Free - Tons of Sobs - Nr Mint vinyl - Rare

	£		65
	$		78

Vinyl is Ex++ nr mint sleeve has very minor edge wear and is ex

FREE ''TONS OF SOBS'' (DEBUT ALBUM) ORIGINAL UK PRESSING! CAT NO ILPS-9089 AWESOME AUDIO! EARLY ISLAND PINK 'I' ROUGH TEXTURED LABELS!! ABSOLUTELY SUPERB 1ST ISSUE E.DAY & CO GATEFOLD  EARLY A2 B2 MATRIX ENDINGS!

 Early 2nd issue UK pressing with the pink i Island logo earliest rough textured labels! Featuring the original thick and chunky slab of vinyl!   The audio qaulity is very clear and vibrant throughout with just minimal interfearance in the form of the odd light static ticks only , complete with the original 1st issue E.Day & co gatefold in excellent condition!

Tons of Sobs is the debut album by English blues-rock band Free, recorded in November 1968. While the album was a commercial failure, failing to chart in the UK and #197 in the America, Free are still cited as one of the definitive bands of the British blues boom of the late 1960s even though this is the only album of their canon that can strictly be called blues-rock. The title of the album does not relate directly to the content of the album; it is both a colloquialism of "lots of money", reflecting the swaggering attitude with which the album was made, and an oblique reference to the darker, more sombre moments of the record!!

Free were a new band when they recorded Tons of Sobs, and they were extremely young and precocious: none of them was yet twenty and the youngest, bassist Andy Fraser, was just sixteen years old. They had achieved a following through constant touring, and their debut album consisted for the most part of their live set-list. That said, eight out of the album's ten tracks are originals which was unusual compared to the debut albums of bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones!!.

With the band signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records, Guy Stevens was hired to produce the album (he would later become notable for producing early albums for Mott the Hoople and The Clash's legendary album London Calling (1979). He opted for an extremely minimalist attitude to production, due to the extremely low budget of about £800, creating a very raw and raucous sound - although it must be admitted that the relative inexperience of the band may have also been a contributing factor to this. As such the album, while in production terms a marked contrast from the band's later albums, holds up well for fans of modern bands such as the White Stripes who eschew overproduction for artistic rather than financial reasons. The simple nature of the recording meant that many tracks translated well into a live setting and several songs from this album were still performed even when the band had written and recorded many more for subsequent records!

1. "Over the Green Hills (Part I)" (Rodgers) 0.49
2. "Worry" (Rodgers) 3.26
3. "Walk in My Shadow" (Rodgers) 3.29
4. "Wild Indian Woman" (Fraser/Rodgers) 3.39
5. "Goin' Down Slow" (Oden) 8.20
6. "I'm a Mover" (Fraser/Rogers) 2.56
7. "The Hunter" (Jones/Wells/Dunn/Jackson/Cropper) 4.13
8. "Moonshine" (Rodgers/Kossoff) 5.04
9. "Sweet Tooth" (Rodgers) 4.54
10. "Over the Green Hills (Part II)" (Rodgers) 1.58

Free were an English rock band, formed in London in 1968 and best known for their popular song "All Right Now". Lead singer Paul Rodgers went on to become lead singer of the rock band Bad Company along with Simon Kirke on drums. Lead guitarist Paul Kossoff, a much revered blues-rock guitarist, died from a drug-induced heart failure at the age of 25 in 1976!!.

The band was famed for its sensational live shows and nonstop touring. However, early studio albums did not sell very well - until the release of Fire and Water which featured the massive hit "All Right Now." This album brought them to full status as one of the top rock bands of the 1960-70's. The song helped secure them a place at the huge Isle of Wight Festival 1970 where they played to 600,000 people!

Most remarkable about the birth of Free was the young age of the band members who first came together to rehearse and play their first gig, that same evening, at the Nag's Head pub in Battersea, London, on 19 April 1968. Bass player Andy Fraser, was 15 years old, lead guitarist Paul Kossoff was 17, and both lead singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke were 18. By November of that year, having been given the name Free by Alexis Korner, they had recorded their first album Tons Of Sobs for Island Records and, although it was not released until the following year, the album documents their first six months together and contains studio renditions of much of their early live set.!.

The Matrix

Side 1 ''ILPS 9089 A2''

Side 2 ''ILPS 9089 B2''

The Vinyl

This is the original thick and chunky slab of vinyl only found like this on the earliest pressings! The vinyl has retained its original sheen from new and lies perfectly flat on the turntable!. Only in strong light can very fine surface marks\scratches\scuffs be seen on the playing surface. These have very minimal effect on the awesome top audio due to the fact that these originals have deeper grooves than later press with flimsier type of vinyls!

The Audio quality