"Free - at last! Free - at last! Thank God Almighty, it's Free, at last!"
Martin Luther King was very pleased when he heard the subject of this week's Namesakes.
Here are eight musical acts who were born Free. Would you pay actual money for any of them?
THE FREE #1
We kick off this week with a Dutch soul band from the late 60s, featuring Max Spangenberg, who also played drums for Franky Franken's Selection.
THE FREE #2
The Free - Decision For Lost Soul Blue
FREE #3
Active between '68 and '73, the Free most people know came from That London, fronted by semi-Canadian singer Paul Rodgers, who would later inadvisably try to fill Freddie's shoes in Queen. Personally, I'm more interested in guitarist Paul Kossoff's hairiness as displayed in the photo above.
FREE #4
From 1985, here's another Free, supporting the one and only Dr. Boogie.
He's not a real doctor.
THE FREE #5
If I was forced at gunpoint to name the worst genre of music ever created, I would probably opt for 90s Eurodance. Here we have a prime example, vomited into the world by producers Felix J. Gauder and Olaf Bossi.
FREE!! #6
No, I take it back. This... whatever this is... is much worse than 90s Eurodance. No wonder they needed two exclamation marks. Plus, one of the blokes looks like a young Danny Dyer, so clearly we all should hate him.
I'd recommend playing this at minimum volume. Or preferably with your speakers completely muted.
Free!! - Maximum Volume
American media personality, television producer, singer/songwriter and rapper, Free... AKA Marie Antoinette Wright. Yes, that's her real name. She's managed to blag her way onto records by Missy Elliott, Beyonce and Queen Latifah, not to mention the atrocious Wyclef Jean remix of Another One Bites The Dust (even Paul Rodgers could have done better than that). But here she is on her own, from her unreleased 2007 debut album 'Pressure Free'.
FREE #7
FREE #8
Finally today, some shouty American hardcore from 2017 by a bloke who looks like he's entering a Dad-Dancing competition.
Still, he gets an extra point for writing a song about my favourite mythological metaphor for the futility of existence.
Free your mind... and your comments will follow.
It starts well but goes rapidly downhill after #3. Are you sure #4 isn't a real doctor? His record label is called Injection which sounds pretty convincing to me.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of changing my blog's name to Ernie Ernest's Selection in tribute to Max Spangenberg.
I tried calling Dr Boogie up to make further enquiries, but I couldn't get through... so he could well be a real doctor after all.
Delete10 seconds in and I thought I would absolutely detest #4. But as it progressed it was only mildly irritating. I've actually heard worse than #6 today (because I listened to three tracks from the third King Crimson album, Lizard). There are better tracks for #3 than the one you chose.
ReplyDeleteThere are, but sometimes you've just gotta go with the obvious one.
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