Free emerged from the British blues boom with a tight, muscular style that framed Paul Rodgers' throaty voice. Guitarist Paul Kossoff provides the perfect foil with incisive, measured solos exemplified by his contribution to "All Right Now." This successful single transformed the group from club to festival status. Free's unhurried, careful intensity is captured perfectly on the album's title track and "Oh I Wept," two songs charged with emotion. Where many contemporaries tended towards excess, Free implied a resonant power, particularly through Andy Fraser's liquid bass work, which weaves between the melody lines, rather than asserting them. FIRE AND WATER is a high spot in heavy rock; rather than merely asserting masculine qualities, this album also shows a rare vulnerability.
Professional Reviews
Q (12/01, p.157) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...The definitive Free album - rock has rarely been better..."
Uncut (p.97) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] mix of the mercantile and mercurial....FIRE & WATER captures the band at their best..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.121) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Paul Kossoff's guitar is a feral thing of slow-fermenting passion."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.92) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "1970's FIRE & WATER was Free's third album, showing their stripped-down blues-rock honed to understated perfection."
