FREE "Tons of Sobs" 1st issue (Island Pink label/black & orange "circle" logo)

Title: "Tons of Sobs" Artist: FREE Year of Issue: 1969 Label: Island Cat no: ILPS 9089 Stamper codes: ILPS 9089 A2/B2 Country of Issue: UK Gradings
Record: EX Sleeve:
EX Label: EX

Further Information/Comments

Nice copy of the very rare 1st issue of Free's debut LP on the Pink Island label with the black & orange circle logo, in a gatefold sleeve.

Although Free was never destined to scrape the same skies as Led Zeppelin, when they first burst out of the traps in 1968, close to a year ahead of Jimmy Page and company, they set the world of British blues-rock firmly on its head, a blistering combination of youth, ambition, and, despite those tender years, experience that, across the course of their debut album, did indeed lay the groundwork for all that Zeppelin would embrace. 

Released on 14 March 1969 the album failed to chart in the UK and reached #197 in the US, Free are still cited as one of the definitive bands of the British blues boom of the late 1960s even though this is the only album of their canon that can strictly be called blues rock. The title of the album does not relate directly to the content of the album; it is both a colloquialism of "lots of money", reflecting the swaggering attitude with which the album was made, and an oblique reference to the darker, more sombre moments of the record.

Free were a new band when they recorded Tons of Sobs, and they were extremely young and precocious: none of them was yet twenty and the youngest, bassist Andy Fraser, was just sixteen years old. They had achieved a following through constant touring, and their debut album consisted for the most part of their live set-list. That said, eight out of the album's ten tracks are originals which was unusual compared to the debut albums of bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

With the band signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records, Guy Stevens was hired to produce the album (he later became notable for producing early albums for Mott the Hoople and The Clash's legendary album London Calling [1979]). He opted for a minimalist attitude to production, due to the extremely low budget of about £800, creating a very raw and raucous sound – although it may have been that the relative inexperience of the band was also been a contributing factor to this. As such the album is a marked contrast in production terms from the band's later albums. The simple nature of the recording meant that many tracks translated well into a live setting and several songs from this album were still performed even when the band had written and recorded many more for subsequent records.

Track listing

"Over the Green Hills (Pt. 1)" (Paul Rodgers) – 0:49

"Worry" (Rodgers) – 3:26

"Walk in My Shadow" (Rodgers) – 3:29

"Wild Indian Woman" (Rodgers, Andy Fraser) – 3:39

"Goin' Down Slow" (James Burke Oden) – 8:20

"I'm a Mover" (Rodgers, Fraser) – 2:56

"The Hunter" (Booker T. Jones, Carl Wells, Donald Dunn, Al Jackson, Jr., Steve Cropper) – 4:13

"Moonshine" (Rodgers, Paul Kossoff) – 5:04

"Sweet Tooth" (Rodgers) – 4:54

"Over the Green Hills (Pt. 2)" (Rodgers) – 1:58

Personnel

Simon Kirke (drums) Paul Rodgers (vocals) Paul Kossoff (guitar) An dy Fraser (bass guitar)

Additional personnel

Guy Stevens – producer

Andy Johns – engineer

Steve Miller – piano thumping

Mike Sida – front cover photograph

Richard Bennett Zeff – inside cover photography

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 454 (GS 6.3 (454))