This discussion has gotten me thinking about how I got exposed to Free and Andy Fraser. I got into rock music in 7th grade when my family moved to Japan. I listened to Armed Forces Radio for the first month or so, but then moved on to the Beatles, then heavy metal in 8th grade, then on to other stuff. Armed Forces Radio (or whatever it was called, I remember Far East Network too) was only AM, and Japan really didn't have much as far as radio, but fortunately it was the '80s, the economy was good, and I had enough money to purchase the records that I wanted, so I listened to what I was into or what friends turned me on to.
I think I got into Free because Billy Sheehan talked about them. So I had Fire & Water, Free Live, and Heartbreaker - oh yeah, there was a Gary Moore cover of Wishing Well that I kind of liked. I feel kind of fortunate, I never heard All Right Now on the radio to get sick of it or have it in the background, I was listening intently - the end part where they set up the groove and Andy starts playing the low A instead of the high one is just so great! And of course the bass solo on Mr. Big - just brilliant. I like the studio version the best. Another is the breakdown to The Stealer - it fades out on the original but they included the whole thing on the Molten Gold compilation - almost worth it to get the CD just for that!
