Monday, June 22, 2009

all right now #2

WIP 6082.

Recorded at the same time as the "Fire And Water" sessions at Trident and Island Studios, London, this abbreviated 45 release lacks the polish of the full album production, but packs more percussive bite. Paul Kossoff was reportedly aggravated that his lengthy guitar solo was edited so savagely (huh ?), but on balance I still prefer this single cut. F@cking prima donna.

Love it or loathe it, just remember even the Runaways fell over themselves to cover it. For fully fledged obsessives, their version recorded for the infamous BBC broadcast is also included as a bonus on Island's 2001 CD reissue.

Written by Andy Fraser and Paul Rodgers.


Paul Rodgers: vocals; Andy Fraser: bass;
Paul Kossoff: guitar;
Simon Kirke: drums.

FREE: ALL RIGHT NOW from "All Right Now b/w Mouthful of Grass" 45 (Island) 1970 (UK)

2 comments:

Mick said...

Totally agree with you on this. I also feel the same way about Thin Lizzys The Boys Are Back In Town. Although the difference between single and LP version isn't so great there the shorter punchier single version always sounds better to me.

ib said...

Cheers, Mick. There is something special about the 45 format. Ignore it one's peril.

Phil Spector is the obvious maestro in this regard, but Andrew Loog Oldham learned the lesson well.

I was actually quite surprised how much the two versions differ in sound listening to them back to back. I suppose it must have quite a bit to do with compression for the radio, but even on high fidelity equipment all to often the antiquated 45 wins out.

I need to go back and listen to "The Boys Are Back" again and check for the Gain.