The lesser-known guitarist who took Paul Stanley’s breath away

The sound of Kiss has always been driven by strong guitars. And this is not just the merit of the soloists who were part of the formation — Ace Frehley, Vinnie Vincent, Mark St John, Bruce Kulick It is Tommy Thayer — but also Paul Stanley. In addition to being one of the great hard rock vocalists, Starchild He was quite prolific on the six strings, able to lay solid foundations and compose great riffs.

Many of his references on the instrument come from one of the most prolific periods of rock: the late 1960s and early 1970s. And among several famous musicians, such as Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) It is Jimi HendrixStanley was greatly influenced by a name not so well known outside the rock bubble: Paul Kossofflegendary member of Free.

In an interview with Guitar World (via website Igor Miranda), the Kiss musician was asked to list 11 guitarists who shaped his sound. One of the names mentioned was Kossoff, especially because the first experience of listening to Free ended up being quite memorable.

“I remember the first time I heard it, because it was extremely meaningful. I was in the car driving, but I hadn’t had a driver’s license for a long time. When I turned on the radio and heard Paul Kossoff playing Free’s ‘All Right Now,’ I had to stop and catch my breath.”

Kossoff’s greatest merit, in Stanley’s opinion, was that he sounded less than obvious. The Free guitarist presented less predictable solutions when directing the songs. Furthermore, he really valued the pauses when playing the solo of “All Right Now”, a track mentioned by the masked musician.

“His mastery of the chords deceived what he looked like he was doing versus what he was actually doing. And the solo was more about what he didn’t play than what he did play, in the most powerful or supposedly exquisite solo.”

Paul Kossoff and Free

Born in 1950 in England, Paul Kossoff developed as a blues guitarist in the 1960s and even opened shows for the Fleetwood Mac with the band Black Cat Bones. In 1968, however, he was invited to join Free, a group that would be one of the most influential in hard rock at that period. The training also included Paul Rodgers (voice, future also member of Bad Company and the project Queen + Paul Rodgers), Andy Fraser (bass, later also part of the Sharks) It is Simon Kirke (drums, Rodgers’ partner in Bad Company).

Although three of his albums charted in the British top 10 — Fire and Water (1970 / 2nd), Free at Last (1972 / 9th) and Heartbreaker (1973 / 7th) —, Free did not achieve the same success as names like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. It closed its activities in 1973.

Kossoff passed away three years later, on March 19, 1976. He was just 25 years old when he suffered a pulmonary embolism, after a blood clot in his leg migrated to his lung during a trip with his post-Free band, the Back Street Crawler.

Paul Stanley has declared his admiration for Free several times. No wonder, in 2016, he participated in a re-recording of the song “Fire and Water” alongside the original Kiss guitarist, Ace Frehley. The reinterpretation is part of the covers album Origins Vol. 1.