The opening few seconds of Free’s 1970 mega-hit All Right Now – with Paul Kossoff’s cranked-up Les Paul keeping a steady pace with Simon Kirke’s thumping beat – have to go down as one of the most recognisable intros of all time. Budding air guitarists, wedding-disco grans and serious rock aficionados all love the song in passionate, equal measure, proven by the fact that it’s still one of the most played tracks on the airwaves.
By the time they had laid down the song at Island’s Basing Street Studios during the early months of 1970, Free had released two poor-selling but sure-fire killer blues-rock albums and had spent two years of gruelling, non-stop club touring up and down the UK. The guys’ ages belied their incredible talent. Sticksman Simon Kirke and vocalist Paul Rodgers were by now 20 years old, while prodigiously talented guitarist Paul Kossoff was still 19 and bassist Andy Fraser only 17.
