Tons of Sobs

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Tons of Sobs
Studio album by Free

Publication
(s)

UK: 1968, US: 1969

Label (s) Island Records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

Blues rock

Title (number)

10

running time

38:55

production

Guy Stevens

Studio (s)

Morgan Studios, Willesden, London

chronology
- Tons of Sobs Free
(1969)

Tons of Sobs is the debut album by the British blues rock group Free . It was released on Island Records in 1968 .

background

Paul Kossoff met drummer Simon Kirke in the band Black Cat Bones, who recorded the song When You Feel the Feeling with champion Jack Dupree . After the two left the group, they formed a new band in the spring of 1968 with Paul Rodgers , whom Kossoff had seen playing with Brown Sugar in London, and Andy Fraser , who was already active with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers , in the spring of 1968, named Free by Alexis Korner was suggested. In autumn of that year, on Korner's recommendation, the sound recordings for the debut album began on Island Records in Morgan Studios in London. The musicians were only between 16 and 19 years old at the time.

Track list

Original album from 1968

page 1

  1. Over the Green Hills (Part 1) ( Paul Rodgers ) - 0:49
  2. Worry (Rodgers) - 3:26
  3. Walk in my Shadow (Rodgers) - 3:29
  4. Wild Indian Woman (Rodgers, Andy Fraser ) - 3:39
  5. Goin 'Down Slow ( James Burke Oden ) - 8:20

Page 2

  1. I'm a Mover (Rodgers, Fraser) - 2:56
  2. The Hunter ( Booker T. Jones , Carl Wells, Donald Dunn , Al Jackson, Jr. , Steve Cropper ) - 4:13
  3. Moonshine (Rodgers, Paul Kossoff ) - 5:04
  4. Sweet Tooth (Rodgers) - 4:54
  5. Over the Green Hills (Part 2) (Rodgers) - 1:58
Bonus tracks from the 2001 remastered CD re-release
  2. I'm a Mover (BBC Session) - 3:04
  3. Waitin 'On You (BBC Session) (BB King, Ferdinand Washington) - 2:15
  4. Guy Stevens Blues (Blues Jam) (Rodgers, Fraser, Simon Kirke , Kossoff) - 4:39
  5. Moonshine (Alternate Vocal) - 5:09
  6. Sweet Tooth (Early Take & Alternative Lyrics) - 4:53
  7. Visions of Hell (Unreleased Master Mix) (Fraser, Rodgers) - 3:46
  8. Woman by the Sea (Alternate Version) (Fraser, Rodgers) - 3:30
  9. Over the Green Hills (BBC Session) - 3:51

occupation

tape
Additional contributions
  • Guy Stevens - producer
  • - Steve Miller Piano , in the original credits than piano thumping referred
  • Mike Sida - front cover photo
  • Richard Bennett Zeff - inside cover photo
  • Andrew Johns - sound engineer

Chart successes

The album only reached number 197 on the American Billboard 200 and missed a chart position in the British hit lists.

reception

  • At Allmusic , Dave Thompson compared Tons of Sobs with Led Zeppelin's debut album, which was released a year later , but Free's work had a density that would make all contemporaries look like flyweights in comparison. Even if Free could never achieve the success of Led Zeppelin, it became clear how both groups were cut from the same cloth. He also pointed out that the revised 2001 version would bring the sound straight back to the master tapes. The album received four and a half stars out of five.
  • On Rezensator.de Tons of Sobs was named as one of the most notable blues rock albums of the late 1960s. The musical performance of the band would be astonishing, especially considering the very young age of the musicians. The album was recommended as a must have for all fans of British blues rock. It got eight out of ten stars in the rating.
  • On sputnikmusic, Robert Davis called Free's debut album a milestone for blues and hard rock. Few other bands at the time knew how to merge blues and rock. He also highlighted Kossoff's guitar playing as excellent and first class. The album was an inspiration for Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. In the evaluation, Tons of Sobs received four and a half out of five points.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tons of Sobs at discogs.com
  2. ↑ Biography at paulkossoffofficial.com ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.paulkossoffofficial.com
  3. ↑ Andy Fraser Bio at freetheband.co.uk
  4. ↑ History of the band at andyfraser.com ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.andyfraser.com
  5. ↑ Remastered CD from 2001 at discogs.com
  6. ↑ Chart placement at allmusic.com
  7. ↑ Tons of Sobs in freetheband.co.uk
  8. ^ Tons of Sobs at allmusic.com
  9. ↑ Review at rezensator.de
  10. ↑ Review at sputnikmusic.com