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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A true landmark, 27 Dec 2003
I really can't speak highly enough about this fabulous album. How on earth could such brilliantly original material be created by such a young group? It's truly staggering. The more I delve into Fire and Water, the more I'm struck by the subtlety and beauty, as well as the obvious power and technique. Check out Kossoff's gentle solo's on Remember and Heavy Load and you'll begin to appreciate there's so much more to enjoy than 'just' the acclaimed classics on this album. It speaks volumes that, although Free are remembered mainly for All Right Now, Fire and Water maintains a level of quality throughout the album that's astonishing. Rodgers and Kossoff contribute to so many glorious moments on this album, supported by the ever reliable Kirke, but for me, the genius of Free had more to do with Andy Fraser than people realise. Barely 18 at the release of Fire and Water and he'd already co-wrote much of Free's material, including the music for All Right Now. Wow! Buy it, revel in it, and then tell your mates to buy it.
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44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FREE's 1970 3rd Album Masterpiece Given A STUNNING SOUND UPGRADE & Decent Extras!, 8 April 2008
FREE were:
PAUL RODGERS - Vocals [ex Brown Sugar]
PAUL KOSSOFF - Guitar & Piano [ex Black Cat Bones]
ANDY FRASER - Bass
SIMON KIRKE - Drums [ex John Mayall's Bluesbreakers]
THE ALBUM:
Preceded by their debut "Tons Of Sobs" (recorded in October and December 1968, released in March 1969) and their 2nd album "Free" (recorded in April and June, released in October 1969), FREE's third landmark LP "Fire And Water" was delivered to an expectant public in all its 7-track simplicity and glory on 26th of June 1970 as Island ILPS 9120. Prepped by the edited single of "All Right Now" in May 1970 (Island WIP 6082), which raced up to number 2 in the charts, the album delivered what the public seemed to already know - here was a truly great British band hitting its stride.
CD:
This is the 3rd CD incarnation of the original LP, a 1986 crappy non-remaster, a far better 2001 Remaster with 6 bonus tracks - and now this - a 30-Track 2CD DELUXE EDITION issued on 18 March 2008. For fans who already own the 2001 remaster and probably also have the 4CD "Songs Of Yesterday" Box set that went before it in May 2000, for all its comprehensiveness, this 2CD set offers only 5 Previously Unreleased Tracks. So if you can buy the 2001 remaster for a fiver or less anywhere, why pay £15 for this 2CD set - the answer is threefold - the PACKAGING, the EXTRAS (4 out of 5 of them are actually great) and above all - the SOUND - which is the BEST EVER. Here's the breakdown...
PACKAGING:
The booklet contains black & white photos, reproduction of concert tickets, press adverts, in the studio colour photos and a detailed history of the albums path to number 3 in the UK charts in July 1970. The CDs themselves reflect the original `PINK' Island label design on 1st pressings of the LP and the original master tape boxes are pictured underneath the two see-through trays - a nice touch on both counts.
EXTRAS:
There are five previously unreleased versions:
Track 9, Disc 1: "Mr Big", from the BBC's John Peel Show, recorded 15 Jan 1971
(very disappointing, not a great recording, with really muddy sound; it's easy to see why it's been left off previous releases)
Track 7, Disc 2: "Fire And Water" (Backing Track)
(a really interesting `work in progress' from February 1970 mixed in 1999, Take 5 contains studio chatter at the beginning and then the band working nicely through the backing track - Kirke's drumming fantastic, but it ends oddly and abruptly)
Tracks 11, 12 and 13, Disc 2: "All Right Now" (Takes 1, 2 and 3)
All three takes were recorded as part of filmed promotional shorts for "All Right Now" and "The Stealer" in October 1970. Instead of miming, the band played live (the two videos turn up on the "Free Forever" DVD set) and these `live' takes are superb and genuinely deserve the moniker `bonus tracks" - they even include the squeaking of Simon Kirke's drum stool! Fans will have to have these.
SOUND:
Even though the outside packaging seems to be saying that the remaster is 'new', the 20-page booklet confusingly states that the remaster used is the 2001 one done by Peter Mew at Abbey Road - the same as the single disc that's been on the market for years? But the sound on this release is DIFFERENT - IT'S FAR BETTER.
FREE were a `loud' band and the recordings at the 8-track Trident Studios reflected their hairy-arsed live rock band nature - in other words the recorded results were not exactly going to win audiophile gongs. The tapes were then remixed onto the 16-track facility at Island's new studio in Basing Street. But even then, Chris Blackwell, label founder and leader, hated the results. So more mixing was done. But even to this day, the further mixing and remixing before the album was finally released still gave us a less than great sonic result. I mention all of this because the liner notes to this release talk of major audio restoration having gone into the 1999 and 2001 remastering process - and now again on this 2008 version - and man can you HEAR IT!
Take Side 2 of the original album, "Mr Big", "Don't Say You Love Me" and "All Right Now" - when I A/B the sound on my 2001 issue to this 2008 issue, the huge difference is the removal of `almost' all of the hiss that was omnipresent on the 2001 remaster which marred the listen enormously. The result is that instead of being saturated in a rough and ready hissy wall, the band suddenly explodes out of the speakers with an intensity that will thrill fans to their very core! I would describe it like this - it's as if I'm listening to the full power of FREE for the first time. With this new clarity, the opening and eventual build up in "Mr Big" to a guitar crescendo has to be heard to be believed! It's enormous and just AWESOME to hear! The beautiful "Don't Say You Love Me" is truly gorgeous now, especially when the lovely piano addition comes in, while the fantastic anthem that is "All Right Now" has you hearing Kossoff's plectrum scratching off the pick-ups - little guitar flicks before he goes into the big riff, the clarity of Fraser's bass work and other nuances that I've just never heard before. Don't get me wrong, there is `hiss' on these recordings, but the removal of even half of it has made the band come alive to my ears. Wonderful stuff!
To sum up, "Fire And Water" is a great album, and this DELUXE EDITION of it gives the great record a stunning sonic upgrade. Throw in all the live versions and alternate takes around its release, decent liner notes and packaging, all topped off with 4 out of the 5 previously unreleased tracks actually worth owning - then indeed you have something special.
There have been some stunning issues in Universal's DELUXE EDITION series (check out the Whiskeytown "Strangers Almanac" double) and this is another. Regardless of the price, FREE fans will have to own it, and the uninitiated can discover why Britain and the world went mad for the FREE and their `rawk'. What a band!
PS: Could boffins at Universal please do a DELUXE EDITION of the following albums:
"On The Boards" by TASTE (Rory Gallagher's 2nd & last studio album with Taste, 1970)
"Bumpers" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (UK 1970 Island Label 2LP Sampler)
"El Pea" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (UK 1971 Island/Chrysalis Labels 2LP Sampler)
"Bombers" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (UK 1971 Polydor Label 2LP Sampler)
"Jesus Christ Superstar" by VARIOUS ARTISTS (Tim Rice, Ian Gillan of Deep Purple & Others)
"Fotheringay" by FOTHERINGAY (ex Fairport Convention UK folk guys)
"Emitt Rhodes" by EMITT RHODES (superb debut)
"Brothers & Sisters" by THE ALLMAN BROTHERS
"Living In The Past" by JETHRO TULL
"Can't Buy A Thrill" by STEELY DAN
"Henry The Human Fly" by RICHARD THOMPSON
"Innervisions" by STEVIE WONDER
"Vagabonds Of The Western World" by THIN LIZZY
"His California Album/Dreamer" both by BOBBY "BLUE" BLAND
"Second Helping" by LYNYRD SKYNYRD
"So What" by JOE WALSH
"Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" by ROBERT PALMER
"Anymore For Anymore" by RONNIE LANE'S SLIM CHANCE
"Cry Tough" by NILS LOFGREN
"Joan Armatrading" by JOAN ARMATRADING
"Jailbreak" by THIN LIZZY
"Songs In The Key Of Life" by STEVIE WONDER
"Stick To Me" by GRAHAM PARKER and THE RUMOUR
"Dire Straits" by DIRE STRAITS (30th anniversary in 2008)
"5" by J.J. CALE
"Raindogs" by TOM WAITS
"Solitude Standing" by SUZANNE VEGA
"So" by PETER GABRIEL
"Piece By Piece" by JOHN MARTYN
"Slave To The Rhythm" by GRACE JONES
"People" by HOTHOUSE FLOWERS
"Secrets Of The Beehive" by DAVID SYLVIAN
"Meet Danny Wilson" by DANNY WILSON
"Remote" by HUE & CRY
"Southside" by TEXAS
"Yellow Moon" by THE NEVILLE BROTHERS
"Jordan:The Comeback" by PREFAB SPROUT
"Change Everything" by DEL AMITRI
"Heartbreaker" by RYAN ADAMS and above all -
"Hats" by THE BLUE NILE (20th anniversary in 2009)
And be quick about it!
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fiery brilliance!, 9 Dec 2001
This, the third Free album, represents a step forward for the band's music, as they steer away from writing around traditional blues forms, and into their own, more rock-based songwriting. Rockers such as "Mr Big" and the grinding "Fire and Water" contrast with softer material like "Oh I Wept" and the heartrending "Don't Say You Love Me." And, of course, there's "All Right Now," the classic track guitarist Paul Kossoff dismissed as "frivolous." As a bonus, this reissued CD features another six songs, with alternate versions of "Fire and Water," "All Right Now" and "Oh I Wept" included. The sound quality is faultless, this disc being remastered, and the price sets the seal on this disc. A fine issue of a fine album.
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