In 1975, Andy Fraser went solo – recording two albums in the same year, forsaking the English countryside for the warmer countrified climate of Nashville with a bevy of session musicians for this, his second album ‘In Your Eyes’.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Andy Fraser
ALBUM: In Your Eyes
LABEL: CBS
SERIAL: 81027
YEAR: 1975
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Andy Fraser – vocals, bass * Jimmy Johnson – guitars * Pete Carr – guitars * Barry Beckett – keyboards * Roger Hawkins – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Train Of Love * 02 Let Your Love Come Out * 03 Ease On Out * 04 Be Good To Yourself * 05 Gotta Steal Away * 06 Listen To The Rain * 07 Leave Your Love * 08 Talking ‘Bout My Baby * 09 Ain’t No Substitute * 10 Need Someone To Love
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
The darling of blues based rock ‘n roll British style, Andy Fraser spent his early ‘daze’ in Alexis Korner’s Blues Band at the ripe young age of fifteen and played a big part in forming Free a short time later.
No need to drag out Free‘s history on this space – their story is well known and readily available elsewhere and anyone who hasn’t heard ‘Wishing Well’ and ‘All Right Now’ surely has been living in a cave (!), but I digress.
In any case, Free eventually and inevitably split with Fraser jumping on Sharks, another blues rock band that tried to latch on to the glam rock movement and failed ten fold, Roxy Music tour aside.
In 1975, Fraser went solo – recording two albums in the same year, forsaking the English countryside for the warmer countrified climate of Nashville with a bevy of session musicians for this, his second album ‘In Your Eyes’.
The Songs
Radio friendly rock is what ‘In Your Eyes’ is all about. This is the kind of stuff we heard on American FM radio just before Boston‘s monumental debut and ‘Frampton Comes Alive’ hit the shelves and it’s a sound I miss. Fraser is in fine vocal form here and while nothing on the record screams ‘classic’, the material on ‘In Your Eyes’ is uniformly excellent. Recording in Nashville did give this record a more Yankee sound but it’s all the better for it.
Yeah, you have heard the likes of ‘Ease On Out’ and ‘Listen To The Rain’ before from people like Santana and even Bob Dylan, but there is a certain charm to this record that I can’t resist.
In Summary
Both his first solo ‘Andy Fraser Band’ and ‘In Your Eyes’ have been released separately and together on CD and many of you will remember his 1984 release ‘Fine Fine Line’ (review link below), all of which I suggest seeking out.
Not much has been heard from Andy in recent years, which is a shame. Certainly one of the most talented individuals to come out of the notorious British blues explosion, all of Fraser’s work is highly recommended leaving any record collection incomplete without him.
Video
Ease On Out
Listen To The Rain
