Customer Reviews
Great songs ruined - By: emengee, 12 Oct 2008 
As an absolute Free fanatic, even though ive got all the tracks on this, I bought this & cant believe how Bob Clearmountain has messed up some of the most beautiful songs ever written with his ham fisted remixing.The beauty of Free was the simplicity, the soul & fire shone through, by all means clean up original tapes of hisses & pops but this is vandalism & all concerned Clearmountain,record company etc should be ashamed stick to the Free Story or the superb(if your budget allows)Songs Of Yesterday.
He was right!! - By: Ben Bottle, 08 Oct 2008 
The reviewer who claimed there was too much mixing was right!
I wish I'd paid more attention.
In my opinion, these classic tracks are better heardin their original "bit ropey" form. These are too sanitized, too clean; I'm not keen.
These have been mixed to death - almost. There is too much echo, the sound is almost sterile at times.
I am not questioning the amazing tracks from a great band, I am not happy about the way they have been messed about with!
What a shame.
Too much remixing - By: JB, 13 Jul 2006 If you are buying a free album for the first time I wouldn't recommend this one. All the tracks have been remixed, some have improved the slightly dodgy 70's production (My Brother Jake & Sail On for example) but Bob Clearmountain had ruined some songs (Don't Say you Loved Me for example) with to many effects.
If he had kept to the spirit of the originals more often it would have been more successful but there is too much over production just for the sake of it.
If you want a 'best of' get The Free Story. Use this CD as a companion to your Free collection not as the 'best of' it pretends to be.
My brother Jake - By: J. Williams, 27 Aug 2004 
Had to buy this because I'm obsessed with the track My Brother Jake, wonderful. The rest of it is pants (I guess you had to be there) apart from the very much over played Alright Now (which ofcourse is a masterpiece). If you don't have this on CD, you should buy it immediatly, you can hear the wood on the fretboard of Paul Kossoff's Les Paul.
Interesting to see how much Rainbow ripped them off,in particular the Joe Lyn Turner line up. Shameful!
Really the best of the Free - By: Mailian, 23 Oct 2001 This compilation of the best tracks of the rock-blues masters of the early 70s comes to usin superb audio-quality, thanks to the remixing by Bob Clearmountain. Even with a few tracks less than the Free story, this is the best Free compilation available & an essential part of the history of the UK rock scene.
