Although
Free was never destined to scrape the same skies as
Led Zeppelin, when they first burst out of the traps in 1968, close to a year ahead of
Jimmy Page and company, they set the world of British blues-rock firmly on its head. The band was a blistering combination of youth, ambition, and, despite those tender years, experience that across the course of their debut album, did indeed lay the groundwork for all that
Zeppelin would embrace. The fact that
Free and
Zeppelin were cut from the same cloth is immediately apparent, even before you start comparing the versions of "The Hunter" included on both bands' debut albums. Where
Free streaks ahead, however, is in their refusal to compromise their own vision of the blues. Even at its most commercial ("I'm a Mover" and "Worry"),
Tons of Sobs has a density that makes
Zeppelin and the rest of the era's rock contemporaries sound like flyweights by comparison. ~ Dave Thompson