Track Listing

1. Wishing Well
2. Come Together In The Morning
3. Travellin' In Style
4. Heartbreaker
5. Muddy Water
6. Common Mortal Man
7. Easy On My Soul
8. Seven Angels
9. Wishing Well (US mix)
10. Let Me Show You (Single b-side)
11. Muddy Water (Alternate Vocal)
12. Hand Me Down / Turn Me Round (Prospective album track)
13. Heartbreaker (Rehearsal version)
14. Easy On My Soul (Rehearsal version)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10782 in Music
• Released on: 2002-02-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 63 minutes

CD Description
The last Free album, 1973's HEARTBREAKER, is essentially a snapshot of a band in disarray. The group had already brokenup once and decided to regroup one last time, but only singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke had a major say in the proceedings.
Guitarist Paul Kossoff was beset by drug problems, but did manage to play on half of HEARTBREAKER, which, despite all the hardships surrounding the recording, stands as a classic Free album--including such gems as "Wishing Well", the title track, and "Muddy Water". After splittingup Free for good after HEARTBREAKER, Rodgers and Kirke would reappear shortly with the successful Bad Company, while Kossoff launched Back Street Crawler, before succumbing to a drug-induced heart attack in 1976.

Customer Reviews

An underrated, overlooked gem...
If a great band is going to finally implode then it's probably best to do so on a high...

After the rather awful "Free At Last" Rogers and Kirke (at this stage the only two members left from the original line up - Fraser had finally called it a day and Kossoff's appearances were random and fleeting) decided to draw on some outside resources, pack up their equipment and head for the studio as Free for one last hurrah.

Whilst "Heartbreaker" (rarely has an album titled seemed so fitting) is admittedly not in the same league as "Free" or "Fire And Water" I think the rather sniffy responses to this album are slightly wide of the mark, as this must surely be considered, by even the casual listener, as a great album. The fractious line up doesn't really create too many problems as you would perhaps expect, and in the mournful "Muddy Waters", the 'amps up to 11' of "Wishing Well" and the wonderfully slack "Travellin' In Style" there are some superb songs to be found here that can compete against any other Free classic.

In addition there must be another doff of the cap to Island for doing a first class job on this reissue, and adding some corking extra songs and snippets to it.

Whilst I'd agree Free seemed on a downhill slide from "Highway" onwards, I think the general perception that their final three studio albums weren't much cop is, frankly, rubbish. It's just a shame that a band who, at times, were equally to, if not better than, Led Zepplin and The Who have never really received the critical adulation they so much deserved.

Free�s final album is a rock classic
Though in the final throes of collapse, and riven by internal disputes, with 'Heartbreaker' Free produced their final album, which against the odds has proved to be a minor classic. Although Paul Rodgers' vocals, Simon Kirke's drums and Paul Kossoff's lead guitar remained, a new bass player Tetsu had taken the place of original member Andy Fraser, and John 'Rabbit' Bundrick was added on keyboards. Rabbit's contribution is critical to this album, his dramatic grand piano and organ work creating a much bigger sound than on the band's previous albums, and leading to 'Heartbreaker' sometimes being dubbed Free's 'stadium album'. Among the best tracks are the powerful 'Wishing well', 'Seven angels' and 'Common mortal man', but the stand-out track must be 'Come together in the morning' which is dominated by Rodgers' soulful vocals and the aching, tortured beauty of Kossoff's guitar soloing, which expresses most eloquently his inner turmoil. It is a travesty that Paul Kossoff was omitted from the list of band members in the album credits, considering that he played on most of the record and had been at the core of the band's sound from the beginning. If the album's original 8 songs were not enough, this reissue also contains several additional tracks of note, including a remix of 'Wishing well', the single B-side 'Let me show you', and two rehearsal versions of songs from the album.

Arguably one of the greatest albums of the seventies
Of all the Free albums this has to be the best, reading the biog inside the new release its fairly clear that Kossoff's contribution was far greater than most people seem to think. Every song is a true gem though Seven Angels is the only way to end this album (and the career of the band), the extra tracks, as they seem to be on all these Free re-releases are more curiosity than worthwhile.
I met David Kossoff once and I have to say, dispite the life his son led, I was incredibly touched by how enormously proud of his son's music he was