Paul Kossoff (1973) Molten Gold - LOST 70s GEMS

Back Street Crawler (1973) was Paul Kossoff's answer to Free's more studied songwriting, making their name almost a misnomer. So much so there is a 17 minute track called Tuesday Morning as well as a song called Time Away which had to be edited down from an 18 minute take! Even so this album is still steeped in funky Blues Rock playing with a heavy edge that defined Free, it's just longer and lacking the livewire chemistry of that other band. No surprise as Kossoff never got to where he was going as a guitarist in a career cut terribly short at just 25. However this album is stacked with his trademark ethereal string bends and crunching blues note rhythms that were so entwined in his playing and in Free.

Molten Gold is unfortunately though the only track that sounds like fresh territory and not so Free like with it's slow paced piano and astronomical slide guitar sounding like it could blow away Van Halen and other Glam Metal bands of the 80s. The hyper distorted dive bombing slides are epic along with the Hendrix influenced use of a triangle to add a twinkly prettiness to the backing track similar to the glockenspiel on Little Wing. The chorus with it's bad ass swaggering backing vocals are also memorable too.