Andy Piercy – Free Heat – 1983

After the official breakup of After The Fire Andy Piercy hit the studio for a solo album with Producer John Eden. They had some material left over from the final days of ATF so that’s where they started. The album was to be called Free Heat which was an anagram of After The Fire, with the missing letters creating the word “rift”. Musicians who worked on the album with Piercy and Mal Pope included Roger Taylor (Queen), Henry Spinetti & Bob Jenkins – drums, John Giblin & Andy – bass, Alan Murphy & John Russell – guitar, Adrian Lee – keys. Mal Pope and John Russell both did some backing vocals. CBS released “8 Ball in the Top Pocket” (b-side “Deep Waters Still Run”) as a single and it did not get any airplay. They also pressed an extended version of the single but they ditched it before the release though some copies did sneak out. Work on the album had begun to get difficult as the demos were not turning into the tracks Piercy wished for. Then towards the end of recording, the producer, John Eden, told Piercy that he “didn’t like” any of the styles, bands or writers he was aspiring to. The whole project was dropped by CBS and was never released. Piercy recalls “I think they could have been good but I now realize I didn’t get the production help and direction I needed at the time.” Okay that’s enough of the history lesson so now my opinion. The choice of “8 Ball In The Top Pocket” was absolutely the wrong choice. Then they put “Deep Waters Still Run” on the B side which was even a worse decision. Everyone involved in the project knew the single was “Stop Go” followed up by “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” but CBS didn’t care what all the talent thought. Now as for the album as a whole I actually think I agree with Andy that there were production problems. Normally this is where I would scream and yell about the mix but in this case it’s not the mix that is the problem. Actually I think the production is fantastic BUT the problem is that the tracks were mixed in different styles. I feel that there is 3 distinctly different sounds here. I think they’re all good but the album doesn’t have that continuity that great albums have. That said I believe producer John Eden did a good job but it just didn’t work out. One last gripe was the choice of the album name being a negative attitude towards After The Fire. In my opinion that just wasn’t called for or appropriate and knowing that Andy and Peter Banks were still trying to be friends it was in poor taste.

Tracklist
1 – Stop Go – 4:36
2 – We Gotta Get Out Of This Place – 4:44
3 – Terry – 6:20
4 – Young Love – 4:32
5 – Deep Waters Still Run – 4:13
6 – 8 Ball In The Top Pocket – 5:04
7 – Break Out – 4:53
8 – One Down For The Highway – 4:12
9 – Jewel In The Night – 4:52
10 – 4th Street Room 101 – 4:23

Credits
Artwork By [Design] – Roslav
Backing Vocals – Mal Pope, John Russell
Bass – John Giblin, Andy Piercy
Drums – Roger Taylor, Heny Spinetti, Bob Jenkins
Guitar – Alan Murphy, John Russell
Keyboards – Adrian Lee
Photography By – Eric Watson
Producer – Andy Piercy, John Eden
Vocals – Andy Piercy