Affectionately known as ‘Koss’, Paul Kossoff’s playing touched people. It still does today, more than forty years after his sad and untimely death at the age of twenty-five. This authorised biography pays fitting tribute to a much-loved and widely admired musician whose influence and inspiration is still very evident. It’s all here: Kossoff’s musical childhood, his formative years with Black Cat Bones, forming Free at seventeen, that group’s dizzying success, breakup, reforming and dissolution, the solo years, Back Street Crawler – the sessions, the tours and big concerts, the triumphs, the tragedies and the heartbreak – J.P. James takes the reader right there. Over four distinct sections, Kossoff’s many guitars and the equipment he used to make them sing are fully documented; a brand-new detailed analysis of Kossoff’s distinctive playing style and technique is presented for the first time; a broad overview of Kossoff’s creative life draws on the voices of family, friends and fellow musicians; and finally, Kossoff’s musical influences, approach to playing and his wider musical interests, hopes and dreams are explored – all drawn from his own words. Cramming so much into his short years, Paul Kossoff left a rich musical legacy, and he is indeed All Right Now. Thoroughly researched and sensitively written, given often in Kossoff’s own words and packed with anecdotes from those who were there, musicians and fans alike will enjoy this authoritative and comprehensive biography.
