GreeneKing Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) I rarely post nowadays. I was inspired to say how much I'm surprised at the bass tone on old Free songs. I'm well old enough to know Free intimately but I have been re-engaging to some of their stuff courtesy of streaming (Tidal through Sonos speakers). I didn't have a bassists head the first time I heard Free. His tone is awesome. Nice playing too, nothing frivolous but driving the songs along well up in the mix. Interesting guy too was Andy. Great songwriter. Edited June 25, 2021 by GreeneKing 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiram.k.hackenbacker Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I asked our guitarist what band he would tribute if he could choose any act and he said Free without taking a breath. Big shoes to fill, but I’d definitely have a go given the chance. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 6 minutes ago, GreeneKing said: I rarely post nowadays. I was inspired to say how much I'm surprised at the bass tone on old Free songs. I'm well old enough to know Free intimately but I have been re-engaging to some of their stuff courtesy of streaming (Tidal through Sonos speakers). I didn't have a bassists head the first time I heard Free. His tone is awesome. Nice playing too, nothing frivolous but driving the songs along well up in the mix. Interesting guy too was Andy. Great songwriter. Love his playing, what FL should sound like 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 2 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said: I asked our guitarist what band he would tribute if he could choose any act and he said Free without taking a breath. Big shoes to fill, but I’d definitely have a go given the chance. A blues band I was did a spate of one set of Free covers, then a set of American based bands. Finding the groove for AF's playing was so much fun, I'd certainly do it again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozza Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Great player - one of my favourites. Even made a bass solo exciting. His tone on the 1970 Isle of Wight gig is amazing. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRev Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Love that solo - it's probably the only bass solo that I actually perservered with bothering to learn. Andy Fraser is a legend and one of my three big influences when I started playing bass. He was only 17 or 18 when he recodred 'all right now', which is frankly bonkers. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thodrik Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I love Free. I started loving Free because of the bass, so much so that I bought a 1974 Gibson EB3 when I was 15 (it wasn't much money then). In the last few years I have been playing a lot of guitar and have really gained an appreciation for Paul Kossoff. I even ended up selling my current guitar and bought a Les Paul, though I generally use it to play downtuned rock and doom music rather than classic blues rock. I would highly recommend the Songs of Yesterday boxset. Some of the 'alternate' takes are better than the official 'released' versions. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRev Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Just watched the vidoe - not sure if I'd ever watched it all the way through before. F**ing typical - we have to watch 4 minutes of Paul Kossof gurning his way through a solo but as soon as the bass solo comes along, it's off on a frickin' helicopter ride because, y'know, there's nothing interesting happening on stage. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steantval Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 He is one of my bass heroes, fantastic player, lots of space. I played in a Free tribute band for a few years, one of the highlights of my bass playing career. I purchased an EB3 especially for this band, pretty much hated playing the thing, neck dive and awful to play compared to my MM Stingray. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueno Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 My number one bass hero. I love the tone and the bass lines. Me and the guitarist in our current band are real fans of Free… a previous incarnation of the band were called “Freezone”… so you can guess what we mostly played… even did “Mr Big” (Gawd ‘elp me)… spent some hours practising that… 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickeyboro Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, TheRev said: Just watched the vidoe - not sure if I'd ever watched it all the way through before. F**ing typical - we have to watch 4 minutes of Paul Kossof gurning his way through a solo but as soon as the bass solo comes along, it's off on a frickin' helicopter ride because, y'know, there's nothing interesting happening on stage. To be fair (and you weren’t unfair!) there’s a story behind all that of film running out... They put these clips together decades later so used crowd shots as a place holder. I had an EB-3 L for the longest time. But when I interviewed AF he was singularly uninterested in gear matters, and was toting a Toby. PS: If anyone would like some Free Appreciation Society mags for the price of postage, message me! Great little fanzine, but I have read and enjoyed them CLAIMED BY RUSHBO Edited June 25, 2021 by Mickeyboro 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I did an occasional gig in a Free tribute band. That was the first time I really listened to their songs. It was a great gig, with a great drummer and playing those "empty" bass lines was a lot of fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushbo Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I was in a Free/Bad Company tribute band a few years back and my admiration for Andy Fraser shot through the roof when I had to work out his parts. His basslines are brilliant - often simple but always funky and with such great feel and tone. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Great groove and a stand out tone. One of my favourite bass players. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spongebob Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Amazing player, amazing songwriter....and what a monster tone. Even though they had 'that' song, it's a bit of a shame, as the rest of their catalogue always gets a bit forgotten IMHO. All of their albums are brilliant, even 'Heartbreaker', the one without AF. Such a shame someone of his talent never really got the breaks afterwards....I know he wrote the Robert Palmer track, but the stuff with Sharks, The AF Band.....never really connected. At least he's still a big name in the bass community, as he absolutely deserves to be forever. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthedoghouse Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I was in a Free/Bad Co tribute band a couple of years ago. I'd always loved Free and Andy's playing so I really enjoyed learning his parts are closely as I could - the space he left and his phrasing was just wonderful. I found his tone pretty much impossible to match though (I was using a P with flats). I considered buying an EB3 but the guitarist was a real PITA so I left. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 A few years back, I sold an amp to a guy from the Cumbernauld area who played in a Free tribute band called Tons of slobs. Always thought that was a cool twist on the album name. I seem to remember he played a Stingray 5 fretless, not an EB in sight! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leschirons Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Very underrated player. Fair songwriter too he was. Big loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriswareham Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I'm struggling to find a reference online but according to either the engineer or producer on the sessions for All Right Now , Andy Fraser played the lead guitar on the actual recording of that track. Paul Kossoff was too strung out on heroin to put it to tape, so Andy Fraser did instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) This is from another thread but superb - All Right Now is a rip roaring version (last track) - there’s some hugely funky playing by Andy Fraser throughout with a fat bass sound (note the way he plucks the bass hard, right next to the bridge - as did Bernard Edwards, another of my favourites) - the whole band is absolutely cooking - as they were the three times I saw them live (supported by Mott the Hoople each time)! I can’t understand why I never wanted an EB3 in 1970 (probably because Larry Taylor and Alan Spenner played Precisions and Leo Lyons a Jazz - and of course no one knew who Jameson and Babbitt were apart from the Motown inner sanctum - similarly Messrs Cogbill and Jemmott with Atlantic etc) Edited June 25, 2021 by drTStingray 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 35 minutes ago, chriswareham said: I'm struggling to find a reference online but according to either the engineer or producer on the sessions for All Right Now , Andy Fraser played the lead guitar on the actual recording of that track. Paul Kossoff was too strung out on heroin to put it to tape, so Andy Fraser did instead. I have heard/read about that story regarding the last Free album made but not the Fire and Water era. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12stringbassist Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 Myself and my mate Mark were fortunate enough to get a little time with Andy a few years ago. It wasn't long after this that he passed. Very very saddening. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 Interesting than as well as his EB3, he used Marshall 100w valve amps and 4x12s to get his superb sound which as we all know, are no good for bass what so ever and certainly not loud enough to gig with.😀 I've used an emoji for the first time. how about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Riva Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 12 hours ago, drTStingray said: This is from another thread but superb - All Right Now is a rip roaring version (last track) - there’s some hugely funky playing by Andy Fraser throughout with a fat bass sound (note the way he plucks the bass hard, right next to the bridge - as did Bernard Edwards, another of my favourites) - the whole band is absolutely cooking - as they were the three times I saw them live (supported by Mott the Hoople each time)! I can’t understand why I never wanted an EB3 in 1970 (probably because Larry Taylor and Alan Spenner played Precisions and Leo Lyons a Jazz - and of course no one knew who Jameson and Babbitt were apart from the Motown inner sanctum - similarly Messrs Cogbill and Jemmott with Atlantic etc) Jeez Louise, what a voice … 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 50 minutes ago, bertbass said: ... not loud enough to gig with ... ? ? ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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