Free
The Syndrome at The Chicago Coliseum
Chicago, IL,
1971-01-23
01. Be My Friend 5:47
02. The Stealer 4:30
03. Woman 4:22
04. Ride On A Pony 4:38
05. Don't Say You Love Me 6:02
06. All Right Now 5:43
07. Fire & Water 5:08
08. Heavy Load 5:39
09. The Highway Song 5:40
10. My Brother Jake 3:05
source/lineage-2011 DIME share of VG+ aud recording (info from that is pasted below)> EAC> Audacity> TLH> DIME
Paul Rodgers vocals
Paul Kossoff Electric Guitar
Andy Fraser Bass, piano
Simon Kirke Drums
Here's a show Free played near to the time of their Highway album (my personal favorite of theirs!). This has been up here before, but not in quite some time (2011). I grabbed this here then from Axel (RoryGallagher) who'd upped this with a contrast clause literally right after another version had been shared by roryglzep (Jeff). This was an alternate version to that, and seemingly came from the original files that Jeff used too. I'd gotten both versions then, along with another version before that, which had cpme via a cd-r trade. This version from Axel was the best one out of the 3 I've heard. You'll see in the notes copied from the dimebot archive, and pasted below, how this came into Axel's hands, and that it's actually dual channel mono. It definitely sounded better to the other versions, but it did seem things could still be done to clean it up a little more. That has now been attempted in this new share.
The files were opened in Audacity to check tracking (minor changes were made) and to address that boominess mentioned in the notes below, along with "livening" the old recording up a bit. EQ/Mastering tools were applied, and the samples should show some improvement from what this had been. This whole recording had also run slow and 1/2 step flat, meaning for example that All Right Now in A was being heard in A flat. That problem was consistent throughout the show (and versions), and a tool in Audacity was used to address speed and pitch to now get it running "in tune". Admittedly, Audacity may not be as tried and true in the speed/pitch department as some more advanced software tools employed by others here at DIME, but it seems to have done the job effectively. Please feel free to chime in with any thoughts below in the comment section relative to how the results might seem to you. sbe's were found, and fixed in TLH.
Finally, it's very tough to determine the actual date of this show. The copy I had from trade showed it coming from January 20th 1971, and another version had it about a year earlier in 1970 (which is likely to have been before My Brother Jake was even written). There's another nice show from Santa Monica that's long been shared with a January 22, 1971 date. If that's correct, this can't be, and vice versa. As an added push, though toward Chicago and the Syndrome at around this time being correct, concertarchives.org has Free shown playing at the Syndrome in Chicago on both January 20th and 23rd with the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band, and Hammer. If anyone has a more accurate idea about these dates, please share a comment below with info you might have.
I saw this version of Free in 1972 in NYC, and I can't totally recall what happened when the "piano" songs were played live. Andy Fraser was the pianist, but it definitely sounds like there's both piano and bass being played simultaneously-particularly on Heavy Load. If anyone else was lucky enough to see Free back then, and clearly remember who might've played the bass parts when Andy was playing piano, please also let us know that below.
In closing, thanks to Axel for this long ago share, and to whoever recorded and distributed this recording for the rest of us to enjoy so many years on.
Axel's notes from the dimebot archive are pasted below:
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Lineage: Reel to Reel > Wav > CD > EAC > Flac 8 (align & verify)
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Shared by Axel(a.k.a. RoryGallagher), Friesland, Germany.
for the good ppl, friends, sis's and bro's who share the ride, my love always
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Kontrast Klaus tells ya these are the original files for the source shared by the great Jeff(a.k.a. roryglzep) at http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=354460
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Glad to see so much being shared by this great band. Here s some more, a previously uncirculated (as far as I know) recording that was given to me by a friend back in the mid-80 s. If he told me where he got it from I don t remember, but I do know that he was not the taper. The reel sounds like it was the master, but I m not 100% sure. Anyway... the taper had a problem with his left channel mic, as it cuts in and out (mostly out) throughout. So I copied the right channel into the left, so what we have here is dual channel mono. Sound is distant & a little boomy, but all the instruments and vocals are audible. This may be for completists...
Where The Syndrome is I do not know, but If I know this community we ll get it figured out. All that was written on the tape is what I used as the title of the torrent.
And one more thing, after My Brother Jake there was about 10 seconds of Mr. Big which I did not include.
Enjoy!