Tetsu Yamauchi

Unsurprisingly, this quartet sounds uncannily like Free and its English descendant Bad Company. Drummer Simon Kirke was in both bands. Guitarist Paul Kossoff, bassist Tetsu Yamauchi, and keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick were in Free, although the latter two appeared only in the band's ragged, final days. The problem with this side project, besides the unexceptional music, is that Paul Rodgers was a vastly better singer than Kirke or Bundrick. This album would be a fine addition for Free and Bad Company completists.

Issued in 1997 on PSF, the live album by the Poly Breath Percussion Band is an exercise in skronk, rhythm, and groove. Featuring Shoji Hano on traps and talking drums; Megumu Nishino on an elaborate array of electronic drums, electronics, and traditional Japanese percussion instruments; Tetsu Yamachi on electric bass; and the totally amazing alto talents of veteran improviser and free jazzer Keizo Inoue (electronica pioneer Tetsu's father), this band in a live setting is just plain dangerous…

Free - The Complete Mini LP Set (1968-1973) {2002 Island Japan UICY-9130~9203, Disk Union Promo Box}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.99 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.22 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 138 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968-73, 2002 Island / Universal Japan | UICY-9130~32 / UICY-9200~03
Rock / Blues Rock / Hard Rock / Classic Rock

Famed for their perennial "All Right Now," Free helped lay the foundations for the rise of hard rock, stripping the earthy sound of British blues down to its raw, minimalist core to pioneer a brand of proto-metal later popularized by 1970's superstars like Foreigner, Foghat and Bad Company. Free formed in London in 1968 when guitarist Paul Kossoff, then a member of the blues unit Black Cat Bones, was taken to see vocalist Paul Rodgers' group Brown Sugar by a friend, drummer Tom Mautner.

Following Paul Rodgers' unsuccessful project titled Peace and Andy Fraser's ill-fated Toby, Free rebuilt themselves and released Free at Last in the summer of 1972. The band went right back to what they knew best, with Rodgers baring his blues-rock soul to Kossof's moody electric guitar. Tracks like "Sail On," "Soldier Boy," and "Travelling Man" come out on top as some of the band's most emotive material, proving that their breakup in 1971 had no real effect on their chemistry. "Little Bit of Love" was released as a single in the U.K., peaking at number 13, while the album itself broke the Top Ten there, stalling at number 69 in the U.S. The band's mixture of laid-back blues and gritty, bare-boned rock & roll is as poignant and as expressive as it was on Tons of Sobs or Fire and Water, even though Paul Kossof's problems with drugs were beginning to be more and more evident…