Those wonderful folks at Eagle Rock once again come to rescue, this time with the DVD set called Forever, which documents most, if not all, of the existing footage of the great hard rock & blues band Free. Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke, Paul Kossoff, and Andy Fraser were one of those bands that really made a mark on the rock scene in the early 1970's, busting onto the charts with the hit single "All Right Now" from the album Fire and Water, but staying power avoided them, due in part to the severe drug problems of star guitarist Paul Kossoff, and by the mid 70's the band was done, Kossoff was dead, and Rodgers & Kirke formed the even more popular Bad Company. Free's music though has remained very influential to many up and coming bands through the years, and by watching this old footage included here you can certainly see why.
With Rodgers' muscular, bluesy yet soulful vocals, Kossoff's stinging blues-rock tone complete with a killer vibrato, Fraser's acrobatic bass work, and Kirke's steady drumming, Free were a force to be reckoned with. You can see just how powerful a live act they were on the 1970 footage from the Beat Club, as the band ripped into perhaps their three most popular tunes, "Mr. Big", "Fire and Water", and the legendary "All Right Now". Kossoff's tasty solos, and especially his commanding use of vibrato, can easily send chills up and down your spine, and he uses it to great length on "I'll Be Creeping" from the Granada TV show. For many the attraction here will be the Isle of Wight audio & video footage. Sadly, only 3 songs exist in video format of the 10 played at the festival that day, and considering how good the quality is of those three, it's a real shame that either the footage is lost or simply was never shot to begin with. For such a young band, they were in complete command of the stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people. What would have made this set even more complete would have been to include a CD of the Isle of Wight set-perhaps that's coming in the future from Eagle Rock, but time will tell.
Plenty of bonus material is included here, including recent interviews with Rodgers, Fraser, & Kirke, plus a host of other folks, and there's a neat fold out poster with plenty of info about the band on one side, and a 70's styled concert poster on the other. For the Free fan, this will be a welcome addition to your DVD collection.
Track Listing
DVD 1
Beat Club-Germany 1970
1) Mr. Big
2) Fire and Water
3) All Right Now
Doin' Their Thing-Granada TV, July 24, 1970
1) Ride on Pony
2) Mr. Big
3) Songs of Yesterday
4) I'll Be Creeping
5) All Right Now
Original Videos
1) All Right Now
2) The Stealer
3) My Brother Jake
4) Love You So
5) Wishing Well
DVD 2
Isle of Wight-Audio 1970
1) Ride on Pony
2) Woman
3) The Stealer
4) Be My Friend -video content available
5) Mr. Bog-video content available
6) Fire and Water
7) I'm a Mover
8) The Hunter
9) All Right Now-video content available
10) Crossroads
Special Features-interviews, the Freelist, camera access, brand new edit of the Isle of Wight footage with split screen views, multi angles, & 5.1 Surround sound
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
