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Ten Years After - Undead Audio CD

A fair review of the Ten Years After "Undead" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Ten Years After reviews here, or go back to the Ten Years After tabs.

Ten Years After Band: Ten Years After
Title: Undead
Rating:
Release Date: 2006-02-21
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Rock Your Mama 2: Spoonful 3: I May Be Wrong, But I Won't Be Wrong Always 4: Summertime/Shantung Cabbage 5: Spider in My Web 6: Woodchopper's Ball 7: Standing at the Crossroads 8: I Can't Keep from Crying Sometimes/Extension on One Chord 9: I'm Going Home

Dude,...
My favorite of the Alvin Lee montage, especially Woodchopper's Ball!!! It is remarkable t listen to the original Woody Herman version, then the Alvin Lee version. If you are a 10-years After fan or just a fan of 70's jammin' rock music, this is the disc for you. .


Before Woodstock.....
They recorded and released this live gem so that they could tour the USA to promote something, and boy are we glad they did. Ten Years After was virtually unknown in the states.
Alvin Lee shows all of his influences on this one. Blues, jazz, rock and roll, and every thing in between and with this expanded edition you get to here it all. Every song is great, however, one stands out and that's "The Woodchopper's Ball" Talk about fleet fingers, you can almost feel the heat of his fingers through your speakers. It is not to be believed. Guitar player and geeks REJOICE!.


Alvin Lee At His Very Best
I know many Americans believe that the performance at Woodstock was brilliant and Lee's best. Believe me, this was TYA recorded in top form live at the North London club, Klooks Kleek in 1968. But by that stage TYA had largely become 3 backing musicians massaging Alvin Lee's (by then) hugely inflated ego. His performance there was grossly overstated to the point of embarrassment, and alienated many of his Brit fans, myself included. But undeniably it did break TYA's career in the States if nothing else.

Meanwhile just over a year earlier this album shows what Alvin Lee and the boys were really capable of. Here, TYA work as a serious jobbing band and not just there purely to showcase Alvin Lee's virtuosity on lead guitar, although naturally he's still the major focus. Then, Lee had a more modest stage personna, and allowed the other members to do more of their thing. Chick Churchill's fine playing on Hammond organ, and Leo Lyon's hard pumping bass result in a strongly jazz flavoured blues set. Both of these guys are given plenty of opportunity to solo, eg I May Be Wrong. . . and Woodchopper's Ball, two of the most jazz influenced numbers here. WB is a pure instrumental taken at breakneck speed, and Alvin Lee's playing is awesome the first few times you listen to it. Other highlights are, I can't Keep From Crying (not on the original album) and the controversial I'm Going Home. This is how it was normally played pre-Woodstock. Spider In My Web is a decent slow blues track, penned by Lee, whose limited vocal style is exposed here. But to be honest, Lee's vocals were never his strong point.

There's no doubt that Alvin Lee was on fire that night, and sadly from '69 onwards, he never sounded as inspirational again. Those that accuse Lee of being a tasteless, cliché-ridden blues guitarist who could play fast had a point when I listen to his post '69 work. But Undead proves that before Alvin Lee got big-headed he was a guitarist to be reckoned with, and possibly more talented than most of his more famous white blues guitar peers around at that time. . . . . Recommended especially for blues guitar fans.

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Undead - Ten Years After
I discovered this album through Pandora Radio. In 1968 I had no interest in this album, but always admired TYA. I bought it on iTunes and enjoyed it for several months before a hard drive crash (I had moved and not recently backed up my music), so I bought it from Amazon, but lo and behold it was the 2002 version, which had more songs and it was polished as well. What a gem this turned out to be. Alvin Lee, Leo Lyons, Ric Lee and Chick Churchill never sounded better. .


THE SPRING BOARD TO GLORY
Many others have given you their long winded reviews of this musical offering. I have mentioned in other reviews, how highly I regard Alvin Lee. My crique is more simple and to the point. This CD/album changed the description of what is required of a rock/blues/jazz guitar player. Alvin is cemented into the top five rock & roll guitarist and to be truthful, he is actually in the top five axe players of ANY genre.

I had the great fortune of attending TYA in concert, as the middle act on a three act show in 1970, where the great Muddy Waters was the headliner. Ten Years After stole HIS show! In truth, Alvin Lee stole the show. I was in total awe of this man with his fret speed. The ONLY other artist I ever saw that was in his league with speed, is/was Johnny Winter (another on my top five list). What is so unique about Alvin, is the clarity that he maintains with such speed. Many times, he is so clean and fast that his guitar comes across as sweet as a violin.

This is as close as you'll get to hearing what Bill Graham and others found amazing as a live performer! Graham continued to use TYA at both Fillmores and at Winterland. TYA's album "Live at the Fillmore East" is a steal on Amazon MP3 download for $8. 99 for the two disc set.

If you are new to TYA, "A Space In Time" (in my humble opinion) is their best studio offering as a group.

It appears I've found myself being long winded too. It is hard not to be when reviewing a LIVING LEGEND. Buy it and smile:).


You can see a complete list of all Ten Years After discography, or go back to the Ten Years After tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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