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Free: Heartbreaker

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Island Records
Released: 1972.01.20
Time:
 35:45
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Free, Andy Johns
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.freetheband.co.uk
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Wishing Well (Rodgers/Kirke/Yamauchi/Kossoff/Bundrick) - 3.43
[2] Come Together in the Morning (Rodgers) - 4.38
[3] Travellin' in Style (Rodgers/Kirke/Yamauchi/Kossoff/Bundrick) - 4.01
[4] Heartbreaker (Rodgers) - 6.12
[5] Muddy Water (Bundrick) - 4.15
[6] Common Mortal Man (Bundrick) - 4.06
[7] Easy on My Soul (Rodgers) - 3.44
[8] Seven Angels (Rodgers) - 5.03

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Paul Rodgers - Lead Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Piano, Producer
Paul Kossoff - Guitar on [2-4,6,8], Producer
John "Rabbit" Bundrick - Glockenspiel, Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Backing Vocals, Producer
Tetsu Yamauchi - Bass Guitar, Producer
Simon Kirke - Drums, Guitar on [5], Producer

W.G. "Snuffy" Walden - Guitar on [6-8]
Rebop Kwaku Baah - Congas & Percussion on [1]

Andy Johns - Producer, Engineer, Remixing
Richard Digby-Smith - Engineer on [1-10,12]
Rick Smith - Engineer
Peter Mew - Remastering
Dick Polak - Cover Design, Photography
John Glover - Cover Design
Philip Lloyd-Smee - Design
Tim Chacksfield - Project Coordinator
Phil Sutcliffe - Liner Notes

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1972 LP Island - ILPS 9217
2002 CD Island – IMCD 288

Recorded in October – November 1972, Island Studios, London.



Free's return in 1972 was scarred by any number of traumas, not least of all the departure of bassist Andy Fraser and the virtual incapacity of guitarist Paul Kossoff -- one-half of the original band, and the lion's share of its spirit as well. But did their erstwhile bandmates let it show? Not a jot. The hastily recruited Tetsu Yamauchi, and vocalist Paul Rodgers himself, filled the breach instrumentally, and probably 50 percent of the ensuing Heartbreaker ranks among Free's finest ever work. Of course, any record that can open with the sheer majesty of "Wishing Well," Rodgers' so-evocative tribute to Kossoff, is immediately going to ascend to the halls of greatness, all the more so since Kossoff himself is in such fine form across both this cut and the next three - completing side one of the original vinyl, "Come Together in the Morning," "Travellin' in Style," and "Heartbreaker" add up to the band's most convincing sequence of songs since the days of Fire and Water. Further into the disc, two contributions from another new recruit, keyboard player John Bundrick, fall a little flat, a fate they share with the previously unreleased "Hand Me Down/Turn Me Round," one of the 2002 remaster's six bonus tracks. But a pair of solo Rodgers songs, "Easy on My Soul" and "Seven Angels," close the album with as much emotion as it opened on, and one could well argue that, after such a treat, the aforementioned bonus tracks are all but unnecessary, especially as the first few simply offer outtakes, alternates, and B-sides from the sessions themselves. As the CD wraps up, however, two final tracks reveal what happened once the album was completed, peeping into the band's rehearsal room on the eve of their summer tour of Japan to catch "Heartbreaker" and "Easy on My Soul" in such rough but eloquently heavenly form that this most emotionally weighted of Free's albums could demand no deeper coda.

Dave Thompson - AllMusic.com



Heartbreaker is the sixth and final studio album by English rock group Free, that provided them with one of their most successful singles, "Wishing Well". It was recorded in late 1972 after bassist Andy Fraser had left the band and while guitarist Paul Kossoff was ailing from an addiction to Mandrax (Quaaludes), and features a different line up from previous albums. Tetsu Yamauchi was brought in to replace Fraser, while John "Rabbit" Bundrick became the band's keyboard player to compensate for the increasingly unreliable Kossoff (singer Paul Rodgers played keyboards on the previous album Free at Last). Both Yamauchi and Bundrick had played with Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke on the album Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit during that period in late 1971 when the band had broken up for the first time. Also, several other musicians were used on the album. The album was co-produced by Andy Johns as well as Free themselves.

One immediate effect of Fraser's departure was the loss of the Fraser/Rodgers songwriting partnership that had hitherto provided the bulk of the band's catalogue. Hence many of the songs were written solely by Rodgers, although some are credited to the entire band as a symbolic gesture (including the single "Wishing Well"). Bundrick wrote two of the album's eight tracks.

Meanwhile, Kossoff was extremely resentful of "Snuffy" Walden being brought in as a session musician to provide guitar tracks when the other band members' patience began to break. This exacerbated even further his problems, but on those occasions where recording went well he produced some notable work; he is in fact far more prominent on this album than on the previous one. He is uncredited on the hit single 'Wishing Well', however the lead guitar on the track is unmistakably Kossoff's, and Kirke has confirmed this.

The credits on the album sleeve are inaccurate; Kossoff plays on the whole of side 1 and the final track on side 2, 'Seven Angels'. Walden's guitar appears on tracks 2, 3 and 4 of side 2, so 'Seven Angels' features both him and Kossoff. Walden also appears on some alternate mixes of 'Wishing Well' but not the version released on the UK single and album. The Free box set 'Songs of Yesterday' features a mix of 'Muddy Water' with guitar by Walden and an alternate version of 'Common Mortal Man' with guitar by both Walden and Kossoff.

Island Records boss Chris Blackwell disliked the band's initial mix of the album and drafted regular engineer Andy Johns to solve the problem; in January 1973 the album was ready for release.

The album was, by Free's standards, a huge success. It became their third top-ten album in the UK (reaching #9), and reached No. 47 in America, which was also a considerable success for the band. Also, the single release "Wishing Well" became their third-most successful single, reaching No. 7. It is widely regarded as one of their definitive songs.

Despite the success of the album and impending tour of America, it finally became apparent that the band had passed the point of no return. Kossoff being credited as an additional musician came as a shock to the entire band. Kossoff spiralled to his lowest ebb and was unable to go to America; he was replaced, for the tour, by Wendell Richardson from Osibisa, against Rodgers' instincts. Richardson proved (through no fault of his own) to be the wrong choice, and once the tour ended the band finally gave up. Rodgers and Kirke formed Bad Company with Mick Ralphs (formerly of Mott the Hoople) and Boz Burrell (formerly of King Crimson); Yamauchi joined the Faces; Bundrick became a session musician and eventually became a regular keyboard player with the Who; Kossoff formed his own band Back Street Crawler, which Bundrick joined in the later stages of the band. After two unsuccessful albums, the guitarist died of a heart attack on board an aeroplane on 19 March 1976, at the age of 25.

Having performed "Wishing Well" live since the release of Heartbreaker, Australian band Sherbet included a cover of the song on their 1975 live album In Concert. Southern rock band Blackfoot covered the song on Strikes (1979), Gary Moore covered it on Corridors of Power (1982), Maggie Bell covered it on Suicide Sal (1974), Savatage covered it on their 1986 album Fight for the Rock and Styx covered it on Big Bang Theory (2005). Melodic heavy metal German guitarist Axel Rudi Pell covered "Wishing Well" on Between the Walls (1994) and "Heartbreaker" on Diamonds Unlocked. "Heartbreaker" has also been covered by Joe Bonamassa (with Glenn Hughes) on his 2011 release Dust Bowl as well as by doom metal band Goatsnake on their 2000 EP Dog Days.
 

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