Free at Last: The Story of Free and Bad Company

Rating:
Summary: Decent overview of Free, marred by florid/turgid prose
Review: I almays knew that Free had much more to offer and should be remembered for more than "All Right Now." But while this book gives a decent look at the band, Rosen's writing style is overblown, shallow, and even embarrassing to its detriment.

He is clearly a huge admirer of the group (his first chapter on vocalist Paul Rodgers is called "If God Carried a Tune") and especially the gifted-but-doomed guitarist Paul Kossoff, with whom he seems almost obsessed and who dominates the tale. However, in his hagiography, he continually repeats empty factual platitudes with little insight (i.e. "Paul was out of it again. He blew a gig/session. The guys were angry"). However, he's on the money when talking about the music itself.

The section on the much more successful Bad Company is simply an outline, but even then the writing is too grandiose. Here's what he says about the group's first record: "It was an absolute landmark in the chronology of rock music. At the heart of it were the majestic pop/rock tunes orchestrated with elementary guitar/bass/vocal arrangements. And yet the arrangements and the harmonic content lent an aura of musicality never before touched upon by electrically driven bands."

YEEEESH!

Rosen does get credit for original research and some fresh comments (of varying cooperation) from all Free/Bad Co. members, and as the writer of an early '70s Rolling Stone cover on the latter, clearly knows his stuff with a diehard's apprecation. But overall, think of this book as merely an appetizer on the bands to whet interest and - most importantly -drive readers to the music itself.

Rating:
Summary: I don't know
Review: I don't know if this book is good or bad, but I'm waiting eagerly for the supposed biography about AC/DC that Rosen was to write. It would be very good, I guess!

Rating:
Summary: give us more
Review: i enjoyed reading this book and was glad to find any book about these guys,only the author should have written at least three seperate books,and this could have been part one..with his knowledge and passion for, he should have written a complete book about paul kossoff seperate from possibly a book about paul rodgers with all his other projects including the firm and interviewed all the guys and (please)a whole edition on bad company up to the present.in the end it was a quick read but it left me wanting much more...

Rating:
Summary: Really should have been a Paul Kossoff biography
Review: Imagine a book about Free and Bad Company--two of the most seminal acts in rock and roll history--and then find out that the text is just over 200 pages long! That is the book that Steven Rosen has given us with Free at Last. Since brilliant singer Paul Rodger's solo career alone is worth 200 pages, the reader may feel somewhat cheated. Rosen does fill us in on the important details: the birth and later demise of Free, the rise of Bad Company, a short history of Swan Song records; all told in an overly economic style that leaves the reader wanting more. Aside from the occasional factual error (The Hendrix Set, Paul's Jimi Hendrix tribute recorded with Neal Schon, was done live, not in the studio), Rosen frustrates the reader with his inability to stick to one subject. Case in point: Paul Rodgers is repeatedly described as basically a nice guy subject to occasional fits of moodiness. Only when the book is almost complete does Rosen mention, almost in passing, the likely reason: Rodgers rages were probably fueled by alcohol. (He has since cleaned up his act and is "a picture of positivism" (sic)). Also, Bad Company is given short shrift in these pages. (They get less space, it seems, than Paul Kossoff's solo act Back Street Crawler.) Finally, Steve Rosen spends as much time on Kossoff as all the other principals in the book combined. This fact, coupled with the writer's obvious infatuation of the guitarist and his abilities, may lead the reader to conclude that Rosen really wanted to write a biography of Kossoff, but decided to expand his work to include Free and BadCo so it would sell. In short, basically a good read with some interesting anecdotes, but the definitive treatment of these two groups is yet to be written.