AFTER KOSSOFF

The next chapter in the story of the ‘Stripped Top’ ’Burst is less happy. Free’s follow-up to Fire And Water, entitled Highway, was released in December 1970 but fell far short of the latter’s success – its washed-out cover art hinting at its more introspective style, which failed to connect with the fickle record market of the time. Internal division led to the band’s split in 1971 and though they subsequently reformed to record a further two albums, plus a huge hit single in Wishing Well, the band were never quite the same as Kossoff sank further into a quagmire of drug dependence – with his increasingly erratic performances prompting Andy Fraser’s departure in 1972. His addiction to the sedative Mandrax was particularly damaging to Kossoff’s health and music.

“In the latter part of his life, you know, you didn’t know what you were going to get when you went to a gig,” Bernie Marsden recalls. “I saw him lean back on his amp one night when his amp wasn’t there. I think that was in Wellingborough.”

Sadly, Kossoff’s increasing dependence on drugs saw him part with some of his most cherished instruments in order to feed the habit, which is how the ‘Stripped Top’ ’Burst passed into the ownership of fellow musician Mike Gooch in 1974.

“At the time was Paul was pretty much being starved of money [by his closest associates] to keep him off drugs,” David Clayton says. “So if he was feeling particularly desperate, he would just take a guitar down to Orange and sell it and then go find a dealer, basically. His dad tried to stop that a couple of times and at