Paul Rodgers live

Good to see Paul doing a majority of Free tunes......good move on his part since the Free Forever dvd and Live at the BBC cd has been released by Universal! The sad part for us Yanks is when he tours over here the Free material will most likely be replaced by more Bad Company tunes. The two Firm songs were most likely Satisfaction Guaranteed and Closer......

Maybe that other one was their first hit, Radioactive?

Cheers...Todd

'Closer' was played at Sheffield gig also. I agree the show was fantastic with the emphasis on 'Free' material with only two Bad Co. tracks.

Would have loved to have heard something off 'The Law' album which seems to be a lost, forgotten masterpiece.

However, Rodgers live is still only an aperitif prior to the main event. Roll on Dudley!!

Stay Fun(ky)
Mikey D

I just read a fan's review of the Royal Albert Hall show and it seems The Firm tracks were "Radioactive" and "Closer"........

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Would have loved to have heard something off 'The Law' album which seems to be a lost, forgotten masterpiece

It seems like Rodgers refuses to acknowledge any involvement in that band. Back when he was promoting the Muddy Water Blues album he did happen to perform "Nature of the Beast" from the Law album on a BBC session!

Am off to see Paul tonight in Manchester and from what I can see it should be a good show.............................at least he knows where the North of UK is................(ouch you bitch !!!!!!!!!!! )

Steve,

As well as 'The Law' album I would recommend the early solo album 'Cut Loose' on which Rodgers plays every single instrument on the album and also the solo album 'Now' which you may be able to get with the bonus Cd 'live at Loreley' which has a good selection of solo,Free and Bad Co. tracks.

Stay Fun(ky)

Mikey D

I too, am very happy with Paul doing a majority of Free songs,IMHO, Free was his finest band. Have to agree with you Chutsler, when he tours the US, he probably WILL replace most of the Free, with Bad Co. tunes, a real pity.

It would be great to see Paul and Glenn meet up at one of their shows this year, and sing together
My two favorite vocalists at once!!

Would also love to see Paul and Andy Fraser hook up again, as Andy is going back out on tour

I bought Cut Loose not long after it was released and I know I picked up the CD when it became available. There are several cuts on there that I still enjoy...."Live In Peace" would be redone by The Firm and "Superstar Woman" was cut by Bad Company during the sessions for their debut album. It was never released until 1999 when it was included on The Anthology.

The fact that Paul played all the instruments shouldn't have come as a surpise really; he started out as a bassist in his early band (Micky Moody was the guitarist!) and picked up the guitar along the way. He rarely played an instrument onstage in the early days of Free but was pressed into service as lead guitarist during a 1972 visit to Japan due to Paul Kossoff being unable to make the trip for health reasons. The show was filmed for Japanese TV in the pouring rain with ELP being the headliners. Paul would also start playing keyboards in the later days of the band and took that skill to Bad Company where he and Mick Ralphs usually handled the keyboard parts.

Paul acquits himself well on his DIY approach on Cut Loose and while his drumming is fairly mechanical, he handles all other instruments with aplomb. The title track got a lot of airplay when I lived in San Antonio but my favorite tune was always the last one; Talking Guitar Blues.

Quote from steveh

Thanks for all the info everyone, apart from Free and Bad co I only have the 'electric' album from Pauls back catalogue.
I must dig deeper, 'The Firm sounds good, can anyone recommend any other titles?
Talking of the Albert hall gig,I heard on planet rock that Gary
Moore was going to join the band for four songs. Anyone know
if it happened?
Cheers, Steve

Steve, as far as I know it happened!!!! One title you may want to seek out is the Unreleased Law II. It has 8 new titles plus a rough mix of "Laying Down The Law". IMHO it's better than the official Law album!!!

Steve, here's a little more info on Gary Moore's appearance with Paul Rodgers:


Prior to the gig Paul Rodgers had let slip in an interview at the launch of the Free albums that he would be joined by a special guest guitarist. Rumours had everyone from Queen's Brian May to Jimmy Page (who worked with Rodgers in the Firm) as the mystery guest, but it was none other than hard rock turned bluesman Gary Moore.
He played two numbers with Rodgers (with Leese and Dengler leaving the stage for Moore to take centre stage), 'Standing Around' and 'Louisiana Blues'.
Moore was on top form and with Rodgers' blues voice you couldn't really go wrong. Free's 'Wishing Well and 'All Right Now' also got an airing but surprisingly Bad Company's classic 'Can't Get Enough' didn't, which was a shame. One new song as well, the anti-war song 'Warboys' which was okay but maybe needs a few more listens to fully appreciate it. Encore time 'The Hunter' with Gary Moore back on stage and a Hendrix cover in 'Little Wing', with Howard Leese this time stealing the limelight with his soloing

Any idea where Unreleased Law can be found?

Many thanks,

Mikey D

Mikey D, it's one of those albums you trade for (unless you want to spend a ridiculous amount of money for it on ebay).....

Chuck

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Talking of the Albert hall gig,I heard on planet rock that Gary
Moore was going to join the band for four songs. Anyone know
if it happened?
Cheers, Steve

Steve, here's a picture from the show:




 

Been away for a few days, so sorry for the lateness of my reply!

I was at the Albert Hall gig and I have to say it was really good! I've only seen Paul once prior to the gig, with Queen at Hyde Park, but it was great to hear a set of his own stuff.

Deborah Bonham was pretty good as an opening act, I hadn't heard her stuff before, but she's got a pretty good voice and I actually liked the fact that she wasn't performing with a drummer, it aloud her voice to take centre stage moreso. The Answer, who I must have seen 3 times now on the support circuit were tedious and just seem a pointless re-tread of far better bands.

Gary Moore was really good, although his bizarre facial expressions are a tad distracting! The performance of The Hunter with Gary was really good as were the Hendrix covers of Little Wing and Angel.

Had to say I was so glad that everyone on my side of the stalls stood up, because being a person with long legs the severe lack of leg room was really painful, plus sitting down at rock gigs feels awkward.

I think Wishing Well was the highlight everyone sang along to that one. The audiance could have been a bit louder, but they were still with him.