10 FROM 6  -  BAD COMPANY

YEAR:  1985
LABEL:  Atlantic
TRACK LISTING:  Can't Get Enough,  Feel Like Makin' Love,  Run With the Pack,  Shooting Star,  Movin' On,  Bad Company,  Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy,  Electricland,  Ready For Love,  Live For the Music
IMPRESSIONS:  Loathe as I am to include "greatest hits" albums on here, that eventually occurs in certain cases and here is one of them.  This is the only album I own by Bad Company (with the exception of some live reunion cd released in the last decade).  But more importantly, this is a "Sizzler album" with nostalgic connotations to my mind.  This album means to me heading to Guppy's condo after work most nights to hang out and drink copious amounts of vodka.  Guppy was called "Guppy" cuz she drank like a fish; the only things in her refrigerator were a bottle of Absolut and some lemons!  But for some reason, one of the albums we listened to A LOT there and at the time generally (this was circa 1991) was this Bad Company "Best Of".  It's always seemed odd to me how this very English rock supergroup had all these cowboy-sounding songs; but England has always had more of a lingering love affair with the Western than we indigenous Yanks.  Be that as it may, this album is chock full of great songs which practically define the term "70's classic rock" and the eponymous song "Bad Company" is one of my all-time favourites.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Can't Get Enough,  Run with the Pack,  Movin' On,  Bad Company,   Electricland,  Ready For Love
FACT SHEET:  10 FROM 6 is Bad Company's first "greatest hits" album culled from their first six albums:  hence the title referring to 10 songs from 6 albums.  Those albums being:  BAD COMPANY (1974), STRAIGHT SHOOTER (1975), RUN WITH THE PACK (1976), BURNIN' SKY (1977), DESOLATION ANGELS (1979) and ROUGH DIAMONDS (1982).  The personnel of "supergroup" Bad Co. included singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke (from Free), guitarist Mick Ralphs (from Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (from King Crimson).  10 FROM 6 has been certified double platinum.      

FIRE AND WATER - Free

YEAR: 1970

LABEL: Island

TRACK LISTING: Fire and Water, Oh I Wept, Remember, Heavy Load, Mr. Big, Don't Say You Love Me, All Right Now

IMPRESSIONS: One of the quintessential sounds of hard rock in the 1970's. This would be Free's high point before Paul Kossoff's drug problems would lead to the departure of bassist Andy Fraser and the influx of several new members to compensate for Kossoff's near inability to perform. The is a real sound of relaxed confidence on this album in the performance of the band as well as the assured vocals of "The Voice" Paul Rodgers. The tempo of all the songs sits back in the groove like a comfortable lime green bean bag chair. When I listen to this album, I sense a kind of deep breath and relief in the songs after the frenzy of the late sixties.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Fire and Water, Oh I Wept, Remember, Heavy Load, Don't Say You Love Me, All Right Now

FACT SHEET: FIRE AND WATER is Free's third album. Free consists of Paul Rodgers (vocals), Paul Kossoff (guitar), Andy Fraser (bass) and Simon Kirke (drums). The album was Free's most successful owed mostly to the presence of the monumental rock anthem "All Right Now" which reached #1 in the UK and #4 in the US. All the songs were co-written by Fraser and Rodgers. Fraser would quit in 1972 and Kossoff would die from a drug-related heart attack on a plane flight in 1976. Rodgers and Kirke would go on from Free to form the band Bad Company.