(4 / 5)
Newly re-mastered edition of the classic and highly collectable album by Little Free Rock, the UK hard rock trio from the late 60s. Little Free Rock hailed from Preston in Lancashire and were a psychedelic hard rock trio featuring Peter Illingworth (lead guitar and vocals), formerly with David John and the Mood who had recorded with Joe Meek, Paul Varley (drums), later a member of Arrows and Frank Newbold (bass and vocals).
They began performing covers of bands such as The Who, The Creation (whose ‘Makin’ Time’ appeared on Little Free Rock’s album) and Tomorrow, but were soon performing mainly their own compositions.
The band performed regularly at the Roundhouse Sunday Night Implosion events in London and had numerous residencies at the famous Marquee Club. As well as performing all over Belgium, continental trips included the Star-Club in Hamburg, the Essen Jazz and Blues Festival, and festivals in Frankfurt, San Tropez and Santa Margarita de la Costa in Italy.
Little Free Rock’s only album was recorded at Morgan studios and released in November 1969 on the Transatlantic label. Following the release of the album, Little Free Rock became a regular fixture on the UK underground live music circuit. Peter Green (formerly of Fleetwood Mac) joined the band for a short period, but the recordings made by that line-up were never released.
Here we get nine tracks in total, opening with “Roman Summer Nights” and offering up “Lost Lonely”, “Castles I The Sky”, “Dream”, “Tingle”, “Evil Woman”, “Age Of Chivalry” and the closer “Making Time”. Re-mastered from the original master tapes, and fully restored artwork and liner notes with exclusive interview. If you can find a copy of the original vinyl LP, collectors pay a big premium from record fairs and online auctions for the rare record.
By Jon Donovan
(1 / 5) ‘Dull Zone’
(2 / 5) ‘OK Zone’
(3 / 5) ‘Decent Zone’ (4 / 5) ‘Super Zone’
(5 / 5) ‘Awesome Zone’
