Band that did not get the love they deserved. Great story about this band.....when my kids were young (many moons ago) and were driving us nuts on a rainy day, I used to put on the live version of "I'm Going Home" and tell them they had to dance to the whole song, in time with the rhythm section. Naps followed shortly there after LOL
"Sonny Boy" Williamson first recorded Good Morning Little School Girl in 1937; the Beatles, Rolling Stone, Yardsbirds, and Claton were all obsessed with early American blues (Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williams, etc.) Ten Years After is another band that took the blues and paid homage to their heroes by putting a modern sonic rock & roll beat to the Masters of The Blues. Thanks, Biz, It's great to hear the great music from the past that made us such a large part of my early 20s. Tend Years After is greatly underrated.
Not only was Alvin Lee an unbelievable guitarist, he was, by all accounts one if the nicest blokes you woukd ever meet. A caring and gentle man thst gave 110% every time he played.
Biz, Alvin Lee is definitely worth exploring. "I'd Love to Change the World," "Let the Sky Fall," and "One of These Days" are 3 good ones off of the Space in Time LP. I saw Alvin Lee in mid70s.
I saw them on this tour, about 2 and a half months earlier (in May), in Birmingham, AL, at an outdoor event (Leslie West and Mother's Finest opening). And I also saw them, again in Birmingham, at a different venue (Boutwell Auditorium) two years earlier (also in May) in "73. Actually, one does not see TYA live, one EXPERIENCES TYA live. Look for the track, from this same show, called 'I Can't Keep From Crying, Sometimes'. There a little trouble with his guitar going out of tune at the very beginning, but he recovers without stopping the song. Tuning "on the fly!"
Winterland in San Francisco was an old skating rink, hence the name, owned and operated by Mr. Bill Graham. He put on hundreds of concerts at the arena, which he finally had to close down on New Yeats Eve 1978, with his favorite band, the Grateful Dead, and The Blues Brothers. Footage exists of both performances, which are AMAZING. Many many bands graced the stage at Winterland, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Band recorded "The Last Waltz" there, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and...Ten Years After. This venue seemed to bring out the best in the bands when they played there.
Glad to see you're wanting to do some more studio TYA, though of course their live stuff was amazing. "Choo Choo Mama" would be a great studio review! It's a pretty straight-ahead banger too. From the album of the same name, "Rock and Roll Music to the World" is a little slower tempo banger with a really different hook.
If you want to see their really hardcore jazz-rock roots playing tiny pubs in the early sixties, check out a Woody Herman cover who was from the big band era which was still really popular at that time although it was fading, the Woody Herman song is called Woodchoppers Ball. It sounds to me like a board tape from a live recording in a small Club, but either way, it's really early, it's really raw, and it just shows you the raw talent and it's where those guys got super tight together, much like the Beatles in Hamburg before they broke huge. But they changed with every album and it was always really interesting. Every album had all interesting songs or pretty much all interesting songs, laugh. Cricklewood green is a fan fave somewhat earlier album. But there is much to be picked up off that iconic A Space in Time album which contains the mega-hit I'd Love to Change the World. The opening song of the album, is incredible. It's a slow build and then it goes nuts but they have all these interesting transitions between songs on that album. It's all so well put together. There's one that is encouraging people who are depressed at best and suicidal at worst to follow his advice and it's a very heartfelt earnest song and he says he's been there too, and that's why it's called, I've been there too. The first song on side B of the album is incredible, Once There Was a Time. It's mostly very humorous and just a vehicle to take something really slow and kind of super simple with just acoustic guitar and then it turns into a jam and then the words are absolutely hilarious and then they just go nuts and then they bring it home even more intensely. It's a fantastic song to lead off the side of an album.
