Flight  (1975,  42.05)  ***½/TT½ In Flight Make a Miracle Let's Fly Away Latin Dippy Do Rhapsody to You Falling in Love Ease of Confusion Theme to the Stratosphere
	Incredible Journey  (1976,  37.05)  ***½/½ Music is 1929 First Impression Mystery Man 2003 Visions of a Dream The Sands of Time Rock'n'Roll Star

Current availability:

• Not on CD

Mellotron used:

• Both titles: band's own M400

Flight were a most peculiar mixture of musical styles; sort of easy listening Latin jazz prog (!), with smooth vocals alongside a brass section and prog keys. For a major label outfit, information about them is surprisingly difficult to find, although you try searching for 'Flight' in Google... All I can tell you is that the keyboards were played by Jim Yaeger, and I know of one later album, 1981's Excursion Beyond; all extra info gratefully received...

1975's Flight is best when the vocalist shuts up and lets the band do their brass-fuelled prog/fusion thing, as on fiery, jazz-inflected opener In Flight, and the vastly-better-than-its-title-would-suggest Latin Dippy Do. On the keyboard front, Yaeger sticks mainly to Moog, string synth and Mellotron, frequently using the latter two in the same song, sensibly concentrating on their different strengths. All credited tracks above have reasonable amounts of 'Tron strings, with choir on a couple of tracks, though the album's outstanding keys work is to be found in the red hot synth playing, with ripping solos on several tracks in true fusion style.

There's little stylistic change on the following year's Incredible Journey, although the album is possibly slightly less manic than its predecessor. I'm not sure if there's some sort of concept thing going on here, but two of the album's highlights are 1929 and 2003, with some particularly good guitar work on the latter. Yaeger plays mainly string synth this time round, although he whips out a blistering piano solo at the end of 1929; the same track features the album's only Mellotron work, with a handful of string chords, sounding particularly rich compared to his considerably greater use on Flight, making it ironic how little it's used here.

These albums aren't going to be to everyone's taste, but the jaded prog or fusion fan looking for something a little bit different could do an awful lot worse than pick these up, though I believe they've never been released on CD. Plenty of 'Tron on their debut, though next to none on the follow-up, but two good albums anyway. Worthwhile.

Flowerpot Men  (UK)

	7"  (1967)  ****½/TTT½ Let's Go to San Francisco, Part 1 Let's Go to San Francisco, Part 2
	7"  (1967)  ***½/TT A Walk in the Sky Am I Losing You
	7"  (1968)  ***½/TT½ A Man Without a Woman You Can Never Be Wrong

	The Very Best of The Flowerpot Men  (1997,  72.19)  ***½/TTT
	Let's Go to San Francisco, Part 1 & 2 A Walk in the Sky Am I Losing You A Man Without a Woman You Can Never Be Wrong Piccolo Man Mythological Sunday Sweet Baby Jane Journey's End Let's Go Back to San Francisco, Part 1	Silicon City Busy Doin' Nothing White Dove Cooks of Cake and Kindness Gotta Be Free Heaven Knows When Brave New World Children of Tomorrow Let's Go Back to San Francisco, Part 2

Current availability:

• Very Best of...: Sound and Media

Mellotron used:

• All titles: studio MkII?

The Flowerpot Men (named after the BBC's 'Bill and Ben' children's programme, for non-UK readers) were a studio-based outfit, revolving around the vocal talents of session singer Tony Burrows, later to be the voice of similar studio outfits Edison Lighthouse, White Plains et al. Many musicians can lay claim to being members at one time or another, but most of them (including Nick Simper and Jon Lord, later of Deep Purple) were only in the touring outfit, hastily assembled to cash in on the success of their debut single.

Said single, Let's Go To San Francisco, has gone down as a classic of the era, although the writers laughingly admitted that they'd never been there, and were quite blatantly jumping on the flower power bandwagon. Apart from a 'lodge in your brain' melody, the track features a beautiful Mellotron flute line running through the whole thing, plus faint string and brass parts. The b-side was a continuation of the flip, with the complete track available on various compilations. Absolutely essential.

Second single, A Walk In The Sky, follows a similar psych-pop path, though without being remotely as iconic as 'San Francisco'. It's a good song, nonetheless, with a nice 'Tron string line running through it, though less overtly than the flutes on its predecessor, with a brief Mellotron trumpet solo on its b-side. Nothing on single no.3, A Man Without A Woman, but it sounds like both strings and an unidentified solo brass sound on its flip, You Can Never Be Wrong. Now, to confuse the issue considerably, the fourth single by the 'band', Piccolo Man was released under the name Friends, but has been (sensibly) anthologised along with the Flowerpot Men material.

Speaking of which, a good overview of their career is available on the cunningly-titled Very Best of the Flowerpot Men CD, including all the above tracks, plus the Friends single, along with various others, provenance unknown. I'm well aware that there have been loads of compilations of their material, but this is the one I've heard, so it gets a review. To be quite honest, several of the non-single tracks are rather weak, with some being far too close to the middle of the road for comfort, but it does include both parts of the cash-in on the cash-in, Let's Go Back To San Francisco, wrongly credited without the 'back', which rather confuses the issue. It even uses the original song's descending chord sequence, but gets some nice 'Tron in, so all is forgiven. Buy it and hear a neglected corner of UK '60s pop.

So, the above compilation's a good starting place for the Flowerpot Men (who said "And a good finishing one, too?"). They may have been a bit cheesy and decidedly 'inauthentic', but they produced a handful of great psych/pop singles, so I'll let them off the hook. Just this time, you understand... Incidentally, in 2000, a previously-unreleased selection of tracks was released as The Peace Album, apparently featuring reasonable dollops of 'Tron, so I'll report back if I get to hear a copy.

Flyte  (Netherlands/Belgium)

Dawn Dancer  (1979,  39.54)  ***½/TTT½ Woman Heavy, Like a Child Grace You're Free, I Guess Aim at the Head Your Breath Enjoyer King of Clouds Brain Damage

Current availability:

• Musea (France)

Flyte were a Dutch/Belgian conglomerate, influenced by Camel and Kayak, amongst others, with a melodic, short-ish song format that shouldn't tax the average listener too much. To be honest, I find Lu Rousseau's vocals on Dawn Dancer quite hard to take, with the result that I prefer the album's instrumental sections. The song titles and lyrics leave quite a bit to be desired, too, but I presume like most progressive bands from their respective countries, they didn't wish to sing in their own language(s).

Musical quality aside, there's loads of Leo Cornelissens' 'Tron for your listening pleasure, with five of the eight tracks featuring fair amounts of strings and choir. Woman and Your Breath Enjoyer are probably the best 'Tron tracks, though they all feature enough to be worth hearing. To be honest, though, without the Mellotron, Dawn Dancer would be a decidedly average album, although better than, say, Womega's. So; not unreservedly recommended, but I've heard worse.

Focus  (Netherlands)

In and Out of Focus  (1970,  36.04)  ***½/TT Focus (vocal) Black Beauty Sugar Island Anonymous House of the King Happy Nightmare (Mescaline) Why Dream Focus (instrumental)

	Moving Waves  [a.k.a. Focus 2]  (1971,  41.44)  ****½/TTT½
	Hocus Pocus Le Clochard ("Bread") Janis Moving Waves Focus II Eruption   Orfeus, Answer, Orfeus   Answer, Pupilla, Tommy   Answer, The Bridge	Euridice, Dayglow, Endless Road Answer, Orfeus, Euridice

	Hamburger Concerto  (1974,  33.48)  ***/TT½
	Delitiæ Musicæ Harem Scarem La Cathedrale de Strasbourg Birth Hamburger Concerto   Starter   Rare   Medium I   Medium II	Well Done One for the Road

Ship of Memories  (1976, recorded 1970-73,  36.32)  ****/TTT P's March Can't Believe My Eyes Focus V Out of Vesuvius Glider Red Sky at Night Spoke the Lord Creator Crackers Ship of Memories

	Masters From the Vaults  (2004, recorded 1970?-76?,  62.19)  **½/½
	Hocus Pocus House of the King Focus I Hamburger Concerto Cathedral de Strasbourg Sneezing Bull Angel Wings Anonymous II	Eruption Focus II Sylvia

Current availability:

• All '70s titles: EMI
• Masters From the Vaults: Classic Rock Legends (Belgium?)

Mellotrons used:

• In & Out/Moving Waves: studio MkII?
• Hamburger/Ship: studio M400?

Focus are widely known as the Netherlands' biggest prog export; a good draw on UK and US stages in the early '70s, they produced less 'classic' work than you might expect. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that they recorded just one (almost) flawless album, their second, Moving Waves. They actually formed in 1969, from several other Dutch acts, and quickly released their first album, In and Out of Focus, utilising a little Mellotron, along with keyboard player Thijs Van Leer's prime instrument, the organ. It's a bit of a hodgepodge, to be honest, opening with several vocal tracks (including the anti-Castro rant, Sugar Island, removed from the US version), which were not the band's forté. As for the 'Tron, there's an ordinary strings part on the jazzy Happy Nightmare (Mescaline) and a more overt part on one of the album's best tracks, Focus (instrumental).

The following year, Focus released the storming Moving Waves (Focus II in the Netherlands), complete with 'novelty' hit single Hocus Pocus, fondly remembered by many for Van Leer's bizarre yodelling! The album features the full six-minute plus version of the track, which belies its 'novelty' status by actually being a great piece of music with some truly stupendous playing from guitarist Jan Akkerman. Second track in, Le Clochard is where the Mellotronic interest kicks in; a gorgeous classical guitar and 'Tron strings instrumental, less than two minutes long, this surely has to be classed as one of the Mellotron Classics. After another beautiful (if 'Tron-less) instrumental, Janis, and the title track, the album's only real weak point, comes another jazz-inflected instrumental, Focus II (the band have recorded eight of these 'theme' tracks to date), with some more 'Tron strings. I would guess that they were using a Mark II on these sessions, recorded at the same Dutch studio as their debut, but it's hard to tell. Focus never (to my knowledge) used a Mellotron on stage, and I'm not sure if they ever even owned one themselves, or just hired them in for sessions.

Side two of the album is taken up with the superb Eruption, a multi-part piece with all the band's disparate influences thrown into the melting-pot to create a unique piece of music. The Mellotron drifts in and out of the piece, probably only appearing for a minute or two of the track's 22 minutes, but so effectively that it hardly matters. The music is stunning, with common themes coming and going, and fiery playing from all quarters. This track demonstrates why I shouldn't copy tracklistings from reissue CDs; the multifarious parts of the track are listed differently on the LP and CD, so the listing above is from the original release.

Focus 3 (****), while a good album, falls rather short of great; a sprawling double, much of it sounds improvised, and there's definitely some excess baggage that could easily be lost, although it does include one of their best pieces ever (and their biggest hit), Sylvia, with Van Leer sticking principally to the organ. After a live album, they dug out the 'Tron (an M400 this time) for their next lot of studio sessions, which were abandoned after internecine squabbling amongst band members, although they salvaged some of their work for their next studio album proper, Hamburger Concerto. I have to say that I find this a rather lesser piece of work than its illustrious predecessors, although it definitely has its moments. There's some 'Tron to be heard on the title track (which sadly comes nowhere near the heights attained on Eruption), probably on parts 1, 2 and 6.

During a lull in the band's career, the abandoned '73 sessions were exhumed and released, with a few outtakes added to bring the album up to a decent length as Ship of Memories. Listening to the tracks makes you wonder what the problem was at the time, as recounted in producer Mike Vernon's sleevenotes. There's some excellent material here, with some fine Mellotron work on several of the tracks. I have to say that I feel most of it outclasses the Hamburger Concerto material; it's certainly more digestible, with nothing exceeding the six-minute mark.

Fast-forward a few decades... In 2002, a reformed Focus, sans Akkerman, began wowing audiences in Europe and America, touring regularly and even releasing new albums. In response, various old recordings, both audio and visual, began crawling out of the woodwork, looking for a quick buck. I haven't seen the DVD version of Masters From the Vaults, but I hope to hell it's better than the CD of the same name. To be succinct, this is shit. It sounds like what it probably is: the unadulterated audio tracks from several video clips, probably recorded straight to two-track, spread over several years, with highly variable sound quality. The volume levels fluctuate not only from track to track, but also within tracks, and Hamburger Concerto has a track marker inserted about four minutes before the end, running into the following one. Shoddy. "But what about the music?", I hear you cry. "Surely this is a Focus album?" It is, and the music itself is excellent, even the two later-period pieces, but the disc's appalling presentation (no recording dates, indeed, no sleevenotes of any consequence at all) shoots the entire project down in flames. The Mellotron? A few seconds of strings in the Hamburger Concerto excerpt, as on the studio version, proving that the band must have used one live, even if only occasionally. Focus were and are a wonderful band, but this is a complete rip-off. Avoid.

So; In and Out of Focus is good, but rather formative. Buy Moving Waves NOW, if you don't already own it; a true classic. Ship of Memories is well worth the effort, but don't spend too much on Hamburger Concerto. Both Focus 3 and Live at the Rainbow (****½) are good albums, but outside the scope of this article.

Official site

Tribute site

Foghat  (UK)

Foghat  (1972,  37.44)  ***½/T I Just Want to Make Love to You Trouble, Trouble Leavin' Again (Again!) Fool's Hall of Fame Sarah Lee Highway (Killing Me) Maybelline A Hole to Hide in Gotta Get to Know You

Current availability:

• Rhino/Warners

It may surprise some of you to learn that Foghat were actually British, formed by three ex-members of Savoy Brown, obviously feeling, from the evidence here, that their parent band were lacking a little in the energy stakes. On their eponymous debut, vocalist/guitarist 'Lonesome' Dave Peverett (now THERE's a British name for you!) led his crew through a rocking set; short on originality, it rocks far harder than the band they'd just left, with a cool twin-guitar attack, with Peverett and Rod Price trading, er, 'licks' with abandon. Dave Edmunds' production helps things along, too, stopping just the right side of pastiche.

No-one's credited with keyboards, although their version of Chuck Berry's Maybelline has some ferocious piano playing, with a more straightforward part on lengthy closer Gotta Get To Know You, along with some Wurly and a subtle Mellotron string part. So; not bad blues-rock, although there is better about, and one decent 'Tron track. Your choice.

Official site

Foo Fighters  (US)

	There is Nothing Left to Lose  (1999,  50.09)  ***/½
	Stacked Actors Breakout Learn to Fly Gimme Stitches Generator Aurora Live-in Skin Next Year	Headwires Ain't it the Life M.I.A.

Current availability:

• Roswell/BMG

If Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters are the living legacy of Nirvana, then I'm a Chinaman, as the saying goes. Their third album, There is Nothing Left to Lose, is a commercial pop-rock record with slight punky overtones, which is probably why they're as huge as they are; you can sing along to everything here, should you feel so inclined, even more than you could with Nirvana. It's not actually a bad record, but it's not a particularly good one, either, being just too bland and mainstream to really make an impact. Er, except that it did, but you know what I mean.

Chamberlin flutes on Next Year, player unknown (Grohl?), with an understated flute part running under most of the song, though I can't say it especially enhances it. So; a fairly nothing sort of record, though streets ahead of a lot of the drivel I've reviewed recently; at least it has a patina of rock credibility and real guitars and stuff. There's supposed to be Mellotron on their 2005 double, In Your Honor, from no less than John Paul Jones, but given his notorious antipathy to them, I'd be stunned if it was real. Anyway, more news should I get to hear the thing.

Official site

Food for Worms  (US)

	The Ultimate Diet  (2000, recorded 1981-84,  74.00)  ***½/½
	All You Need is Jazz Cream Always Rises Pink Dishes Cosmo's Credo Mr. Twister We Represent the Symbol First Grade The Worm is the Word Child's Play	Out of True Moderately Severe Another Still Nite Diet of Worms No Idea Gloom Club No One Said it'd Be Easy Weather is Permanent How I Spent My Summer Vacation	It Needs a Haircut It Takes a Summer Job Johnny Vette Neil's Stick Primal Bridal Passion Privilege Kiss of Death Los Gusanos

Current availability:

• The Orchard (US)

Mellotron used:

• Band's own M400

This odd little item came free with an issue of US prog mag Progression, and turns out to be the entire collected works of the early-'80s outfit that grew out of mental Baltimore proggers OHO, with all tracks recorded between 1981-4. Fittingly, given when they were active, Food for Worms have that quirky 'new wave' sound about them, with short but action-packed songs, vocals that owe a not-so-minor debt to Talking Heads et al., and the then-fashionable Farfisa organ. Plenty of squelchy synths, jagged rhythms and general weirdness, but the only Mellotron I can hear on the whole thing (from Mark O'Connor) is some strings on It Takes A Summer Job, and they sound like they've been processed in some way. So; good, if odd album, very little 'Tron indeed. And no, I've no idea whether this was ever released commercially (probably not), or where you might be able to find a copy.

n.b. I've recently found a reference to the possibility of this (or at least part of it) originally coming out in 1985, though I don't know how accurate this may be. It appears to be currently available through the The Orchard label, in case you're trying to find a copy.

Page on official OHO site

Forever Twelve  (US)

Spark of Light  (2004,  59.22)  ****/TTT Rama Spark of Light Keep it Alive Brown Cloud Mouse Life Changes

Current availability:

• Band site

Mellotrons used:

• Two borrowed M400s

Forever Twelve (great name!) are a new(-ish) US prog outfit who do their level best to ignore the simplification of the genre that has blighted it so heavily over the past couple of decades. They've actually been around in one form or another since the early '90s, releasing their debut, Remembrance Branch, in 2002. Two years on, Spark of Light appears, and while I can't compare it to its predecessor, it stands up pretty well, although I suspect it'll take some listens for the material to sink in. Forever Twelve rarely use one note where several will do, which may drive some of you mad, but this approach avoids the tedium induced by many newer bands, who appear unaware of the existence of key and tempo shifts, not to mention the odd chord change... Cat Ellen's vocals, while good, start sounding samey after a few tracks, but that's probably a criticism you could level at many singers; suffice to say, she does a decent job without particularly standing out.

Keys man Steve Barberic plays a range of instruments, including a (borrowed) MiniMoog and no less than two borrowed Mellotrons. He gets 'em in on all but one track, although most of his use is pretty restrained, concentrating on strings. There are a couple of flute sections (I think he plays alongside Cat's real one at one point), but surprisingly, only one short burst of choir. 'Tron highlight? The one-minute strings solo (no overdubs, apparently) at the end of the last track, Life Changes.

So; while Forever Twelve have yet to release something that will really make them stand out from the pack, Spark of Light is a solid album, with plenty of scope for repeated listening. Nice 'Tron work, too - more of that next time please, Steve...

Official site

Formation Studio Balkanton (FSB)  (Bulgaria)

	Non Stop  (1977,  33.04)  ****/TTT½ Dynamic Power and the Glory Ten Years After Free Hands Reflection Green Door My Town Intermezzo
	II  (1978)  ***½/TT Dawn Morning Three Harmonies Playing the Gamut Gold Song For Goodbye

Current availability:

• Both on CD, label unknown

Mellotron used:

• Both titles: band/studio's own M400

FSB are a bit of a weird one; just about the only Bulgarian prog band I can think of, and they sound like... Santana. Well, a little. I'm actually having trouble tracing their main influences, but there's an awful lot of West Coast fusion in there, along with the Latiny stuff, with maybe a touch of the incomparable Happy the Man or similar. Mind you, they were quite jazzy too; take it as read that if you heavily dislike fusion, you're not going to feel too at home with this lot.

Saying that, on their debut, Non Stop (from the Brian Aldiss novel?), Gentle Giant have a heavy presence on the record, with a straight cover of the non-album Power And The Glory and an instrumental mis-titled Free Hands, along with various other covers, including the excellent Dynamic and Intermezzo, both from Patrick Moraz' i. Suffice to say, this is a fairly major 'Tron album, with a massive choir intro on Dynamic, with extra added strings, while Ten Years After (Le Orme) is string-soaked, as are Green Door and Intermezzo, while My Town features the rarely-heard Mellotron pipe organ at its close. Track this album down.

I believe their later releases are pretty awful, but II's a good, if not great album, with excellent playing and dynamics, and vocals on only a couple of tracks, thankfully. I'm not much of a fusion fan myself, but it sounds to my ears to be as good as plenty of better-known names, with more of a 'prog' feel than many of them. There isn't an awful lot of Roumen Boyadjiev (or possibly Konstantin Tsekov)'s 'Tron, with naught but background choirs on a few tracks, and some more upfront stuff on Playing The Gamut (I think - this is being reviewed from a tape), under a solo female voice, which turns out to be a spectacular, and unique combination. Well worth hearing.

So; two slightly strange records, but worth picking up if you should happen to run into copies. Non Stop's a bit of a Mellotron classic, and although II isn't, it's an unusual album to which you may well find yourself returning. Oh, and thanks to Mike for spotting the other covers on their first album.

Balkanton was (is?) actually Bulgaria's primo studio facility, active since the '60s, so I presume the band were the cream of their session players, using the studio's equipment, so who knows how many other Bulgarian albums may feature the studio 'Tron? For what it's worth, after a recent trip to Bulgaria (not actually for this reason - honest), I can confirm that the rumoured 'Tron on their third (mini-)album, The Globe (**½), is nonexistent, and the music's pretty rotten, too, keeping the band's jazziness, while allying it to some awful soul-inflected pop, with only the occasional interesting chord sequence to pep things up. As for their later live album... I refrained from buying a copy (this was all at an open-air flea market near the main cathedral), as the pictures showed a horrendous early-'80s pop act, with a bevy of dullsville synths, and zero Mellotron. Funny, that. I think there's an early single that features the 'Tron, but its two sides have been compiled onto different volumes of a three-vol compilation; they were only £4.00 each, but apart from a handful of tracks from the above albums, they would've been largely rubbish, so I (stupidly?) passed on them. No sign of CD versions of either Non Stop or II, either - nor did I find them on vinyl.

Official site (in Bulgarian)

Frame  (Germany)

Frame of Mind  (1972,  36.38)  ***/T Frame of Mind Crusical Scene All I Really Want Explain If Winter Penny for an Old Guy Childrens Freedom Truebsal

Current availability:

• Bellaphon (Germany)

In decades to come, assuming they're not entirely forgotten, it's quite possible that Uriah Heep's lasting legacy won't be seen as their first few albums, which helped to define a very British style of hard rock, but their overwhelming influence on a host of contemporaneous European bands, including Norway's Titanic, Hungary's Omega and more German bands than I care to name. Amongst them are Frame, a one-off outfit whose Frame of Mind is... entirely average. OK, it's not a bad listen, but the songs are pretty ordinary and it's hard to find anything on this album that hasn't been done better by someone else. There's some marvellous broken English amongst the track titles, so I hate to think what the lyrics are like; All I Really Want Explain is a personal favourite on that front, and is actually one of the album's best songs, as well as the longest.

Cherry Hochdörffer plays keys, mainly the ubiquitous Hammond, with only two Mellotron tracks to be heard; Winter has some rather background strings, but extremely brief closer Truebsal consists of nothing but a national anthem-style tune played on queasy 'Tron brass, the wobbly tuning of which is clearly deliberate. So, not what you'd call a classic on any front, really, although Truebsal manages to do something a little bit different, if not wholly essential.

Free  (UK)

Fire & Water  (1970,  36.05)  ***½/½ Fire & Water Oh I Wept Remember Heavy Load Mr Big Don't Say You Love Me All Right Now

	Highway  (1970,  35.58/58.56)  ***/T½ (TT)
	Highway Song Stealer On My Way Be My Friend Sunny Day Ride on a Pony Love You So Bodie	Soon I Will Be Gone [CD adds: My Brother Jake (single) Only My Soul (b-side) Ride on a Pony (BBC Session) Be My Friend (BBC Session) Rain (alternative version) Stealer (single version)

	7"  (1971)  **/T½ My Brother Jake Only My Soul

	Free Live!  (1971,  40.36/77.15)  ****/T
	All Right Now I'm a Mover Be My Friend Fire and Water Ride a Pony Mr Big The Hunter Get Where I Belong	[CD adds: Woman Walk in My Shadow Moonshine Trouble on Double Time Mr Big All Right Now Get Where I Belong]

Free at Last  (1972,  35.46)  ***/T Catch a Train Soldier Boy Magic Ship Sail on Travellin' Man Little Bit of Love Guardian of the Universe Child Goodbye

Current availability:

• All titles: Island

Free are one of those bands that I feel I should like, but about whom I find it difficult to get excited. Part of the problem is that I don't feel their sound has dated very well, unlike, say, Zeppelin's; their blues/rock hybrid sounds rather laid-back for modern tastes, although I know there's many of you out there who'll disagree violently with this. As a result, these reviews may seem rather unenthusiastic, although I bear the band's 'classic' status in mind.

Fire and Water is rated as their 'classic' by many fans, and while it's a good album, the first thing that strikes you about it is the soporific pace of most of the material, with even the ubiquitous All Right Now being 'sprightly' at best. Apart from 'the hit', Mr Big is probably the album's standout track, which whips up a bit of a storm, admittedly in a laid-back kind of way. Bassist Andy Fraser plays loads of piano on the album, too, and there's a couple of MkII Mellotron string (mixed with brass?) notes on Heavy Load, but that seems to be it on the 'Tron front this time round.

I'm sorry, but I can't help but find Highway rather... dull. It's relentlessly mid-paced, consisting mostly of ballads, and completely belies Free's reputation as a band of any great intensity. The playing is, of course, excellent, although there's very little of Kossoff's famed guitar work in evidence (I believe the band were heading towards burnout at the time). Mellotron on a surprising three tracks, with a few background string notes on Be My Friend and Love You So, but a rather more upfront part (if still quite subtle) on closer and probable best track, Soon I Will Be Gone. My Brother Jake's added to the remastered CD, but none of the other bonus tracks is relevant here.

Speaking of which, the uncharacteristic (and not very good) My Brother Jake, a good-time singalong sort of thing from '71, has some 'Tron strings from Fraser; a brief part comes in during the second verse, with another few notes at the end of the song, and that's it. Really not worth the effort.

While Free Live! still isn't going to convert me unreservedly to their cause, it's a good live album with some great performances, not least the kicking All Right Now that opens proceedings. Not so sure about Be My Friend or Ride A Pony, to be honest, and the whole thing sounds a little dated, but The Hunter makes up for any earlier deficiencies. Now, I can't work out what's going on here, but Get Where I Belong features a piano part, along with Fraser's bass, when suddenly a handful of Mellotron chords pop up from nowhere then disappear again. There's a little more towards the end of the song, but it's not exactly overwhelming. So, who plays it? And how come they bothered to haul one along for just one song? Given that Paul Rodgers is a perfectly respectable pianist, it seems he's the prime suspect; more info should I ever find out. Incidentally, no keys of any sort on the bonus version of the same song; it doesn't even actually sound live to me.

Free's fifth studio album, and the first after their much-publicised reformation, Free at Last, carries on in pretty much the same vein as their earlier work, being a straight blues/rock crossover. Having never been the band's biggest fan, I find it difficult to pick out highlights, although the album's chief Mellotron track, Magic Ship is probably about the best. There's a few notes of very background 'Tron on the album's hit, Little Bit Of Love, but that's it.

So; if you like Free you probably own these already. For the Mellotron fan, pickings are slim indeed, although Soon I Will Be Gone, My Brother Jake and Magic Ship have some passable strings. Oh, and check out the Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu & Rabbit review to see what some of Free did in their gap year.

Fan site

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