Post by ChrisB on Jul 28, 2021 12:20:14 GMT
Crawler - 'Muddy Water'
The song appears on Crawler's second album, 'Snake, Rattle and Roll' from 1978, but it first appeared on the 1973 album 'Heartbreaker' by Free.
Paul Kossof was struggling with addiction and becoming unreliable, so the band brought in John Bundrick to play keyboards in order to fill the sound out a little. Bundrick (known as 'Rabbit') was also a songwriter, so he contributed two of his own songs to the album, one of which was 'Muddy Water'.
After Free, Kossof released a solo album called 'Back Street Crawler' and a band of the same name, which included Rabbit, was then put together to tour and record more material. They released two albums before Paul Kossof died, after which deciding to carry on with a new label, manager and shortened name. Looking for a new guitarist, they invited both Mick Taylor from the Stones and Peter Green, both of whom declined.
Recording their second album, vocalist Terry Wilson-Slesser persuaded the band to record one of his favourite Free songs, 'Muddy Water'.
With Free being one of my favourite bands, I knew the Free version well and liked it, but I think this rendition is produced much better and is subsequently more powerful. Terry Wilson-Slesser is no Paul Rodgers but, comparing the two tracks, he sounds great and a little more natural on this song than Rodgers. There's a great solo by Geoff Whitehorn and I think the Free version really suffers from lack of any real contribution by Koss - it leans much more heavily on Rabbit's piano and keyboards.
I had a copy of the Crawler album, which for some reason disappeared forcing me to search in vain for a new one for years. I have to thank Chris Stratmangler for helping me out some time ago with acquiring a new one.
There's a pretty good live version available on YouTube:
Here's a link to the Free version just in case anyone wants to compare the two:
The song appears on Crawler's second album, 'Snake, Rattle and Roll' from 1978, but it first appeared on the 1973 album 'Heartbreaker' by Free.
Paul Kossof was struggling with addiction and becoming unreliable, so the band brought in John Bundrick to play keyboards in order to fill the sound out a little. Bundrick (known as 'Rabbit') was also a songwriter, so he contributed two of his own songs to the album, one of which was 'Muddy Water'.
After Free, Kossof released a solo album called 'Back Street Crawler' and a band of the same name, which included Rabbit, was then put together to tour and record more material. They released two albums before Paul Kossof died, after which deciding to carry on with a new label, manager and shortened name. Looking for a new guitarist, they invited both Mick Taylor from the Stones and Peter Green, both of whom declined.
Recording their second album, vocalist Terry Wilson-Slesser persuaded the band to record one of his favourite Free songs, 'Muddy Water'.
With Free being one of my favourite bands, I knew the Free version well and liked it, but I think this rendition is produced much better and is subsequently more powerful. Terry Wilson-Slesser is no Paul Rodgers but, comparing the two tracks, he sounds great and a little more natural on this song than Rodgers. There's a great solo by Geoff Whitehorn and I think the Free version really suffers from lack of any real contribution by Koss - it leans much more heavily on Rabbit's piano and keyboards.
I had a copy of the Crawler album, which for some reason disappeared forcing me to search in vain for a new one for years. I have to thank Chris Stratmangler for helping me out some time ago with acquiring a new one.
There's a pretty good live version available on YouTube:
Here's a link to the Free version just in case anyone wants to compare the two:
