There was a Jazz /Blues
band called the Jaybirds in 1966, who
changed their name to “Ten Years After”,
thinking that they had formed a decade
late to miss the crest of a wave from
their mid fifties heroes such as Chuck
Berry, who became one of their major influences
along with other blues greats such as
Sonny Bay Williamson and Willie Dixon,
all of whom have had their songs covered
here by the band. Many bands have covered
Chuck Berry songs with many laying down
definitive versions like “Johnnie B. Goods”
by Jimi Hendrix, “Tulane” by Joan Jett,
“Roll Over Beethoven” by the Beatles,
or even “The Electric Light Orchestra”,
“Little Queenie” or “Carol” by the Rolling
Stones. The list is endless. But certainly
Ten Years After can claim “Sweet Little
Sixteen” as their own.
If this album had been released at the
time of its recording (1970) I am sure
it would of gone down in history as one
of the great Rook ‘n’ Roll live albums
of all time (along with albums like Deep
Purple’s “Made In Japan” and U.F.O’s “Strangers
In The Night”) as it was recorded when
the band were at their glorious peak in
between their show stealing performances
at Woodstock U.S.A in 1969 and The Isle
Of Wight Festival in the U.K. in the summer
of 1970. (By the time the band released
a live album “Recorded Live” in 1973 the
band had burnt themselves out and put
in a very lack luster performance).
But anyone who has been to the wonderful
Tahitian Queen Rock ‘n’ Roll Happy Hour
on Friday will have seen the thirteen
minute version of the Ten Years After
standard bearer closing song “I’m Going
Home” on D.V.D and will bare out that
this was a red hot band in the day when
the band come in for the finale of the
song. The roof nearly comes off the place.
What you actually get here is the full
set from 1970 selected from four sets
recorded by sound wizard Eddie Kramer
at the Fillmore East, probably American’s
leading venue at the time. Three of the
guys are basically the rhythm section,
a fine one true, but basically there to
do a job. I mean keyboard player Chick
Churchill doesn’t bother with anything
so fancy as a Mellotron, or Moog Synthesizer
or even piano, just sticking to his trusty
Hammond organ.
This album’s star of the show, Alvin Lee,
gets full reign to lay out his wares.
Billed as the fastest guitar in the west,
Lee would often leave all behind in his
wake. And here he is given plenty of opportunity
to show off his talents. Of the twelve
songs on this collection two are over
15 minutes long and only three are shorter
than eight minutes. Subtlety may not be
a part of Ten Years After repertoire,
but my word, these boys could Rock ‘n’
Roll. This live set was released thirty
three years too late, but don’t let that
fool you. It is still a great slab of
fat, dirty, Rock ‘n’ Roll played like
they don’t know how any more.
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
