on Mr Big the hole point of Kossoff’s guitar on the track was to hold back and allow Fraser bass to shine and Kirke drums power the song along. Free are my first choice then Bad Company’s first two albums.
Guys, may I suggest you watch this? ua-cam.com/video/uyle6hZLxRc/v-deo.html Paul Kossoff (the guitarist) like the rest of the band, did what was required to best serve the song, if you want to hear him come more to the front, the song just after the one you played, not the Sound of Silence, 🙂The Hunter, originally by Albert King, shows his legendary vibrato off to the full. He was still 19 here, and the bass player Andy Fraser was 18. Free didn't become Bad Company. They spilt up, and Kirke and Rodgers formed Bad Company. Kossoff went on to form Back Street Crawler before he died, Fraser the Sharks and the Andy Fraser Band. Each to their own, but for me, Bad Company was a bit contrived and commercially astute. Free were dedicated to the music above all else, and it came from the soul. And nobody surpassed Fraser or Kossoff, they were that good.
I think of Bad Company as Free Mk II. I always thought Bad Company sounded like a later version of Free and then I checked the band members to see 50% of them were Free !
Free is ok by me. They just were basically unknown here in the states until the song All Right Now. Making them, sadly, a one hit wonder. They deserved much better than one hit wonder status.
Paul Rodgers was asked free or Bad Company Paul Rodgers said free because they came before Bad Company free is more appreciated now than they were in the day
I think he was 15 when he played with John.mayal bluesstreakers but turned 16 when he joined free the rest wernt much older steve winwood was only 15 when he played with Spencer Davis group
You are always fun to watch. I wish you big success with your music. For me Free is largely over Bad Company, essentially because of Andy Fraser on bass…
The reason the Guitar was underplayed during most of the song was because Paul Kosoff liked to hear Paul Rodgers sing. It was low key(until the solo) deliberately.
Free live kinda reminds me of Traffic live, a loosie-goosie, unstructured mess, they know where they want it to end, but take chances getting there. Modern labels would have kittens at such chaos, but if you really love music and have trust in competent musicians, you know they might strike magic that night, so buckle in.
Fraser's bass solo is a stand out but understand kossoff played rhythm to Fraser's lead and did it well.bad company and free? The guitar players in bad company with due respect weren't in the same league as Paul kossoff,he made the simple sound dangerous and dirty.
Mr Berg listening something else? Seems out of sync..with his irritating posturing. Young lady is lovely, perhaps Dan should have been kept..in the dark....
Great, great version of this song, the whole band is fire! 🔥
For more Free, try Heartbreaker, another awesome song and album. Enjoy! 🎵🎸🎤🎸🎶
One of my top 10 vocal performances. Free were over way to soon. RIP Koss / Frazer.
They were teenagers when they recorded this, it's an object lesson in how to leave space. How they hell they knew how to play like this when they were SO young. Just brilliant.
Crazy how talented and young bassist Andy Fraser was during his time with Free. He wrote or co-wrote a lot of their songs. I learned to play bass chords listening to Andy’s work with Free. Guitarist Paul Kossoff is known for his incredible vibrato that many envy still to this day.
All right now the stealer and my brother jake are andy fraziers gems
This is an excellent live cut of this song, although the studio version on the album 'Fire and Water' sounds like it was live in the studio so the effect is equally as good, but cleaner of course. The whole F&W album is incredibly good. Absolute standout vocal performances on EVERY track, with 'Oh I Wept' and 'Don't Say You Love Me' being greater highlights! Well worth a listen to the whole album.
I saw Free in 1969 and 1970 at a small club in Wolverhampton (England) sitting only a few feet from the stage. Andy Frasers' bass solo was superb and Simon Kirke on drums was amazing. He used to break numerous drumsticks in the course of a gig and I still have a repaired set that I rescued from the bin.
Nice!
Awesome, never saw Paul in Free, this song is incredible and every version is a little different but all 4 band members are all amazing!
That’s incredible, and I’m more than a little envious. I was born in 73, so I was too young to go see live shows, through the 70s, but the 1968 through 1980, era of music was the best, bar none. Has deeply influenced my playing and how I hear music. There was so much heart, soul, and feel in all the music of this era. A lot of skill, as well, but the emotion in this era of music can’t be denied..
Need to watch the video...live 1970.🌹👍
The bassist Andy Fraser had just turned 19 at that point. Andy wrote the music for all Right Now. The drummer here Simon Kirke went with Rodgers to Bad Company. Andy had a few bands with some success including the band Sharks before moving to LA and writing a half dozen mega hits for various artists - and the Obama election campaign song Obama(Yes We Can) before he tragically died from AIDS in 2015. The guitarist Paul Kossoff had a long and ultimately failed battle with drug addiction. Free were a magnificent band and are legendary in Europe despite their relatively short existence 1968-73.
Oh ...if it was Obama's song it would be how to destroy a country in a decade and a half while pretending you are doing good for the country.
As you can tell, Paul Kosoff and Andy Fraser were what made Free a unique band.
Check out Sharks and Back Street Crawler. + Heartbreaker and Free at Last albums ❤🎉❤
I didn’t realise when I was listening to Free and going to their gigs at about aged 16 that they weren’t much older than me at the time. I also didn’t quite appreciate how special they were live. Everything was slowed down, deceptively simple, almost basic … but actually the ambiance they created, the ‘feel’, the atmosphere was utterly mesmerising. They gelled together superbly. One of the most underrated aspects was how Andy Fraser had that ‘swing’ on the bass. Apart from being their leader and songwriter with Rodgers. He was a stylish player and great musician. He made them ‘not just another blues rock band’. Bloody brilliant band. I had the great pleasure of meeting Andy about a year before he passed away. Shook his hand and said ‘thank you for my adolescence’. The answer to your question is ‘Free’. Because they had soooouuull. And they weren’t ’hard rock’
I got into free in 73 when someday a mate gave me the fire and water album but they had broke up by then I thot what a band to break up wat a waste off talent seen bad co 3 times and Paul rodgers on his own but never got to see free which am sad about great band
"All Right Now" from this same performance. What a joyous song to bring on the 1970s.
it's definitely FREE!
That guitar playing is just out of this world even Jimi Hendrix loved it
Back in the 70's when I was at technical college we had the honour of having Free play at so many of our college dances it became a standard expectation for them to play. Every time they were incredible and I feel very privileged to have been lucky enough to have been at every one of them.
Thats is such a privilege indeed. We would’ve loved to be at those early shows!
Free are the real deal guys !! Bad company are great to but a bit more on the commercial side of things.
VERY CORRECTLY SPOKEN, THE BASS WAS AMAZING (R.I.P.) ANDY FRAZER
There is a video version of this where you see the band totally locked into the hypnotic groove. It's so powerful. Free were more elemental and more soulful than Bad Company who were more slick and commercial, so it's Free every time for me.
Absolutely love the bass. Andy Fraser total genius.
I saw Bad Co in the 70s that was part of my Rock and Roll Fantasy !
Lucky you! That would've been part of our Rock and Roll dream😉!
I prefer Free. Bad Company are a dumbed down, commercialized version of Free.
Was my selection and glad it made it through to be reacted to. I liked all what you said except about guitarist Paul Kossoff. Pity you didn't feel the emotion in his solo. He put Gilmour in the shade when it comes to "feel"
The drummer is Simon Kirke and bassist is Andy Fraser. It was Rogers and Kirke who formed Bad Company along with ex King Crimson's bassist Boz Burrell and ex Mott the Hoople's guitarist Mick Ralphs.
Enjoyed this reaction 🙂
Thanks for all the info Paul! We agree w everything you said except the "dumbed down" part. 😄, how dare you?
@@SightAfterDark I meant it in, for my tastes, they compromised pure raw rock for chart success. Not saying that's wrong. Bad Company were a great pop/rock group.
@@paulfenwick8767 We get that.
I think Bad Company was a damn good rock band they had much more commercial success only because their songs were that good.
@@keefmack I said they were good didn't I? Free's music was from the soul, Bad Company's more commercially driven, IMHO.
Seen Paul Rogers, in concert w/ my late girlfriend late 90s Fresno, Ca, Selland Arena he teamed up w/ Neil Schon, guitarist doing Free, & Bad Company, & Journey, songs, they rocked….
You reacted here to one of my favorite songs ever and to the best version of it (I heard several live versions of it and find this is the best). The instrumental bridge, notably when the bass solo begins, makes me shivering everytime I listen to it since I heard it the first time. And I bought the album the year it was released (I was a young teen). It's completely unique et thrilling. For me, there's no comparison between Free and Bad Company. Free is on an other level, either for songs quality (the bassist was the main composer) and instrumentally (these four guys formed a genius team). Hope you'll do more from them.
We hope so too!
All right now was their top song, Mr Big live was full off energy & passion live. Sometime you must try out Wishing Well for Paul Rodgers at his finest. They were a very talented group of musicians.
Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirk (drums) formed Bad Company with Mick Ralphs (guitar) from Mott The Hoople, who had supported Free on tour in the early days. They auditioned for a bassist and found Boz Burrell, ex King Crimson, not long playing the bass. 1st album on the new Swan Song record label (Zeppelin) and managed by Peter Grant (Zeppelin)
She knows and loves Free and Bad Company. +15 points right there.
God, these guys were the real deal. That bass player is 17 years old. The others are 19. Greates blues band only other musicians remember.
Great choice. Great reaction.
Thanks for watching!
Mr Big and Heavy load are great Free songs, a unique band who in the late sixties were up there with the best of UK bands. I've watched quite a few of mostly American reviews of this band and obviously most had never heard of them apart from the commercial song released by Free which was All Right Now, out of character to be honest . What does surprise me is that the best Free album is never mentioned which was Tons of Sobs, their first album which was the first album I bought back in late sixties, very raw to say the least !! This was the case with Rory Gallagher, his greatest album was the first Taste release. A great time for getting into music.
Free by a country 1.6 kilometer.
It was a live performance guys.
Yup!
Its soo close...but Free edge it for me
Essentially a 3 x piece band, guitar bass drums plus Paul on vocals; so when you look at how each 3 x piece band has to use space and dynamics to give such a full sound, particularly Live (The Police, Jimi Hendrix, The Chillies, The Jam, etc.) it requires a great deal of imagination to come up with arrangements that work in a Live context for each song.
Check out the rest of the album to hear how each member plays more, or less, prominently to accomplish this.
Some achievement given their age 😎
Thanks for the info!
Thank you for replying.
You’re the only channel that’s covered anything from this album, and for that I thank you 😎
Free were the finest British blues rock band ever on Mr Big the hole point of Kossoff’s guitar on the track was to hold back and allow Fraser bass to shine and Kirke drums power the song along. Free are my first choice then Bad Company’s first two albums.
that was mister mister.....
Guys, may I suggest you watch this? ua-cam.com/video/uyle6hZLxRc/v-deo.html
Paul Kossoff (the guitarist) like the rest of the band, did what was required to best serve the song, if you want to hear him come more to the front, the song just after the one you played, not the Sound of Silence, 🙂The Hunter, originally by Albert King, shows his legendary vibrato off to the full. He was still 19 here, and the bass player Andy Fraser was 18. Free didn't become Bad Company. They spilt up, and Kirke and Rodgers formed Bad Company. Kossoff went on to form Back Street Crawler before he died, Fraser the Sharks and the Andy Fraser Band.
Each to their own, but for me, Bad Company was a bit contrived and commercially astute. Free were dedicated to the music above all else, and it came from the soul. And nobody surpassed Fraser or Kossoff, they were that good.
I think of Bad Company as Free Mk II. I always thought Bad Company sounded like a later version of Free and then I checked the band members to see 50% of them were Free !
Free is ok by me. They just were basically unknown here in the states until the song All Right Now. Making them, sadly, a one hit wonder. They deserved much better than one hit wonder status.
No had my brother jake little bit off love and wishing well in the charts as well
I'M ENGLISH & BROUGHT UP WITH "FREE". I DO PREFER "FREE" TO "BAD COMPANY"
Paul Rodgers was asked free or Bad Company Paul Rodgers said free because they came before Bad Company free is more appreciated now than they were in the day
Free is way ahead of Bad Company.
We get it, but we love Bad Company so much. Thanks for your comment!
Why not show the video? Superb song, superb video.
We play the link that the patrons send us. Would’ve loved to see the video!
This is 1000 times better than the hair band Mr. Big.
By eons!
Bass player Andy Fraser was fifteen when he joined the band. Yikes.
Woah!
I think he was 15 when he played with John.mayal bluesstreakers but turned 16 when he joined free the rest wernt much older steve winwood was only 15 when he played with Spencer Davis group
You are always fun to watch. I wish you big success with your music. For me Free is largely over Bad Company, essentially because of Andy Fraser on bass…
Thanks so much❤️!
The reason the Guitar was underplayed during most of the song was because Paul Kosoff liked to hear Paul Rodgers sing. It was low key(until the solo) deliberately.
Love that!
Free live kinda reminds me of Traffic live, a loosie-goosie, unstructured mess, they know where they want it to end, but take chances getting there. Modern labels would have kittens at such chaos, but if you really love music and have trust in competent musicians, you know they might strike magic that night, so buckle in.
Fraser's bass solo is a stand out but understand kossoff played rhythm to Fraser's lead and did it well.bad company and free? The guitar players in bad company with due respect weren't in the same league as Paul kossoff,he made the simple sound dangerous and dirty.
Not seen any reactions to this before. Seems an obvious suggestion.
Mr Berg listening something else? Seems out of sync..with his irritating posturing. Young lady is lovely, perhaps Dan should have been kept..in the dark....
Good one
As good as bad company were they never had the magic genius of the band free, thee greatest blues band ever
Thanks for being here Stephen!
If he thinks they could of done this without the lead guitar he knows nothing about blues and the genius
that was paul kossoff
I CHALLENGE YOU TO A GUITAR OFF