Free – All Right Now – my favourite album

It’s probably not the best album in the world, but it’s certainly the one that has given me most pleasure over the years. Free were an English band that were together during the late 60s, early 70s, most famous for the song “All Right Now” which was revived about 15 years ago for a Wrigley’s ad. Despite their London roots, they have a distinct Californian sound.

I won a phone-in competition on Capital 104.4FM (the precursor to Rock 104, now called FM104) and I had a choice of a Wrigleys umbrella, a Wrigleys sports bag, or tape of this album. Having worn out the CD, I bought the CD years later, and now it’s played in heavy rotation in my MP3 collection.

Apart from the obvious title track, which can be over-played somewhat, the rest of the tunes are brilliant. From the hauntingly tragic Don’t Say You Love Me to the bittersweet Come Together In The Morning, the album gets right into your head and keeps you thinking about it. It evokes the openess of 60’s road-trip America, to unrequited love and back to drugs, crazy personalities and empty loneliness.

If you are looking for some rock music to get into, you could do a lot worse than this little gem.