On this episode of The Paul Weller Fan Podcast, I am joined by songwriter, musician Chris Free.
He was one half of the duo A Craze who were signed to Paul Weller’s Respond record label in the early 1980s.
We chat about his love of punk including The Jam and The Clash and his first band The Users, to meeting Lucy Barron (AKA Lucy Loquette), forming A Craze and getting signed to the project.
The band played on the Respond package tours, on line ups featuring Tracie Young, The Questions and Vaughan Toulouse. They were also on the bill for the BBC broadcast gig featuring The Style Council at the Paris Theatre in London.
A Craze released one single, the Paul Weller produced Wearing Your Jumper and they featured on the Respond sampler LP, Love the Reason with their songs She Is So and Keeping the Boys Amused.
Chris and Lucy also wrote Give It Some Emotion which got to 24 in the UK charts and You Must Be Kidding which was the b-side to Soul’s On Fire…
Click your preferred podcast platform to listen…
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google Podcasts
EP157 – Chris Free – A Craze – Songwriter, Musician, Respond Records – Paul Weller Fan Podcast : Desperately Seeking Paul
A Spotify Playlist from Desperately Seeking Paul…
A Craze – Wearing Your Jumper – 1983
Tracie – Give It Some Emotion – 1983
Written by Chris Free and Lucy Barron (A Craze)
Respond – Love The Reason – Label Sampler – 1983
A Craze featured with two tracks – She Is So and Keeping The Boys Amused.
A Craze – Such Bliss – 1983-1984
A new compilation of songs from A Craze called Such Bliss was released on CD and download in 2009.
The album featured a couple of extra tracks that saw Chris and Lucy back together recording in the May of that year.
You can buy it on Bandcamp here
A Craze – Shake It Up – Released 2009
Released as a 7″ picture single via Firestation Records – this was limited to just 500 copies.
A Craze Images & Reviews…
The Sound of Pop Art – Shapes & Shadows – 2023
The latest album from Chris’ The Sound of Pop Art, produced by Andy Lewis.
Available here.
Chris Free – A Mad Affair EP – 2021
Chris Free’s first ever solo release produced by Andy Lewis (Paul Weller, Fay Hallam, The Catenary Wires, etc), with Andy contributing on beats, bass and keys.
A Mad Affair EP provides four Summer-Autumn vibes, setting up a fine, quintessential English scene, pushing across the horizon of blue sky and the finest greenery all the way up to the toes.
Listen and Buy the EP here…
The Sound Of Pop Art – Shopping – The Jam Cover
The Users
Find The Users – Remastered on Bandcamp here…