MINTY 1970 Orig FREE FIRE AND WATER HARD HEAVY BLUES PSYCH PAUL KOSSOFF

$

38

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                    FIERCE HARD HITTING CLASSIC

                    MINTY CLEAN 1970 ORIGINAL

                    F R E E                                                                

         FIRE AND WATER                   

FIERCE HARD HITTING CLASSIC = MINTY CLEAN original ~

The 1970 first printing collectible from 42+ years ago in clean condition...

includes the original printed A&M inner sleeve...

The 1970 album that thrust the mighty FREE into superstardom, besides their massive hit "Fire And Water" they scored just as big with "Alright Now" ...that is just the start for this hard hitting classic loaded with throbbing bass lines battling in unison with Paul Kossoffs biting guitar howls!

Free emerged from the British blues boom with a tight, muscular style that framed Paul Rodgers' throaty voice. Guitarist Paul Kossoff provides the perfect foil with incisive, measured solos exemplified by his contribution to "All Right Now." This successful single transformed the group from club to festival status. Free implied a resonant power, particularly through Andy Fraser's liquid bass work, which weaves between the melody lines, rather than asserting them.

Even today, nearly 38 years after its initial release Free’s “Fire And Water” stands as a benchmark album for blues based hard rock. From the opening bars of the strutting title track to the closing strains of one of rock music’s best known songs it remains an outstanding piece of work.

Kossoff’s tone, Rodgers perfect voice and the throbbing rhythm section of Fraser and Kirke have near perfect chemistry on “Fire And Water” itself, a track I’d promote as one of the great album-opening numbers. The contrast between this confident opener and the superbly laid back “Oh I Wept” works well too, establishing the band’s hard rock credentials to proving their ability to still deliver beautifully melodic blues across the space of the first two numbers. Paul Kossoff’s wonderfully economic solo also acts as something of an early album highlight in this track to boot.

That a song as accomplished as “Remember” remains overlooked on the album speaks volumes for the material surrounding it. A fine song in its own right it suffers somewhat by being succeeded firstly by the piano lead mid-tempo groove of “Heavy Load“, a fine song with a great lazy vocal and more superb understated guitar, which in turn gives way to the massively confident “Mr. Big” complete with its mesmorising bass line and another superb guitar solo that builds to a huge crescendo amid Roders strained cries. A great song and again there is a fine contrast in styles too as “Mr Big” is followed by the more mellow “Don’t Say You Love Me“. From classic raw rock voice to perfectly smooth delivery the evidence on this album proves why Rodgers was considered such a phenomenon when Free emerged and why he remains a revered frontman still.

It’s not easy today to sit and comment on album closer and Free’s most famous track “All Right Now“. It is of course one of rock musics true classics and consequently has also become one of the most overplayed songs of the genre. In the context of the album though it’s a stunning finale combining everything that has come before it. The pulsing, melodic bass line and insistent rhythm coupled with a great vocal and a wonderful, certainly not overplayed, lead guitar all combine in what on release would have seemed a magical conclusion.

I

FIRE AND WATER

OH I WEPT

REMEMBER

HEAVY LOAD

II

MR. BIG

DON'T SAY YOU LOVE ME

ALL RIGHT NOW

CONDITION: The cover: very clean and stiff M- from 42 years past. Hard to find even THIS clean! Has bright original colors, no bends, no writing, no split seams ... and the back group cover photos are completely mint with no issues ... collection ready!

The vinyl: all shiny over both sides, rated M- plays outstandingly clean .... clean A&M labels too...

keeper!

A GREAT ADDITION TO ANYONE'S COLLECTION !

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record