Reception
The album was reasonably successful, peaking at #9 in the UK album charts making it their most successful studio album there since Fire and Water. The single release "Little Bit of Love" reached #13; despite failing to enter the top ten it was still their third best selling single release (it would be beaten by "Wishing Well" the following year). As usual though the album fared less well in the US reaching #69; this was still a significant improvement on all previous albums bar Fire and Water.
However, problems began again when the band was then expected to tour to promote the album as Kossoff was faced with a task for which he was not physically capable. Gigs had been disastrous, with Fraser remembering that "you could see people in the audience crying for him, longing for him to be all right" (quoted in Phil Sutcliffe's liner notes). Unable to continue, Fraser left the band permanently, aged just 20. Kossoff also pulled out of the tour (although not technically leaving the band) in order to seek treatment for his drug addiction.
During the period in late 1971 where the band had split, Kossoff and Kirke had formed a new band with Japanese bassist Tetsu Yamauchi and keyboard player John "Rabbit" Bundrick; Kirke asked them to join the tour in place of Fraser and Kossoff. They accepted, and soon joined the band officially.
Read more about this topic: Free At Last (Free Album)
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