Here's todays excercise, how many compilation s are there and how many tracks are different......starting with You can All Join in through to Free Story, Free and Easy etc.
Ok without scanning the net or looking at my collection here goes. You can all join in Bumpers (how many feat Free?) The Free Story Free and easy, rough and ready Free & KKTR & Toby (Germany) Best of Free
All nice though I read @Smackswell question to be through to 1976? Otherwise I have the following: LP: The Free Story UK LP Paul Kossoff Mr Big UK CD: All Right Now The Best Of Free CD: Paul Kossoff Blue Soul CD: Songs Of Yesterday Box Set
I also have 2 different Kossoff releases called Blue Soul with different track listings and the Songs of Yesterday box set.
How different are those track listings John? N.b. The Kossoff compilations I listed all have plenty of Free tracks. Oops I forgot another CD I have simply called Kossoff though it is light on Free cuts.
I don't recall exactly without digging them out. The one that is not on Island has fewer Free tracks from what I can recall and more from his sessions.
I have in my collection The Free Story (Canadian LP) Best of Free (US LP) Molten Gold KKTR (CD) Koss (LP and CD)
Great question! I know the Free album by album thread is closed to further replies so if the box set doesn't come up in a search why not go for it!
A thread on the Songs of Yesterday box given the knowledge folk have today on Free and their recordings would be great. It is one of my favourite box type things but I am no expert on the band behind the recordings. I have the Heavy Load book which is wonderful and well worth buying even though it is now expensive.
What about Walking in my Shadow, the Free Collection double cd. According to a review on Amazon.co.uk: "Wrong Cuts Island even did it to Free. Sadly a lot of the tracks on this album set are the wrong cuts. They are either the first or second takes or just plain lame! I love Free, Paul Kossoff is one of my all time heros, but sadly the re-balanced sound on a lot of these tracks has his guitar overly loud over parts where it is never heard on my vinyl cuts. Why do record companies do this? Free, , , , brilliant. Sadly the record company and the new kid who has sorted out the bad mix on these tracks need sacking, in the true sense of the word." Anyone got input on this?
No, I have the old U.S. Molten Gold and the U.K Chronicles. I know Spectrum has a newer 3 cd bargain Free set out now called All Right Now: the Essential Free which manages to omit Wishing Well. No idea if any different takes are used on that one.
Anyone think The Free Story would be a good RSD 2020 release? I calculate they could squeeze Wishing Well onto side 4. (The original album credits for Heartbreaker are inaccurate and there was initially some doubt as to whether Koss was on WW which may be why it was left off.)
My first Free compilation on CD was the 1991 All Right Now remix by Bob Clearmountain. I know that the remixes have a bad reputation on this board, but I pulled this album out recently and still like the Clearmountain version... it seems to have more "punch," (particularly on the Heartbreaker tracks,) and sounds great in the car! I'd just be curious to know--from the audiophiles here--what you dislike so much about that particular remix. I agree that some of the "empty spaces" aspect of Free gets lost on the early tracks, but I actually prefer Clearmountain's remixes of "Wishing Well" and "Sail On" in particular. (Update: I just discovered an old thread about this... it's not taking any new replies. Apparently some of those posters think it has too much of a "stadium" sound, and that the late 80's-early 90's bombast is dated... point taken, but I think it's nice to reimagine Free as a stadium band, as they should have been bigger than Bad Company, if there were any justice in this world...)
