Song Review: Free - “Ride on a Pony” (Live, 1970)
“Ride on a Pony” proves the blues can swing like jazz, underscores Paul Rodgers’ place as one of rock’s premier male vocalists and serves as a reminder Free deserves to be remembered more than Rodgers and Simon Kirke’s other, more popular, band.
A freshly uncovered archival video of the original Free four - guitarist Paul Kossoff, bassist Andy Fraser, drummer Kirke and Rodgers - performing “Pony” on West Germany’s “Beat Club” in 1970 confirms all this and more, including the idea that Bad Company, which Kirke and Rodgers formed after Free’s dissolution, never met its artistic potential even as it exceeded commercial expectations.
This is a powerful performance. Kossoff the virtuoso, playing something that’s both rhythm and lead guitar; Fraser does the same on the bass.
Rodgers, all of 21 at the time, sings like a guy who has already lived a long, difficult life and put significant mileage on his young voice. Then there’s Kirke; steady as she goes; nothing fancy; which is exactly what his fanciful bandmates need so “Ride on a Pony” doesn’t fall to pieces.
It doesn’t. But the listener/viewer just might.
Grade card: Free - “Ride on a Pony” (Live, 1970) - A+
5/11/26
