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As
the Jaybirds they were popular in the Midlands music scene and had
success in Germany, a residency was secured at the legendary Star club
in Hamburg. Although a Pop
band Lee's guitar prowess was by now filtering through the scene and he
was offered a position in The Outlaws, a post he turned down. Moving to
London in 1966 they secured a support tour to Pop act The Ivy League.
For these dates the group decided to draft in Chick Churchill on
keyboards to augment their live sound. New
manager Chris Wright suggested that they needed a name change in order
to make headway. The band became Blues Trip and then Blues Yard under
this guise the band gained a valuable residency at London's Marquee
club. The band felt another
name change was needed. Lyons found the name Ten Years After in a
newspaper article on Russian history. Another name under consideration
was Life Without a Mother. As Ten Years After they appeared at the
Windsor Jazz & Blues festival before cutting their first album for
Deram. The
self-titled debut album surprisingly received play on San Francisco's
underground radio stations and was enthusiastically embraced by
listeners, including concert promoter Bill Graham who gave them in 1968
their first crack at the U.S. at his San Francisco Fillmore West venue.
Audiences were immediately taken to Lee's distinctive, soulful,
rapid-fire guitar playing and the band's innovative mix of blues, swing
jazz and rock, the American love affair began. Unfortunately for the
other three members, Lee overshadowed them to the extent that they
became merely backing musicians in what was described as the Alvin Lee
show. A trip to New York the same year found the band entering the
studio to record demos with guitarist Jimmy Spruill and vocalist
Garfield Love. It would be twenty years before these tapes surfaced. Their
second album was the superb live Undead, recorded at Klooks Kleek club,
word spread that Lee was not only an outstanding guitarist, but he was
the fastest by a mile. It would give them their first taste of the
British charts. From this point on Ten Years After would live life
almost solidly on the road or in the studio. 1969
saw them appearing at the famed Woodstock Festival, Lee's now
legendary encore, "I'm Going Home" was
one of the highlights and remains today a standard for many other
guitarists. Captured on film in the documentary of the
A
third album 'Stonedhenge' found the band exploring more Psychedelic
territory. Lee's fret burning on 'I'm Going Home' would become the
yardstick to measure all future phases of their career. This performance
would set up next album 'Ssssh' for chart success at home and for the
first time in America. Further exposure was gained when some American
radio stations refused to play the record objecting to the lyric 'I want
to ball you all night long' on the song 'Good Morning Little School
Girl'. 1970's
'Cricklewood Green' gave the band a British top five album and 'Love
Like A Man' from the album gave them their only UK hit single.
Now signed to Chrysalis Records by Chris Wright, they altered
their sound becoming much mellower with pastoral acoustic numbers coming
to the fore. A Space In Time saw them briefly relinquish guitar-based
pieces in favour of electronics. By the time of Rock 'N' Roll To The
World the band were jaded and they rested from touring to work on solo
projects. When
they reconvened, their spark and will had all but gone and remaining
albums were poor. Alvin
Lee decided to go solo in 1975 and the group disappeared from the scene.
However, there has always been a demand for Ten Years After to reform.
Each time, Alvin quit to return to his solo career.
In 1978 Lee
formed the trio Ten Years Later, with little reaction, and in 1989 the
original band re-formed and released About Time, but only their most
loyal fans were interested. In
2001, to take advantage in the growing interest in legendary bands like
Ten Years After, EMI, and Decca Records digitally re-mastered and
re-released the whole Ten Years After back catalogue, most with bonus
tracks, including a rare "find" that had laid unnoticed the
1970 live recording of the band at its peak at the Fillmore East in New
York. ALBUMS Ten Years After 1967 Undead 1968 Stonedhenge 1969 Ssssh 1969 Cricklewood Green 1970 Watt 1970 A Space In Time 1971 Alvin Lee And Company 1972 Rock & Roll Music To The World 1972 Recorded Live (double album) 1973 Positive Vibrations 1974 About Time 1989 Live At The Fillmore East 1970 (double live album) 2001 Now 2004 Roadworks (double live album) 2005 Evolution 2008 |
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