URBAN ASPIRINES: Free : Fire and Water : 26 June 1970 / Remastered 2001

Pure and unadulterated , "Free" emerged as keepers of the flickering flame of the British Blues in a quartet of a beautiful balance . Paul Rodgers's huskily yearning vocals , clothes courtesy of the small ads in Melody Maker .

Paul Kossoff streching his timeless guitar licks with his Les Paul's sustain , teenage Andy Fraser's mile-wide bass , rock-steady Simon Kirke 4/4'ing the whole together .

Their manifesto was nowhere better proclaimed than on "All Right Now" .

Alexis Korner has suggested that they call themselves Free after his own Blues trio "Free At Last" , and seemingly erupting out of nowhere , they found themselves up amongst the headline acts at the Isle of Wight Pop Festival of 1970 .

Yet they were never able to build completely on that success , not least through trying to keep Paul Kossoff's drug addiction under control .

1973's "Wishing Well", Free's final single , was a heartfelt plea from Rodgers to Kossoff - he failed to heed the song's message , and was dead within three years .

"Fire and Water" is the third studio album and became the band's breakthrough hit , reaching #2 in the UK charts and #17 in the US , making it the most successful Free album.

Rodgers formed his next band , "Bad Company", founded in 1973 , with Mick Ralphs, former guitarist of "Mott the Hoople". Rodgers said: "Mick and I were trying to come up with names for the band . When I called him and said 'Bad Company', he dropped the phone."