Paul Rodgers was a veteran singer already by 1983, having fronted two legendary bands by then. First of all he came to fame as lead singer of Free, blues-boomers from the UK who had a short but stellar career before imploding, then as singer with Bad Company, formed with Free drummer Simon Kirke and with Mick Ralphs of Mott the Hoople fame on guitar. The latter band was a huge seller throughout the 1970s, sharing management and record label with Led Zeppelin they were only slightly behind in terms of sales. However, after six albums, Rodgers had become jaded and was looking to start a solo career at last, and after 'Rough Diamonds' (the final album by the original Bad Company line-up) had been critically savaged, he took the opportunity to strike out alone.
Rodgers took literally the concept of a solo album; writing the material and playing all instruments himself, he also produced the album, recorded at his own home. He did enlist engineer Julian Mendelsohn for the sessions, but the finished album was the most accurate example of a 'solo' album as is possible to find. Released in October 1983, it kicked off with 'Fragile', a hard rock number not far removed from that of his previous band. One song, 'Superstar Woman' was a re-recorded version of an unused Bad Co song (which eventually surfaced on the 'Anthology' collection) and another song, 'Live In Peace', had a second life when Rodgers teamed up with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page two years later.
Perhaps because Rodgers did not tour to promote this record, it did not become a big seller and has become something of a forgotten gem among the other stellar work Rodgers has produced. He has collaborated with many artists since this album, but it wasn't until the 1990s that he once again released records under his own name but this time toured to support them. He remains one of the great singers of rock, perhaps the greatest, and anything he puts his name to is worth investigating.
Because there was no video or single for this album, this is the audio of 'Cut Loose' as provided to YouTube:
No comments:
Post a Comment