Recording
One immediate effect of Fraser's departure was the loss of the Fraser/Rodgers songwriting partnership that had hitherto provided the bulk of the band's catalogue. Hence many of the songs were written solely by Rodgers, although some are credited to the entire band as a symbolic gesture (including the single "Wishing Well"). Bundrick wrote two of the album's eight tracks.
Meanwhile, Kossoff was extremely resentful of "Snuffy" Walden being brought in as a session musician to provide guitar tracks when the other band members' patience began to break. This exacerbated even further his problems, but on those occasions where recording went well he produced some notable work; he is in fact far more prominent on this album than on the previous one. He is uncredited on the hit single 'Wishing Well', however the lead guitar on the track is unmistakably Kossoff's, and Kirke has confirmed this.
The credits on the album sleeve are inaccurate; Kossoff plays on the whole of side 1 and the final track on side 2, 'Seven Angels'. Walden's guitar appears on tracks 2, 3 and 4 of side 2, so 'Seven Angels' features both him and Kossoff. Walden also appears on some alternate mixes of 'Wishing Well' but not the version released on the UK single and album. The Free box set 'Songs Of Yesterday' features a mix of 'Muddy Water' with guitar by Walden and an alternate version of 'Common Mortal Man' with guitar by both Walden and Kossoff.
Island Records boss Chris Blackwell disliked the band's initial mix of the album and drafted regular engineer Andy Johns to solve the problem; in January 1973 the album was ready for release.
Read more about this topic: Heartbreaker (Free Album)
Famous quotes containing the word recording:
“I didn’t have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let’s say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Self-expression is not enough; experiment is not enough; the recording of special moments or cases is not enough. All of the arts have broken faith or lost connection with their origin and function. They have ceased to be concerned with the legitimate and permanent material of art.”
—Jane Heap (c. 1880–1964)
“Write while the heat is in you.... The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)