Search - Forever [Region 0] on DVD

Free at last!

Peter E. Hefford | Sydney, Australia | 09/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Firstly I must confess to buying my copy of the Limited Edition version in a retail music shop in Sydney Australia after being staggered by the price offered on Amazon.com. Don't know what the story is there, as Amazon.com are usually really great on price etc. I got mine for $[...] or approx $[...].



This is a two DVD set, but just be aware that the second disc details 10 tracks from Isle of Wight 1970, but only 3 of those tracks have actual vision. The rest of the Isle of Wight tracks are audio-only tracks with a visible "screen-saver". I bought it with full knowledge of this. Having said that, the DVD sound of the audio-only tracks and tapes used as the source of the sound is great. Vision is all that could be expected from the era.



Disc one has most of the sound/vision live performances (and even one with vision & no sound!) and the promotional film-clips accompanying the release of various songs. I was disappointed to find that the Wishing Well clip seemed to me to be non-contemporaneous. It seemed to have been produced in some (1980's Flashdance era?) time-warp. It doesn't look like 1973 did, although I might be wrong.



But we're lucky to have any vision of Free and the overall extent uncovered for this DVD package is to be admired. There are special features contemporaneous interviews as well as recent interviews. Being an Aussie, I enjoyed seeing Free interviewed at an airport in Australia in 1970 with the (now defunct) TAA curtains in the background!



I had many of the Free records & then later, the CD's, but until I got this DVD I had never seen vision of Free in live performance. Simon Kirke's powerful, primitive, hooligan drumming (I mean that in a good way!) sounding like dinosaur bones on petrified wood. Andy Fraser's jaunty bouncing bass-lines. A wild looking Paul Kossoff playing like a madman with a Gibson humbucker tone that has only been equalled by Clapton on "Beano" & Fresh Cream or by the great Albert King. Paul Rodger's excellent voice and rockstar frontman antics. It's a joy to hear Free's basic "deconstructed" sound in beautiful DVD audio; it kind of gets into your veins. But best of all is to SEE Free at last.



"

It was all right then and it's All Right Now

Jim Kingsbury | Boston, MA USA | 10/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having been a Free fan since my early teens in the late 70's, it seems I have always been on a quest for everything that has ever been released by this outstanding band. I would scour flea markets and tag sales for out-of-print lps and with every new technology from VHS to CDs to DVDs I've totally enjoyed experiencing a better, sharper, clearer view of what I consider to be the best rock band ever.



Now, with the release of Free Forever, I am satiated (for now). The cool part about this dvd is that it not only has all of the obvious footage which I've seen before - it also contains footage that is not really commercial, but fascinating in it's own way. Some shots, like Paul Kossoff and his dad eating fish and chips, are mindblowing for a fan who has only ever seen Koss coaxing a tormented solo out of his Les Paul or laying down a funky, rockin' groove with Andy and Simon on tunes like Songs of Yesterday. Also, the short Austrailian interview with the band just proir to their intial break-up in '71 shows just how intense these guys were. No wonder the music was so great. When you combine talent, passion, youth, and focus - and then have Paul Rodgers sing on top of it - it does not get any better.



If you are a fan (and you would not be on this page if you weren't) you NEED to buy this dvd. My only regret is that I am hoping that this is not the end (maybe more material will be 'discovered' in the future - one can only hope)."

Finally!!!!

Working Man | Atlanta, Georgia | 10/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Finally, some footage of Free. I'm a longtime Paul Rodgers fan who got into music too late to see Free live so this DVD was something I had been waiting for.

Now, for the review:

Disc 1:

"The Beat Club" I already owned Mr. Big and All Right Now from the Let it Rock DVD series so these were not new to me. Mr. Big is a great showcase performance for the band but All Right Now is cluttered with too many images and not enough good shots of the band. Fire and Water is probably my favorite Free song and it did not dissappoint me.

"Doing There Thing" is my favorite part of the DVD, this full color five song set from Granada tv is excellent.

"Original Videos" Most of these videos start with a disclaimer that they came from VHS so the quality is not that good. This is true but the videos are okay. I am not sure how I feel about the Wishing Well video which seems to have been made in the 80's, doesn't show the bad at all and is just a typical MTV type video but with a Free song as the soundtrack.

Disc 2:

"Isle of Wight" Only three of the ten songs are actually videos, the others are audio performances with a slide show of the band and posters etc. There are additional angles available for the three videos which are interesting and a nice twist and alternate view of the songs.

In Summary, this is a nice package although a little disappointing in places but it's all we've got from Free and I will enjoy this DVD and I do recommend it and I still give it five stars, mostly for disc one.



Now, we need some vintage footage of Bad Company and let's hope Paul Rodgers films and releases a DVD of his current tour which according to one review I've read contains several Free songs as well as a few Bad Company.



"

Let us rejoice

D. Hartley | Seattle, WA USA | 09/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An outstanding (and LONG overdue) DVD anthology of the seminal British rock band Free. This beautifully mastered 2-disc set collates "all known existing" archive footage of live performances and promotional clips along with recent interviews with surviving band members. There is a bit of a "good news/bad news" scenario involved. The Good News, of course is simply the fact that someone has finally taken the effort to produce a definitive retrospective. The Bad News is that "all existing footage" is somewhat scant, when stacked against the relative plethora of material available from the band's contemporaries. The actual performance footage takes up barely 1/3 of the set's total 270 minute running time, and there is a certain amount of song repetition (the band's signature tune "All Right Now" pops up no less than 9 or 10 times).Still, for fans of the group, this is a treasure. While I have already seen about 50% of the footage here in one guise or the other, the real prize is the inclusion of two previously unseen performances (completely intact) from the legendary 1970 Isle of Wight Festival (outtakes from the "Message To Love" film, which only featured "All Right Now"). The lengthy interviews with Paul Rodgers, Andy Fraser and Simon Kirke will fascinate fans; I found the heartfelt tributes to the late great Paul Kossoff by his old bandmates to be quite moving. Note: as of this writing,this DVD is available as a "Region 0" import only- I was able to secure a copy via Amazon UK (and the price in US dollars was about half of what the sellers here are asking!)."