Clare Free

Clare Free - Be Who You Are - 2010 - Funky Mama Records

Clare Free is a Brit who has been playing guitar since she was 12 years old. She is a prolific songwriter and has worked with numerous top-flight musicians including Dino Baptiste who introduced her to Dana Gillespie with whom she worked on tours in India and at the Mustique blues festival (in the Caribbean). She cites her influences as a mix of blues, rock and country and this CD is a good example of all those elements although more blues/rock/pop than straight blues. Impressively, all ten tracks on the album are self-penned. The opener, ‘Let Me Down Easy’ is a countrified piece with an opening guitar part that sounds like the best of Nashville. Next up is ‘I Won’t Lie’ which IMHO is the bluesiest track on the CD, this has a nice rhythmic hook and features a guitar solo reminding me a lot of Jeff Beck. The lady has some nice chops! Some of the tracks are barely bluesy at all. ‘Fool To Pride’ is a poppy song, but with what I suspect may be a self-revelatory lyric “Angry, I cut you, made you bleed. My razor tongue got free”. Some nice axe work here too but not enough of it. Another nice blueser is “She’s An Evil Woman” with a melody which is just on the edge of my consciousness (one day I’ll remember what it reminds me of). ‘Whenever You Need Me’ is kind of rather soppy 1960s pop-song and is best forgotten. Admirably supported by Hannah Cope (bass and backing vocals), Rhys Firey (Kbds) and Pete Hedley (Dms) this outing shows off Clare’s song writing and guitar playing skills to a Tee. A nice addition to the growing group of ‘girls with guitars’ like Joanne Shaw Taylor and Dani Wilde all of whom are enlivening the UK blues rock scene. [© Ian McKenzie © Blues Blast Magazine (June 2010) editor of Blues In The South (www.bluesinthesouth.com) ] - http://www.illinoisblues.com/Archive/BluesBlasts/2010/BluesBlast6_9_10.htm

I have been listening to a couple of tracks from this CD for a while as they were available on a single CD earlier in the year and I was fortunate enough to catch Clare and her band live at a recent gig (see review in this edition). So it was with interest that I sat down to listen to the other eight tracks on this album, having recently heard a live rendition. All the songs are written by Clare and are usually about some form of human relationships, containing thoughts and feelings we’ve all had at sometime in our lives, or at least know somebody who has, and are summarised in the titles. The album starts off with the lively “Let Me Down Easy”, which has a very catchy riff and chorus and will have you humming the song for days afterwards. “I Won’t Lie” has an SRV feel to it and tells the story of not being an alibi for a deceiving friend. It’s a funky beat that accompanies “My Everything”. The band is: Clare Free, guitars and vocals, Hannah Cope, bass and backing vocals, Rhys Friery, keyboards and Pete Hedley, drums. “We Were Seventeen” reminisces when life was so simple and is delivered as a real rocker with wailing organ. “Please Don’t Say You Love Me” once again self explanatory when it comes to the story in the lyrics. This album isn’t all Blues but instead contains songs that were drawn from a wide range of rock, folk and country influences as well as the Blues. The album flows and makes for easy listening time and time again. Clare puts in some slick and precise guitar solos and is handsomely backed by the very professional band. This CD is a great collection of tracks, comes with all the lyrics in a well designed twelve page booklet, and is technically very well produced. I know the band can reproduce these songs live and this album is definitely one for the collection. Oh and make sure you play track ten all the way to the end for a little surprise. Rating 9/10 © Paul Styles © Blues in Britain Magazine (July 2010)

Great musicianship, but some of the songs could be more original. This album needs more rocking songs like "I Won't Lie" and "Time Of Our Lives". A good mix of blues, soul blues, R&B, and Country rock. More "easy listening" than rock, but it's an enjoyable album, and Clare is an artist to watch out for in the future

TRACKS

1. Let Me Down Easy
2. I Won't Lie
3. Fool To Pride
4. My Everything
5. Is This Love I Feel?
6. We Were Seventeen
7. She's An Evil Woman
8. Please Don't Say You Love Me
9. Whenever You Need Me
10. Time Of Our Lives
11. Bonus Track (Untitled)

All songs composed by Clare Free

MUSICIANS

Clare Free - Guitar, Vocals
Hannah Cope - Bass, Backing Vocals
Rhys Friery - Keyboards
Pete Headley - Drums

AUTOBIO

I'm a guitarist, singer and songwriter. I took up piano when I was 12 and wrote my first song within one year. My piano teacher didn't approve of my tendency to re-write classical pieces and improvise music in the style of some of the best known classics but despite my tutor’s lack of enthusiasm I wrote and improvised music at every opportunity. As a teenager I played a variety of instruments including flute, saxophone and piano until I took up guitar when I was 17. My first guitar, which cost just £25, was falling apart, but it opened a great many more song writing doors than piano. Now I could write songs that sounded like the rock music that I was such an avid fan of. I started to play in college bands, none of which were very good but they offered experience that was to be useful a few years down the road. Soon I began going to blues jams and rapidly became a very good blues player. Within two years I had become a regular at some of the best blues jams in the country and had formed a blues band called Misdemeanor (I played alongside Matt Schofield and Constance Redgrave/Maurice McElroy of the Spikedrivers in this band.) The band saw some success and I was invited to do a number of radio and magazine interviews. Misdemeanor split in 1999 when I was offered a recording contract for my own work. I was lucky enough to play at the 100 Club, London with Joan Baby in 1999. By this time I was living with Dino Baptiste who played keyboards with Dana Gillespie. Dana invited me to join her on a 10 date tour of Mumbi in India, then later I went with Dana to play for three weeks at the Mustique Blues Festival in the Carribean. In this playground for the rich and famous, I had the opportunity to jam with the world famous violin player Nigel Kennedy and Rolf Harris. Both in India, and in the Caribbean, some of the shows were broadcast live on television. I also was invited to join Larry Garner on the main stage at the Lugano Blues Festival in Switzerland in front of around 7,000 people. All the while I was writing and recording my own blues and rock material and gigging with my own band. In 2001 I joined a 9 piece soul band called 99lbs which was a tribute to the music of Anne Peebles. I played with this band until the birth of my son in 2004. My passion for singing and song writing has led me in recent years to write two full albums of music for children. I was forced to take a couple of years off from live playing due to illness but I'm now fully recovered and more determined than ever to make great music. During my time off, I went back to my own writing roots and writing songs that were draw not just on blues but also on a wide range of rock, folk and country influences. An album of my new material, which is a mix of blues, rock and country, and is being recorded during autumn 2009 and is due for release in early 2010. Copyright © 2009, [Clare Free]. All rights reserved. http://www.clarefree.co.uk/biography/