Impossible Task For BBC Radio  Melody Maker – February 28, 1970 Alvin Lee – Think In Comment BBC SOUND radio has an impossible task to perform – to please the whole nation all the time on a limited budget. Obviously they must compromise. But Alvin Lee’s comments in Pop Think In are none the less valid. There must be thousands of people in the country who have bought expensive stereo tuners and who, because their taste does not turn to Radio 3, will possibly never even hear a stereo programme.  People who like pop yet have an ear for hi-fidelity, are very poorly served. AM (short, medium and long waves) is just not capable of producing hi-fidelity, yet hardly any pop is put out on the vastly superior VHF. Could not for instance, the Saturday programs on Radio 3 be broadcast on medium wave only, and Rosko, Peel and Drummond be put out in its place on VHF alongside medium wave 247? Why waste good VHF music time on the voices of sports commentators? I would however, like to compliment the BBC on the new Sunday John Peel Show, particularly the Keef Hartley one, which was a knockout. The Pentangle and Moody Blues shows were good too. This is the way to beat needle time. There are a good many groups who are capable of producing good live shows.    By G.K. Smith, Staines, Middlesex

 

1.

2.
Record  Mirror  March 14, 1970

New  Musical  Express  March 14, 1970

April 3rd and 4th 1970, TEN YEARS AFTER perform at "Capitol Theatre" in Port Chester

Record  Mirror -  April  4, 1970

Released April 17, 1970
Ten Years After conclude their 5th tour of America and begin a tour of Germany

  Rolling Stone Magazine - April 16, 1970

 

From Melody Maker, April 21, 1970   With Alvin Lee Alvin Lee walked into the MM office wearing a pair of old denims, a worn leather shoulder bag and a green tee-shirt with Fillmore East etched across the front in white lettering. He admitted right off that he had not listened to many records for quite a while, so we ought not to be surprised if he did not guess many. MCDONALD AND GILES: “Flight Of The Ibis” from the Island album “McDonald and Giles.” Alvin’s Comments: Sounds like a fervent Paul McCartney fan, I’d say. It’s a nice tune, quite pleasant, but the production sounds a bit demolish. Could be your record player though! That’ll do for that one, thanks. (On being told the band) Alvin says, “Oh, is that who it is? I thought they’d get a better sound than that. It really sounds like a demo record. BURNING RED IVANHOE: “Gong Gong—The Elephant Song,” from the Warner-Reprise album “Burnin” Red Ivanhoe.” Alvin’s Comments: “Haven’t the faintest who this is. Sounds like Hollywood music to me, has something of Zappa’s stuff about it, but I don’t think it is him. Actually, I like it. It’s far out, in fact. Oh, if they’re not American, they must have been recorded in England. Not English? Mmm. Burnin´Red Ivanhoe, you say. Are they Danish? Ah, they’re friends of our photographer John Fowler. I had a record of theirs a year ago, a double LP, and thought it was very good. Yes, they seem to be reaching out for something. I don’t know what they’ve got there, but they’re on the road to somewhere. FAMILY: “Holding The Compass” from the Warner-Reprise album “Anyway.” Alvin Comments: Oh, it’s a live recording, is it? (As soon as the voice comes in). Ha Ha, it’s young Roger Chapman. Family are one of my favourites. I was knocked out by that first record they did—what was it? “Music In A Doll’s House.” Actually, I recorded them live in Copenhagen some time ago on me tape recorder, but it wasn’t as good as this. They’re great in stereo, they wipe me out. I’ve also got a film of them at the Isle Of Wight, this year. In fact, I got thrown out of the enclosure for doing it. Family really are far out. Chris Wright, as well—you know, at Chrysalis—has got a film of Roger Chapman smashing up his mike. JEAN LUC PONTY: ``King Kong´´ from the Liberty album ``King Kong.´´ cellPadding="6" Alvin Comments: Sounds like The Mothers again. Is that Ian Underwood? He’s very far out. I don’t really know the names of the band. It’s very advanced, isn’t it? It’s yer progressive jazz, really, isn’t it? That stuffs all right, but they tend to sound like screeching cats when they go too far out. This doesn’t this doesn’t go too far. I can’t think of anything concrete to say, it’s above my head. Shall we say, anything over 12 bars, maybe 16, and I’m lost. FRANK ZAPPA: “Sharleena,” from the Bizarre album “Chunga`s Revenge.” Alvin Comments: Everything sounds like The Mothers today. Oh no, it’s not is it? I played with them in the States, and they were just fantastic; they just jammed and jammed, only it was the tightest jamming I’ve ever heard. In fact, I can go so far as to say it was all completely organized, note for note, although it can’t be of course. All these albums you’ve played today are influenced by Frank Zappa. He’s a very together guy, a fantastic person. I met him at the Belgian festival—you know, the one that was suppose to be in France but was moved to Belgium—and we were stuck in a tent, eating hot dogs and talking. I asked him why America was so paranoid, was it paranoid because it smoked so much, or visa versa. He said it was a bit of both, and that America was freak-land. What do I think of this record? Well, I’m sure there would be something better than this on the album. CACTUS: “Let Me Swim,” from the Atlantic album “Cactus.” Alvin Comments: It’s American. You can tell that because all the Americans copy Led Zeppelin. This is the equivalent to those Kathy Kirby records of 10 years ago, although it’s a lot more hip and beatty. It’s deliberately commercial in the same way. It’s O.K., I suppose, but I can’t take it very seriously, because it was made for a reason, and I don’t agree with that reason. Who is it? Oh, yes, we’ve played with them in the States. I like the bass player. That wasn’t very special. EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: “When You Try,” from the Buddha album, “Live At The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.” Alvin Comments: Mum, it’s the Edwin Hawkins Singers versus the English team. They all sound the same to me. It’s pleasant, but they don’t get me off, but then, not much does now. I’m getting very cynical, and blasé even—shall we say, between cynical and blasé. Even the musicians who are laying heavy things down, it’s coming out like chewing gum. What can I say? It’s good to tap your foot to.

New  Musical  Express  April  25, 1970

New  Musical  Express  April  25, 1970 - click on picture to read the article

Under the Influence, this week: The ALVIN LEE Interview  "Little Richard turned me on to rock 'n' roll and others I like".    Elvis Presley "Hound Dog" This has to be included simply because of its guitar sound. The second guitar solo is completely amazing. It comes in like somebody dropping about fifty scaffold poles. It's always been a sound I've tried to emulate but never got anywhere near, and never met anybody who has.    John Lee Hooker "Sugar Mama" I think anything by John Lee is good because he's got such a funky style. There's nothing forced. It's just the way he is, stomping and natural.    Big Bill Broonzy "Hey Bud Blues" Big Bill Broonzy has always been one of my favourites. He's got an unusual guitar style, almost playing rhythm and picking at the same time. It's very earthy as well, which I like.   Little Richard: It's hard to think of any one track. There are just so many classics. Basically I admire him for his original rock and roll. I mean he didn't invent it but that's who I first heard it from and his playing and style has always stuck with me a lot.   Steve Miller Band  "Sailor" It's an incredible production and stands up as a whole album. Like, side one is a complete entity by itself. I don't think any track picked out would sound as good as the whole side played through all at once. You've got the fantastic start with foghorns before it builds up and then comes down with the rain and everything.   Steve Stills: I also like Steve Stills particularly for his country feel. He plays good guitar and writes interesting songs. His records have an unoffending atmosphere. It's just natural music. He's also the first guitarist who plays in open D a lot. It's a different tuning with its own sound,and I think he does more with it and has taken it further than anybody else.   Otherwise I like the album with Jack McDuff and George Benson. Simply because it's good playing.

 

Someone was using  this photo as the background on an album cover - we saved the photo - concert  unknown.

Melody Maker – From May 2, 1970 Ten Years After Are Just Starting Alvin Lee Talks To Royston Eldridge   During the past few years, rock music has ceased to be regarded as mere entertainment for the young of the day. As the name of the music has changed, from the big beat days of the early Sixties through to the rock generation of the Seventies, so has the attention paid to it. Among the British bands who’ve done much to increase the stature of the music are “Ten Years After” who recently returned home from their fifth American tour. It was a tour which gave the group further evidence of the importance of rock, regarded by many now as a culture.  Film: “We did Woodstock the tour before this one and we thought then it was a mind blowing festival…a very big scene. But on this trip we were invited to the premiere of the film, and you realize just how big the whole thing was. “The bands are very good in it, but it’s not just the music, the film itself is tremendous. It’s the little events connected with it, the interviews with the people. It’s a film that shows what’s really happening there, what American people are really like. I didn’t know where those Bermuda- Shorted camera carrying tourists came from. It must be from the mid-west somewhere, because I’ve never seen anyone like that while I’ve been in the States. This film is about what young people over there are really like. I’m hoping it’s going to be released in England, it’s important”.  Free: During their tour, Ten Years After came across, Joe Cocker whose new band “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” is currently one of the hottest rock properties in the States. It’s an outfit that involves over twenty  people and one that is rapidly acquiring over superstar status. It’s really weird, the whole thing about Joe Cocker is amazing. In the States Joe’s playing to like 20,000 people, while back here he’s nowhere like as big. In view of the success of the bigger rock bands, and the growing practice of musicians moving outside of their usual groupings to play together, I asked Alvin if he’d like to play with other people, or increase the instrumentation of Ten Years After?  No, we haven’t gone as far as we can go with Ten Years After. It’s changing all the while and that’s why we’re not controlling the direction of the group at all…it’s far, from stagnated…in fact it’s just starting. “We’re very free musically, there’s very little format involved with the four of us. If we had a brass or a horn section, they would tie down the bass and the drums for a start, and the brass sections that I’ve heard, usually stick to little riffs anyway. “I stared using a little electronics, for special effects on the new album “Cricklewood Green” which is moving well up the Billboard American Chart. The last number on the second side has a home made sound on it, but I’ve still got to feel my way in on that. As far as pure electronic sound is concerned, that will be something I’ll do for my own personal thing”.  This week, Ten Years After drummer – Ric Lee, bassist Leo Lyons, organist Chick Churchill and guitarist Alvin Lee are all in Germany, where they will be testing out a new sound system, which they bought in America.  Tour: “The next thing we plan to do, is a short English concert tour which will be our own promotion again. It will be in about two or three weeks from now, taking in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Royal Albert Hall as well”.  Like most rock bands, Ten Years After are hardened critics of the BBC’s policy towards music. But Alvin believes that it is improving.  Underground: “I heard the David Symonds show between six and seven the other night and he was playing some good things, I even made a note to get several of the things he played. If only they’d put the so called “Underground Music” – what was originally turned on music, rather than straight music, but has now reached such a wide audience, that it can no longer be called “Underground” – on the FM wavebands. It shouldn’t cause any cross-over trouble, look how many FM stations there are in New York, and there are no problems there".     Record  Mirror  May  9,  1970           London’s West End – The Lyceum Theatre – Wellington Street – From 1765 to 2010 Also Known As: “The Theatre Royal” – “The English Opera House” – “The Royal Lyceum Theatre” – “The Palais de Danse” - “The Mecca Ballroom”.   Rock Bands Who Played There: “Ten Years After” -“The Grateful Dead” – “Led Zeppelin” – “The Who” – “Emerson, Lake and Palmer” “Colosseum” -  “U2” – “The Smiths” – “Bob Marley and the Wailers” – “Genesis” who performed their broadcast from here in 1980 for the “Old Grey Whistle Test” show – “Electric Light Orchestra” - Simply Red” November 30, 1969 “Pink Floyd” did an historic performance here. “The Plastic Ono Band” 1969 played their only concert at this venue.  It’s a 2,000 seat venue that can rightly boast superior sound and creature comfort.  From Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s  “Doctor Faustus” to a 1937 “Cinema” to featuring modern “Rock Concerts” the Lyceum has hosted them all and much more throughout the century’s. Sarah Bernhardt – Cyrano de Bergerac – Sir John Gielgud – to an elaborate exhibition of wax-works by Madame Tussaud.      Ten Years After played here on May 8, 1970. This was the start of their British Tour. Also included were supporting acts, Mathews Southern Comfort and Writing On The Wall.

Record  Mirror May 16, 1970      New  Musical  Express May 30, 1970 and also found in the  Record  Mirror   Many Thanks to Wolfgang Cramer  for this rare single "Love Like a Man"

CIRCUS MAGAZINE From May 1970 Breakin´ The Blues With Ten Years After Big things are happening for Ten Years After. They’ve released a new album, “Cricklewood Green”, (London) and dominate the Warner Brothers film “Woodstock”, in which Alvin Lee lets loose for a good twenty minutes of cinematic assault. When the announcement was made that the group would be appearing at the Fillmore East, there was a rush on the box office that within one day pressed the management to provide two extra shows to accommodate the hordes of fans. The new album is similar to the last one, said Alvin Lee. “We’ve concentrated on improving the quality, though,” he emphasized. Everyone seems to agree. A photographer who travelled with the group on this recent tour ( Joe Sia / Rene Du Bauge)  said they’ve cut all the speed trip stuff and have become one of the more tasteful bands to come from England. Their fifth album is a natural musical progression. “We don’t sit down and think, “Now we’ve got to sit down and show a progression” he said. “We just get together and do what we feel at the moment. It usually turns out best that way. A natural approach usually brings out the best.”   “We’re now playing to a new generation of audience than that of two or three years ago,” he philosophized. Three years ago we were playing to the twenty to twenty five age bracket. Now we find we’re getting a lot of young kids-like seventeen to twenty. Our audience is constantly changing. They’re not going to get fed up with what we do because a lot of them are new to it all the time.” Even though Ten Years After has almost a fanatic following no matter what age, Lee wants to experiment with the group’s music. Expressing great interest in electronic composer Tod Dockstader, he said new directions for the group might come from the field of electronics. Dockstader is a native of St. Paul Minnesota, whose past includes jobs as a painter, film editor, production designer, writer and cartoonist. He calls his music “organized sound.” This is what interests me, the electronic sounds, as opposed to music,” the guitarist said. “It still is music, but it’s just taking another step. It could be the wrong direction, I don’t know, but I’m interested in finding out. I hope to do a few experimental gigs with it and see what happens.” In the light of superstardom, many groups have broken up because of ego hassles, musical differences and general discontent with the group scene. Ten Years After have been together for three years and have put out five albums, a considerable track record. “Leo Lyons and I had been playing since we left school,” Lee recalled. “We played in different bands. Then we were in Nottingham and our drummer left and we got Ric Lee to take his place. Then just before we moved up to London we got Chick Churchill to take his place. Chick in fact, was originally our road manager. We gave him that job so we could keep in bread (money) and until we could work him into the whole thing.   “The early days were in Nottingham, which is in the midlands of England, and we moved up to London interested in whatever work we could get. So we could play what we wanted to at a later time, we did session and back-up work for others and finally made a bit of a bank balance that put us a few weeks ahead and we organized our own thing.   “We’d been practicing and playing our own kind of music, but the only kind of gigs we could get in those days were like pop stuff where we backed singers and things. Then we started off playing blues. It wasn’t getting accepted very much until we played the Marquee in London, which was like the center of new happenings in London. We built up a following there. “We never actually called ourselves a blues band,” he confessed, “although I’ll admit that to many that’s basically what we are. In England, it’s called jazz blues, here it’s called rock blues – but these categorizations are not very relative to what it really is. But call it rock, blues or whatever you will, it’s definitely something that stands on its own.   “We started playing basic blues and it built up into our own interpretation of it, which deserves another name. Of course the name might be irrelevant – you could even call it “Brand X” really. “It’s like people asking, ”What do you play?” In America, I’ll answer “rock” because that’s the term that’s used over here. In England, I’ll say “blues based” but it’s all relative to what people think it is – “And we leave that up to the listeners. For example, when I write a number, I give it a basic format, then we throw it around and it comes out however it comes out. I can never foresee how its going to come out – it might come out completely different than I first envisioned.” What about the difference in British and American rock bands? “I’m not that much in tune with the happening bands at the moment – any – where.” Lee said. “I only see the bands we play with. But I’d say the American bands are less disciplined than English musicians. “English musicians have a tendency to discipline themselves and create with an objectiveness while with the American bands, it’s kind of “get together and see what comes out.” Now this is very fine, but it’s leaving a lot to chance. The English bands hear something they want to create and strive towards it rather than just seeing what happens. “There’s a big opening for something very new in England now. Unfortunately, the bands that are now forming are basing themselves on successful bands that are already going. In England, the majority of the bands that just go around gigging are like juke box bands that play everybody else’s hits…obviously they’ve got to be more original to make any kind of impact.” His personal background, even though he is English, led him to the blues. “My parents were musical,” he said. “They were musical on a hobby basis. We had a guitar around the house and we used to play a lot of records, collecting Negro blues and jazz records. “My father collected some of those farm, working-on-a-chain-gang, penitentiary type records and they were always interesting. “Then I got into Negro philosophy – I really got into that before I got into the music, but I started to realize the two were connected. I was very young; I was doing it more as a project than anything else. But I think when rock music first started, I was then able to see the blues and Negro roots more easily than most people…     “I never really remember when I first started to play the guitar. I always kind of plucked on it. I thought I could get it together properly and I got a guy to show me the chords and chord changes, that was all it was.  “Then I played rhythm in a little combo in Nottingham and I picked up lead work from a guy who was playing in a band at the time. Then I worked on that. “It was always a hobby. I never really thought I’d be able to get on stage and play when I was young, but it came naturally after awhile. I went from Elvis Presley (who I got very hung up on as I used to dig his guitarist Scotty Moore) which lead me into Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. “Then I got into finger style and classical finger-style then into jazz. I listened to Barney Kessel; I listened a lot to Charlie Christian. I kind of went my way through all the different musical scenes of the guitar so I had a kind of basic background of the guitar and all its elements. This has helped a lot.” Blues always has been American to the English,” Lee answered. “The English form of folk is like the actual folklore from Wales, Scotland, the ballads of the time. There’s nothing as funky as American blues… “This kind of music is such a good thing because it’s got no limits whatsoever. You can actually make it-you can turn a number into something entirely different by the artists approach to the number rather than the number itself. I prefer music which gives the artistry to the performer rather than the actual music being the art.   “Also, when we play now-as opposed to three years ago, people are more attentive before we start. When we walk up to the stage they’re ready to listen, whereas before we had to sort of hit them with something to make them listen!” The group has been criticized for many reasons, among them, beating a good thing to death. “I’ve read a lot of good things, I’ve read a lot of bad things,” Lee answered. “The only conclusion I’ve ever come to is that I’m not going to please all the people all the time. I know some people are really down on my guitar style… “Personally, I’m happy with what I do. I’m still striving. I realize I’m moving in the right direction and the fact that direction has proved to be a successful one is a matter of chance more than anything else. That is, I mean what I happen to like to play, people happen to like to listen to, That in a way – is luck.” When asked if he personally feels he is as excellent a guitarist as his fans have described him as being, he replied with a grin, “It’s difficult to say, I believe I’m good. You know it goes against the grain to say such a thing. But obviously I do believe that because I take the music I like and play it the way I prefer to hear it. Obviously the music I make is my favorite music even though it’s very difficult for me to listen to it as objectively as I can listen to the music of other musicians. “I don’t think my music has a message, but it reflects me and life itself.     Music, or being an artist of any form, is a reflection of being part of a society and life. My life, my likes and dislikes, the experiences I go through (consciously or not), they come out in my music. Although he’s the star of the Woodstock film, Alvin Lee has his doubts about festivals. “I’m a bit of a fatalist about all that,” he answered. “I mean it’s nice all this talk about Woodstock and it’s been built up to be a happening of the century. But if fate had dealt with it another way, Woodstock could have been as much of a disaster as the Rolling Stones Altamont concert. “Then again, just a quirk of fate and the Stones concert could have been fantastically peaceful as well. There’s always a possibility of something going astray whenever you get a lot of people together. “Surely Woodstock was a step in the right direction. I think it was really cool. Then again, there’s nothing to say if it was organised again exactly the same way it would go as well. Something could go wrong. Nothing will ever be idealistic. One hundred percent peaceful concerts will never be peaceful every time, or all the time.   “We played Dallas, Woodstock…for the musician, festivals are very difficult. “When you get 16 or 17 bands in one day, there’s probably more hassle going on backstage than there is in front of the stage. There’s always some band that wants to go on before another or some band that doesn’t want to follow another or somebody that wants to get off quick because he won’t be there the next day…these kind of situations you know, which are inevitable.   “Personally, I get away from it. I ask somebody what time we’re on and like at Woodstock – I wander off and enjoy the scene.  Article written by David Harris

 

Groupies Movie – Directed by Ron Dorfman and Peter Nevard 1970 Production: All the parts with Alvin Lee from Ten Years After, seem like he’s so stoned that he’s about to pass out. He rambles on about something, but you can’t really understand him, which is all right with me. The footage of them playing live is great. They do an awesome version of  “Good Morning Little School Girl” that’s about as heavy as any rock music that had been made by anyone at that point. They’re totally the highlight of this movie. You get the vibe that they were the band that all kids who were really into rock music really liked at that time. It’s not hard to see why, and Alvin Lee might have been one of the most severely underrated guitarist of the 70’s. "Groupies" sets the pace for the other rock `n´ roll excess documentaries that would follow. Like “Groupie Girl” another 1970 British Drama Film about the music scene. Also features backstage and concert footage of Ten Years After, Terry Reid, Spooky Tooth and Joe Cocker and The Grease Band. The appearance of Ten Years After is only about ten minutes long (total), and used for the audio soundtrack and less for visual footage.

Record Mirror – May 30, 1970 Volume 17 Number 21   About The Just Released “Cricklewood Green” Album   I feel a certain sympathy for Alvin Lee who is currently competing with an image which has been bloated for him by those who should at least by now be aware that he could wear a paper bag over his head and still win appreciation as a guitarist. During the press preview of the “Woodstock” film last week it was significant that Ten Years After received the loudest round of applause for their sequence which featured some vintage Alvin Lee. Happy at the success of “Cricklewood Green,” the group’s latest album, I found Lee smiling and signing some of his money away on blank cheques while Simon and Garfunkel emoted from the record player. In spite of the fact that someone, somewhere – there bout for the Grace of Terry Ellis – has been building Alvin into a solo cult figure, I found the man himself to be “anti-flash” and quietly concerned with the problem of living with his face. “I was very paranoid about it at first,” admitted Lee – somehow I cannot bring myself to call such a talent “Alvin” which is no doubt a post-Freudian problem I have relating to Chipmunks – “It started in America where the business like publicist we had over there found people were picking up on me and decided to exploit the situation. “There was a weird feeling in the band about it at the time and I kept saying “It’s nothing to do with me men” and it really wasn’t. Finally, we all sat down together and discussed it and it was decided that if it was going to help the band we would let it go, but I’ve never really liked to think of the band as anything other than a band. “It’s weird just how it happens. Someone starts an underground rumbling that someone is a super-star and then the knockers move in. Jimi Hendrix was reported recently as saying, I was the Gene Vincent of the 1970’s which I can’t quite work out but it doesn’t sound too cool”. Mr. Lee treated himself to a quietly reflective laugh at that and would not be provoked into any retaliation, when I enquired what he thought of Hendrix. “I like him,” he laughed. “He’s never really received  the recognition he deserves for that “surrealistic-guitar thing which he started and people like me latched on to. No one has really critically assessed Hendrix for his musical contributions as a composer. In the face of such magnanimous praise I had to own up as being the reporter of Hendrix frivolous rather than malicious comment on Lee, but his reply certainly makes him a points winner on that on that long distance verbal bout. At the present time, the topic of conversation is the group’s decision to release a single (Shudders from the Movement) albeit that one side is a revolutionary version of the A side “Love Like A Man” recorded live at 33 and a third, which last nearly eight minutes. Why a single, and could it do the group any harm, if it became, if you will pardon sacrilege, a hit. “It’s really the result of pressure from friends and the record company,” said Lee. “Everyone was saying it would do us no harm, and Jonathan King came down with a long list of pros and cons. “Eventually we agreed because we got a bit of a bargain.   Some time ago we wanted to release “Woodchoppers Ball” as a B-side at 33 and a third, and got a flat no, but this time we got them to agree to a stereo cut at the A side which last eight and a half minutes. The A side is a shortened version of the album track which always seems a bit of a cheat to me. “It’s possible that if the single became a hit in England, it could do us some harm. Our concerts in this country are at a very nice stage and the vibes are just right. We’ve never thought of ourselves as a pop band in that sense, and we were worried in case we drew the very young people who come for the occasion, rather than the music”. “Love Like A Man” was our decision as a single because it was the one track on the album which seemed representative of what we are as a group on stage. If we had been going for a commercial single – yuk-yuk – it would have been something like “Circles”. That’s the kind of thing to get played on “Family Favourites” – I think it is in fact! “That kind of single would be no relationship to what we do as a group. We can afford to do things out of context on an album, because the overall effect would keep it in perspective as a side-trip, but I wouldn’t like anyone to get the impression that was us”. On the group’s aforementioned album named incidentally after one of their roadies “Horticultural Splendours” (Cricklewood Green – grass – pot) a rare species of rose he has produced – there are a number of electronic effects over and above those feed-backs we have come to expect. Is there any point when the musicians leaves off, and the electrician takes over? “There is a lot of artistic control that goes into electronics. Most people know that for track tape, you play it back with eight instruments on separate tracks and mix it. When we put the electronic effects over we might have three more machines running with everyone having a finger on the fader. “On our “Sun Still Burns Away” track, which was our attempt at the nouveau electronic that was what we did. It wasn’t just noise bunged on top. A lot of hard work went into it. A lot of thought and timing and work went into it”. Finally, we sat around in the afternoon’s warmth with the front door open upon the living room, and talked of many things….mourned the death of the word “Underground” when it was synonymous with “Truth”…discussed a few of the happening groups in the U.S. amongst whom were “Quicksilver Messenger Service” and “Alice Cooper” who have an interesting act climaxed by blowing chicken feathers over the audience…expressed hope for the pirate T.V. plane and wondered whether anyone could get something as together as “POW” the San Francisco’s retort to pop T.V.  Finally, I returned home with a courtesy copy of “Cricklewood Green” under my arm as I went to place it on my record player, out fell a large poster of Alvin courtesy of Deram. It is good to find the man himself is not being buried by his own promotion – he does not need it, neither do the group – they are by their own merit.

 

Pop Magazine – June 1970 Ten Years After – Wurden Durch Amerika Entdeckt. In England gehören Ten Years After noch zur zweiten Garnitur. In den USA verhält sich das anders. Zusammen mit den Led Zeppelin zählen sie dort zu den zugkräftigsten britischen Rock Gruppen. „Ja, so könnte man es formulieren“, macht Lead-Gitarrist Alvin Lee. „Aber wir dürfen nicht vergessen, dass gegenwärtig in den Vereinigten Staaten die Situation für alle britischen Bands besonders günstig ist. Die Amerikaner halten automatisch alles, was aus England kommt, für interessant und verdienstvoll. Für uns Ausländer hat diese Tatsache vor allem den Vorteil, dass man uns, allein schon auf Grund unserer englischen Pässe, besser zuhört als anderswo und erst dann über unsere Musik urteilt. Während das in England – zumindest in unserem Fall – gerade umgekehrt war. So ist es natürlich kein Wunder, dass Amerika als erstes Land unserem Talent auf die Spur gekommen ist. Komischerweise sind wir im Augenblick sogar eine der erfolgreichsten britischen Rock Gruppen in den USA. Ob wir besser als die anderen sind, ist allerdings Geschmacksache. Ich will niemanden beleidigen; aber punkto Live–Auftritte sind in Amerika die Led Zeppelin und wir schon die erfolgreichsten Engländer.“  England ist super – groovy: Wieso sich die Unsrigen allgemein in den USA so gut halten, ist schwer zu sagen, fährt Alvin weiter. „Ich persönlich glaube, es hat viel mit Vorurteilen zu tun. Die Amerikaner können ihre Landsleute nicht so ohne weiteres zum Superstar erheben, weil sie ihre Schwächen und Eigenarten zu gut kennen. Die Engländer kennen sie aber nicht. Sie haben bloß ein romantisches Vorurteil über uns im Gehirn und halten uns für super–groovy. So kommt es dann, dass man uns positiver gegenübertritt und uns oftmals auch überschätzt...“   Abenteuer: „Wie die Ten Years After denn ihrerseits zu Amerika stehen? Nun, wir sind uns diesbezüglich nie ganz einig“ gesteht Alvin Lee. „Ich selber bin immer froh, wenn wir das Land hinter uns haben. Aber irgendwie freue ich mich jeweils doch, wenn wir für eine Tournee hinüberreisen. Es ist ein Abenteuer, bei dem man nie sicher sein kann, ob man tot oder lebendig zurückkommt. Amerika ist ein Land der Gegensätze. Die guten Dinge sind gut – besonders für uns Musiker. Aber die schlechten Dinge sind verdammt schlecht. Für mich ist Amerika ein bisschen zu ruppig und wild. Ich will jedoch nicht klagen. Uns ist dort viel Gutes widerfahren „.   pop Nr. 5 - 6. Jahrgang

 

A Very Rare Photo of Alvin Lee from 1970

Record  Mirror  June  6, 1970

 

Beat Instrumental – June 1970 One interesting feature of group music over the past three years is that musicians have taken an increasing interest in record production, and spent quite a bit of their free time playing around with home studio set ups. Alvin Lee of Ten Years After, is one such case.  Alvin is credited with responsibility for “links and electronics” on the group’s latest album, “Cricklewood Green, which they produced themselves. Alvin writes in a sleeve note, “Together with Andy Johns, engineer and together head, we have recorded this album in layers of sound, rather than absolute separations. Thus, giving separation to the varying frequencies,   As opposed to each instrument”. When asked to amplify (elaborate) on that note, Alvin said, “There’s nothing to add really. We’ve just tried to fill in gaps in the frequency range.  I’ve always wanted to record at Olympic Studios, where we did “Cricklewood Green,” because about three years ago, all the sounds I was digging were coming from there. The album has been made with those who’ve got good sound systems in mind. Yes, you really need stereo for it, preferably headphones. “I’ve not much else to say about it, because it should speak for itself. As far as I’m concerned, once it’s in the can it’s dead. I’ve learned from experience that once I’ve heard it in the reduction room, it might not sound so good if I hear it on a different system”. Alvin is also working at home when he gets the time: “I’ve got a couple of Revoxes and various gadgets, but I really need an eight track to put it all together. I do it for pleasure, just as a hobby, although I suppose some of it might be used if it was good enough, but I’m limited because I can’t record drums properly, for instance, at the moment. During Ten Years After’s last U.S.A. tour, I wonder how many they’ve done now? Alvin visited the legendary Les Paul at his studio-home, fifteen miles south of New York. “It’s a fantastic studio,” said Alvin “much better than most professional ones. He was the guy that really got recording on tape together. He’s still got his original eight track with a Cadillac fly-wheel as the drive unit”. Also while in the States, Alvin got to see the film of the “Woodstock” festival: “It last for about three hours, and has got four-track stereo, split screens and so on. It really brings out the atmosphere of the festival, so that you almost relive the experience? The pattern of Ten Years After’s State-Side-Visits is changing now: “They’re getting shorter and more frequent,” said Alvin, “we’re doing four a year now. “It’s hard to gauge our popularity in the States, although we are really popular there, because it’s so big. But we are also big on the Continent. For instance, our last album did better in Germany than it did here, (England) and it went to number one in Spain of all places. We’ve never even been to Spain”. Although Alvin would never settle in the States, he likes a number of things about the country, including the radio and the way concerts are organized. “It would be great if in England you could sit in a place like the Fillmore East with its really comfortable seats and back-projected lights and one of the best sound systems I’ve ever heard. The Fillmore’s have set the basic requirements for rock clubs over there, whereas in Britain you can still book a town hall, hire a group and get people paying to come and see them. It shouldn’t be like that because it’s not good for performers or audiences. “We have been accused of over-quoting, but there are some places that we would just rather not play and that’s why we do it. “In the position we’ve obtained, our concern is not for more bread (money), and so we do things ourselves. We can put clauses in contracts, have a say in the record sleeve, and so on. We now hire our own studio, and hand over the tapes to Decca, and even watch how they press the records. But we had to get this far to do it, and unfortunately there’s a definite dividing line between groups who can do this sort, of thing, and those who can’t. A  magazine very hard to find these days, and if you do manage to find a copy, that  is in good condition, it will cost you.

 

New Musical Express -  June 13, 1970 Leo Lyons is not interested in dwelling on his past. He is far more interested in Ten Years After. Not only in terms of his ground, but also in the same period of time, which has elapsed since he took the decision at the age of 16, to become a professional musician. He has known no other than this precarious way of life. Through the success he has now started to reap, he has managed to find a certain amount of personal contentment and fulfilment in a childhood dream of breeding horses. In a newly acquired ranch, just outside Bedford at a place called Pavenham, he eventually  hopes to breed sturdy American quarter horses, the kind used by “cowboys,” but strictly for pleasure riding. When confronted with his U.S. cavalry moustache, well shaped shoulder length hair, hide jacket and tooled cowboy boots: Leo bears a modern day affinity to the familiar image of the old west. As he sits conversing and quietly hand-rolling a never ending stream of liquorice papered cigarettes, it becomes quite apparent that this image is not an affected one. More a natural progression, formulated from his life-long ambition and his numerous horse-riding expeditions undertaken during the group’s many stateside trips. Above all, his is a likeable personality. Besides living out of suitcases for a good part of each year, Ten Years After have always managed to spend some free time on the West Coast of America, in order to follow their individual pursuits. It was out there, that Leo realised to his satisfaction that people were now enjoying and appreciating the sheer physical pleasures of horse-riding. Rather than the outmoded social connotations previously associated with this pastime. “Though in the States, there is a tremendous amount of misunderstanding and fear rife amongst all the sections of the community and age groups, the country itself is absolutely fantastic,” he revealed. “Last September, I decided to see more of the natural beauty of the place, and so I went up into the Sierra Nevada’s on horse-back with a few of my friends”. Those sultry days that he enjoyed just relaxing and exploring the terrain had very alarming repercussions on him. “During that time, I managed to get society in general right out of my system. When I finally got back to civilisation, I was so utterly disillusioned for about three whole weeks,” he sadly reflected. “At first I just wanted to scream, it was that bad. Why, I asked myself, did people run around so much, or for that matter even want to make a name for themselves. But after those three weeks had passed, I found that I had been brainwashed again,” he frankly admitted. “If I had to do it again? I’m quite sure that the same that the same progression of mental reaction would repeat itself. When I went to see Antonioni’s “Zabriski Point,” it really mirrored just how I felt at that time. It was frightening”. The pop world in general, be it the media of sound or vision is beset with symbolism and images. Unless you’ve got one, you’re as good as dead. Even a non-image, has been used more than once as a short term means-to-an-end. Though perhaps Alvin Lee has become the recognized face and virtuoso with Ten Years After, the other three members are by no stretch of the imagination just back-up musicians. In the early days of their acceptance in America, Leo was constantly singled out for special mention in all the reviews of their concerts. Fast guitarist, they’d seen them before------but a dexterous bass player who appeared to be playing second lead with just as much speed----NEVER. – However, success not only brought recognition, accolades and monetary rewards, but also the “knockers”. Most groups have to contend with them at one time in their career. With vitriolic fervour, they singled out Ten Years After’s  precision and fleetness for their mindless scrutiny. “Sure we’re always getting knocked, simply because it seems as though some people are getting quite hung-up on our technique and speed. “But this is just because we are affected by our environment, and the very face pace with which we all live. Ten Years After lead a very hectic life, spending up to six months of each year touring the States”. You could be excused for doubting Leo’s confession of a jet-paced existence to the fact that he is very relaxed, thoughtful and articulate in his manner. Summing-up occupational hazard of the “Knocking Game” he dismissed it by concluding. “Sometimes this can be upsetting, but it doesn’t really bother us. As a group we play to the very best of our ability. The majority of people seem to enjoy it, as we never play to the point of self indulgence”. A cardinal sin of which many acts are guilty. “Indeed, we are now more dependent upon one another than before”. Referring to the knockers, he pointed out, “These people set you up and say that you are preaching to the people. Then if these same people don’t like what they hear, or think they hear, they knock you. “What in fact we play, is really an expression of all the experiences we’ve encountered. It all comes out subconsciously in the music. Making for new ideas, I hope”. Travel broadens the mind, or so they say, and its certainly made Leo one of the observers of life. “My values are still the same. I admit that success has changed me, but only in that it has made me more aware of people. “When you don’t have to worry about where your next meal is coming from, it gives you more to concentrate on other matters. For I’ve experienced this. ”You know everyone without exception is guilty to some extent of not trying to see the other person’s point of view. Unfortunately, not everyone sees this. “It’s the same when people, and in particular a group become an overnight success. They then have to try and figure out why their last disc was a hit. And most of the time, they don’t know the answer, that’s when paranoia sets in. “Like a number of groups, Ten Years After had involuntary success. We came from what people term the “Underground”. This doesn’t really exist anymore, it’s now just a handy label for success, which was originally intended for groups who were musically creative, but commercially unsuccessful”. Almost apologetic Leo then took pains to stress. “The things what I play on bass are more truthful than what I’m inclined to say. For I have inhibitions as to what people may think”. Frankly, I’d argue the point.

June 13th 1970, TEN YEARS AFTER perform at "Cincinnati Summer Festival"

HIT PARADER MAGAZINE FROM JUNE OF 1970 TEN YEARS AFTER WANT A HIT SINGLE!   Mention singles to a progressive or underground group and you stand a good chance of hearing a snort of derision and a tale that albums are the thing. The latter may well be true, especially in the face of recent sales figures, but both Jethro Tull and Fleetwood Mac have had singles in England, and possibly, the day of the progressive 45 is upon us. Now Ten Years After have had a change of heart and are trying for success in the singles chart. Ten Years After has built a huge reputation in Britain, America and Europe, but mainly through concerts and albums. At the end of last year, their first single, the exceptionally good "I'm Going Home" was released in England and did nothing. Since then, strict silence has been maintained until now. "We were supposed to have recorded one during the last American tour for release over hear and there, but with one thing and another there just wasn't time", Ten Years After's drummer Ric Lee told me. "I'm Going Home" was released in America as a trailer for the album "Undead" and somehow it got released here. But we weren't available to promote it. I think the original idea was to release it three months later here." Ric and I were speaking in a West End recording studio in London where the main thoughts of the group were on the next album, though "Ssssh" had only recently been released. With Jethro Tull's "Sweet Dream" climbing the charts in England, the management decided the time was right for a Ten Years After single. It should be added that both Jethro Tull and Ten Years After have the same management. Recording the single took place towards the end of the last week and the finished product was planned to be out in a couple of weeks. How about "Ssssh" though? "We're very happy with it and I can't think of anything we'd like to change", Ric told me. "We don't record more than we need for any one album and if anything is left over we scrap it." Most of the tracks on "Ssssh" are Alvin's compositions but there are a couple of exceptions. "Good Morning Little School Girl" is one and a prominent New York radio station banned it because of one word. ("Ball" the line is "I want to ball you"). Perhaps as a result of this, the album shot up the U.S. charts.  I mentioned to Ric that Ten Years After are still playing a lot of numbers that have been associated with them for a long time and he explained that this was entirely due to public demand. "We want to get on with some new stuff obviously, but when we go on stage we find people calling for old numbers," he said "I agree this can be a bit frustrating night after night, but then we can usually manage to fit odd new things in. "There will be a subtle change in our material, but it's going to take a bit of time. Maybe we'll try one or two numbers a night and build up from there. We won't change the general feel of what we do, but after the Continental tour this month I think you'll notice a bit of difference." Ric expanded on the American audiences, saying, "They take the new stuff well and are enthusiastic, but when we go into one of the old numbers they go wild. That may sound a bit like bragging, but it's not. "At the Fillmore East we couldn't get off and when we did we were soaked and exhausted. America's such a big place that you can do five of six tours there and still reach only half the people." When Ten Years After return from America, they plan to do a few selected concerts where as many people as possible can listen to them. But the new single should already have been in the charts and perhaps more people will be clamouring to hear what I rate as one of the very best progressive groups around today. Written by Richard Green in London

 

New Musical Express – June 20, 1970   Chick Churchill is a loner. Now this may sound very strange to all those who think they know him. Especially as Chick is usually found most nights looning around the many London clubs. Well, this may have been the case four months ago, but not any more. In fact, when Chick has a spare moment, he can often be seen at Heathrow Airport just wandering around doing nothing except just watching the jet airliners landing and taking off. Where as many rock musicians seem to have a hatred for aircraft, Chick is absolutely fascinated by flying machines. They have become his hobby. The actual physical effort of such a solid object defying gravity and then returning to the earth, is a continuing source of utter amazement to him. Success affects different people in many different ways. At first it doesn’t usually change the actual person concerned, only other people’s reactions towards them. Unfortunately, and without realising it, this process can become mirrored, resulting in a vicious circle. Ten Years After’s organist has found this out to his bitter disappointment.  “Before I was even in a group I had lots of friends, but as we got more successful, I found that I had very few genuine ones. This has really hung me up for the last year or so. ”It’s not that I don’t want success, it’s just that people won’t let you be your true self. For the last four years I have spent most of my free evenings in the clubs, surrounded by people. And I have found that so many of them are far more interested in my job, because that’s what it is, than Chick Churchill as a person. “To be quite truthful, when a girl comes up and talks to me, I really don’t know anymore if she likes me as just a guy that she’s met, or caught up in this very strange aura that surrounds fellows in groups.”  Apart from Alvin Lee, Leo Lyons, and Ric Lee of Ten Years After, he feels that there are very few people that he can put any trust in. Now he’s even suspicious of members from other groups. It’s the same with places. When the group visit the States they appear quite a great deal in New York, Detroit and Chicago. Most of the time he is content to stay in his hotel room. Though he admits, he finds San Francisco very nice. In his recent quest for solitude, he visited Sequoia National Park and drove into the notorious Death Valley. “The quietness is really unbelievable. If you really want to get away from civilization, this is the place. “There isn’t anywhere in Europe where you can really experience the same sensations. “Zabriski Point captured most of it, but the only conclusion that I got from it, was that Antonioni wanted to blow the world up and start all over again.” Chick feels that if the world annoys you, then just put yourself on a higher mental plain. However, it does annoy him personally, that people won’t let him be absolutely free to do what he wants to do. Chick is small, quiet and introverted. He is a person who could easily get lost in a crowd. This tendency of not pushing himself forward has caused people to complain, that he can’t be heard when the group is playing on stage. He is aware but not unhappy about this situation. “We play hard-rock, and it’s very difficult to work an organ into it. Especially when playing with someone as good as Alvin Lee. “The sound that I like is more mellow,   and unfortunately that doesn’t come over too well on stage. I’ve just bought a R.M.I. electric piano which I hope to incorporate. If the organ was taken out, there would be a very big hole in the group’s sound.” Chick, has very positive ideas about evolving a more personal style of playing the electric organ within the context of a rock group. “The organ isn’t being used to its fullest. Keith Emerson tried it, but he got lost on the way, he went too classical instead of rock. But I want it to be known that I respect him as a good organist. “As far as the organ is concerned, nobody has evolved a style that really fits into rock and roll. “I’m getting to the point where I am now playing the organ like a drum. I do this by playing rhythms and using the stops to get the same sound and volume on both manuals. I pay close attention to what Ric plays and follow him.” Article written by Roy Carr

 

Daily News – Chicago, Illinois - June 20, 1970 Ten Years After featuring lead vocalist Alvin Lee (at far left) headlines the rock program Friday and next Saturday in the Aragon Ballroom – June 26, 1970 – also on the bill are B.B. King and Mott The Hoople

1970 – The Famous – “Trans-Continental Pop Festival” Later Renamed – “The Festival Express” DVD   The Movie Text: The Festival Express Tour, turned out to be a complete financial disaster. The entire film project was shelved soon afterwards, as the promoter sued the film-makers, and then the footage mysteriously disappeared. Some of the films reels later turned up in the garage of the original producer Willem Poolman, where they had been stored for decades and used at various times as goal post for ball hockey games, played by his son Gavin. Many other film reels were also discovered  in the Canadian National Film Archives Vault, where they had been kept in pristine condition and totally unknown to the world. Today Gavin is a London based film producer. The music tracks were mixed at Toronto’s Metal Works Studios and produced by Eddie Kramer. The entire film of this event was finally released in 2003. Ten Years After was filmed performing: “I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes” and “Love Like A Man” in Winnipeg and Ottawa. However, this footage was not included in the recent release of the Festival Express Film.   The 1970 train tour across Canada “The Rolling Rock Festival” was taken by some of the worlds biggest rock bands and individual stars, including the following names: Eric Anderson – The Band – The Buddy Guy Blues Band – Delany & Bonnie & Friends – The Flying Burrito Brothers – The Grateful Dead – Ian & Sylvia & Great Speckled Bird – Robert Charlebois – James and the Good Brothers – The Ides Of March – Janis Joplin – Mashmalchan (only in Toronto) – Leslie West and Mountain – Tom Rush – Traffic (Toronto only) – Ten Years After (didn’t ride on the train and were also not in the movie) – Seatrain – Sha-Na-Na…….   The Festival Experience in this case was very unique among Rock Festivals. Rather than flying to each city – meaning: Montréal – Toronto – Winnipeg – Calgary and Vancouver, the musicians would travel by a chartered Canadian National Railway Train. The ultimate idea was to foster an atmosphere of musical creativity and closeness between the performers. Thus, the trips between cities became a mixture of “Jam Sessions” and “Heavy Partying”, as there was no shortage of drugs and alcohol. Thus, one Alberta columnist wrote the following in concurrence: “The Calgary Clambake” – The direct legacy of the so called rock festivals, has been, murder, rape, drug peddling, drug addiction, seduction, and in the city proper, a tremendous increase in car thefts, hold ups and street assaults. Name any vice listed on the calendar of a modern decadent society, and it will flourish into a full blown rock festival. Another version states – “We believe that rock music today is the vital communication between it’s supporters”.  There was a two day and one stadium performance in Toronto, on June 27th and 28th. The July festival in Winnipeg Stadium, where the show is presented by Manisphere. Then its across the prairies to Calgary for the wind-up festival express on July 4th and 5th. Let it be known, “that it may well have been the final emergence of “Pop”  as an important Canadian Cultural Activity”. Says the Winnipeg Tribune.   But the actual Festival Express series of concerts didn’t come without its problems. The Vancouver concert was cancelled, due to the mayor’s direct decree to prevent them playing there in his district. The man was “Anti-Hippie” all the way. The Express Tour ended in early July of 1970….and some 30 years later (2003) (now 37 years later 2010) a “Rockumentary” of the event was produced and released on two DVD’s. The film made more than $1.2 Million Dollars at the U.S. box-office.   Many of the musicians in this film are no longer with us, which makes this event on film a true blessing for rock fans, blues fans and music fans in general. Janis Joplin died October 4, 1970….this film should be dedicated to her.

 

BRAVO  -  June  29, 1970

New Musical Express – July 4, 1970 Ten Years After A Week – By Roy Carr Alvin Lee – “Woodstock Film Big Boost For Alvin”.   Alvin Lee, has been referred to as the very last of the great British guitarist, drawing to a close a dynasty founded by Eric Clapton. By virtue of his dexterity and quicksilver technique, he has unkindly been called “Flash”. His appearance in the film of “Woodstock” 1969 – is definitely one of the high spots of the production, his haunting good looks and personal magnetism draw nightly applause from enthralled cinema audiences. This has resulted in a number of genuine offers arriving from America for him to star in big budget motion pictures. Ten Years After, and in particular Alvin, are bigger than most people will give them credit for. The much misused, and now meaningless tag of “Superstar” has been mentioned in conversation but totally dismissed by the recipient. “I don’t know what people expect of me and I can’t relate to it. I try not to associate myself with the Press image, otherwise you can get complacent. I just don’t take things too seriously. “As a person in the entertainment business, the only way I can warrant enjoying the money that I earn, is to concentrate fully on what I do, for that money, the very best way I can. “When I read something against either the band or myself, I tend to shrug it off. But I do try to listen to constructive criticism. “I believe the art of what I do comes from what I am spiritually. If the criticism is constructive and good, I learn from it. For it can further what I wish to achieve. “I’ve never been discouraged by anything or anyone”. Alvin has always been surrounded by music, for there was always a guitar to be found lying around the Lee household. As he admits, he use to plonk on it, but never got far. His interest was renewed when his sister’s boyfriend started playing. It was just a matter of time before he took a more concentrated interest. Today he is approaching the pinnacle of acceptance. Despite the pressures that go with successful achievement, he is trying to present both purpose and entertainment in his work. “I find U.S. tours very strenuous. I must admit I don’t look forward to them, but I usually end up liking them. “I’m trying to run happy music and deep mind music on a parallel. With the latest album “Cricklewood Green”, it’s entertaining music but if you want you can go deeper. “I don’t look too far ahead. I feel an album should be representative of that particular time”. On the other hand Alvin uses the group’s live performances as a kind of personal workout, a means of relieving tension. One of his greatest ever workouts, namely Woodstock, is nothing more than a blurred memory to him. “It really surprised me when I saw the film, because I really don’t remember much at the time. It wasn’t until I saw the actual footage in the cinema that I recalled it all. I thought that the camera and editing techniques were quite brilliant. One of the unavoidable hang-ups that Alvin encounters, is that you didn’t always get to meet certain people that you’d like to, simply because you’ve sometimes formed a pre-conceived opinion of them, and visa versa. However, he did meet one person who has since had the biggest influence on his career. Unfortunately, he was too young to recall meeting the legendary “Big Bill Broonzy”. “My folks actually knew Big Bill quite well”, he told me. “I met him once, but just can’t remember it. But I still have his autograph to prove it happened!”.

Hit Parader Magazine From July of 1970 Thirty Five Cents     Ten Years After – Look Back – A Long Look As there are many kinds of people, there are many kinds of superstars. Many have been created by media, many by music. Several owe it all to looks, and a few to backers. Regardless of the means by which a superstar is created, the end inevitably results in a different person. For Alvin Lee, who has been out front of his group Ten Years After since their first American tour in 1968, the role of superstardom is one which he is assuming only with reluctance, only in a secondary vein, and very much to avoid  hassles. “In my early days as a teenybopper, I was a great fan of Elvis, I joined his fan club as well. I just can’t imagine anyone thinking of me as I thought of Elvis Presley.”  “If people want to see me that way,” he shrugs disaffectedly, “well, that’s OK, but I can’t relate to it, because I don’t think it has anything to do with music.” With those italics lies the distinction between the world of musicians and the world of entertainers. The distinction is one about which Lee has mixed feelings, for primarily he is a musician trying to effect changes in the moods of his audiences through the medium of sound, whether it be live or on record.   Alvin, along with Ten Years After bassist Leo Lyons certainly had a crack at entertainment back in 1964, when they led a raunchy rock group in Hamburg, Germany. At that time they were very much into the popular affectations of rolling around on the floor and screaming after the third bridge of each song. But it soon became apparent to them that the purely visual affectations couldn’t generate the same communicable excitement as could heated musical interchanges. “The good thing,” says Lee, “is that people react physically to music-that the audience participates – and that you can play for the people and build around their reactions with your music. This is what’s important to us…the feeling we get fed back from the people.” “I used to wonder if I should go out and entertain, or just go out and play…and then I wondered, should I go out and play for the audience….or for myself. I used to be quite paranoid about things like that. But I found that it’s all the same thing if it is working. We and the audience react the same ways to the same things if we’re in tough, And if we’re not in touch, there’s no way to make it work.” “I’m always grateful when people listen. For a long time that didn’t happen, and there was no way for us to relate to the going-on, at that time we played for ourselves as a consolation. Today we realize that no sincere musician can honestly say that he plays the music for himself. If that were the case, the speakers should be turned around, facing him and not the audience.”  Alvin’s own musical background stems from his parent’s collection of “traditional jazz” – 30’s and 40’s American Dixie and Chicago style jazz that was sweeping through England in the early 50’s. Music freaks themselves, Alvin’s parents had “the box” plugged into the wall for the best part of every evening, and Alvin listened. His first instrument was a clarinet, (“Woodchoppers Ball” remaining one of his favourite pieces today, sounds a little different in pop-rock-blues-style). It was after Alvin became proficient on clarinet that the mode of  the music changed and Elvis began to shake. Alvin then ten years old got very heavily into the Elvis thing and precociously went back to the roots to find himself submerged under stacks of discs of the same people who drew their marks on Elvis. For several years he was fascinated by the techniques of black R & B artists whose records by that time, were over twenty years old. By the time Alvin was fifteen he was sitting in with black musicians who blew it up around a Jamaican refugee section of Nottingham, England. That stage of Alvin’s life remains the one in which he went through the greatest changes. Both personally and musically. “I once wished I was black, I used to go to a club where the black musicians sat about. The music was great. The singers and the fans…no one had inhibitions, and I wanted to get into that. I wanted very much to loose that part of my white heritage that made me more inhibited than the blacks. Then I started getting paranoid about being what my friends, who didn’t like it, called Negro lover. I really dug black people because they were so free. There came a point when I almost had to choose between my white friends and my black friends. It was a very heavy stage in my life. Fortunately or unfortunately, soon I began playing with Leo Lyons and eventually we went to Hamburg where we simulated  soul before gaining real soul of our own.”   Ten Years After became the name of the group Alvin and Leo formed, along with Chick Churchill (organ and piano) and Ric Lee (drums – and no relation to Alvin). The music of the group in the beginning was more inter-woven with jazz than it is now, but at the time there was no identifiable form. A fusion music, the boys felt that the name “Ten Years After” would suggest roots going back ten years before as well as inclinations toward the future. The history of the group’s American reception is unique in itself. Ten Years After has been through four American tours in less than two years, with not one supported by a hit single record. Four albums: Ten Years After – Undead – Stonedhenge – and SSSssshhh all on Deram Records, have met with exciting chart reception. A fifth album and a fifth tour are due for the first half of 1970. An undoubtedly beneficial residual of superstardom for Ten Years After will be the groups allowance in the studio for recording. Where as, with most up and coming, but not as yet not there groups, the beginning economics of the record business precludes limitless studio time. As Alvin put it down, “I’d like to spend enough time in the studio to put down a hundred tracks of tape. We can now afford to do this without necessarily releasing an album. Before it was a matter of just doing it and hoping it sounded good, because we had no choice but to release it.” For Lee, his elevation as a more than musical pop personality has left him unaffected by celebrity status and his head still is preoccupied with thoughts of making better music, and on the verge of his fifth trip to America, he’s still projecting outward, with his speakers turned toward the audience, picking his axe and reading a response. People react physically to music. It’s good that way.  Article written by Connie and Phil.

July 5th 1970, TEN YEARS AFTER perform at Atlanta Pop Festival

16 July 1970

The New York Pop Festival – Randall’s Island:  July 17 - 18 - and 19th - 1970 The Day The Music Died  Back in 1970, the whole idea of a “Rock Festival” was still such a new concept, that it was considered a radical – some feared – revolutionary idea. Just the thought of having 200,000 hairy people in a field, listening to rock `n´ roll was genuinely a cause for concern for some authorities. Their fears were definitely misplaced. Few were plotting a social revolution, most everyone just wanted to get laid, some good dope to smoke and great musicians to listen to while doing it. But as Bob Dylan so aptly stated it, “the times they were a changing”, and no one knew where rock `n´ roll was heading. One thing was for sure, some of the best bands of the era played, and the peace and love mantra died a quick death, as the echo lingered on for years to come. One of these important events  took place, about a year after the “Woodstock Festival” of 1969. It took place on New York’s Randall’s Island, also known as the “New York Pop Festival”. Unlike Woodstock, this event was set up very differently right from the start. It was to be held in Downing Stadium, and there was to be no camping allowed. It was also billed as a series of concerts rather than a “Traditional Rock Festival”. However, this being said, three weeks before the event even saw the light of day, an under-current of trouble was raising its ugly head. Enter, “The Black Panthers”, “The Yippies”, and “The Free Rangers”, presenting themselves as a self styled “RIP-OFF – COLLECTIVE” to the concert promoters.  These groups had demands, and the promoters felt that it was in their best interest to meet those demands, in order to avoid any retaliation. Although the demands were outrageously, ridiculous. The Demands Were: They wanted ten hand picked bands to play at $5,000 per group plus expenses. They wanted 10,000 free tickets, for them to hand out. Bail Funds, for anyone arrested at the festival. A percentage of the profits from any film of the gigs.  In return for compliance, the RIP-OFF COLLECTIVE – would promote the festival in their communities and also provide “TROOPS” to act as security and public relations men!!! If the promoters didn’t agree, there would be violence and they would call it a free peoples event, and no one would buy tickets. The promoters, no doubt were feeling a bit sick at this kind of blackmail, but agreed to negotiate. This in turn got the local “Young Lords” a bit cross. They also wanted a piece of the action and some of their demands were agreed upon by the promoters.  By the time people started arriving for the Friday Show, 8,000 out of the 25,000 did not pay, as the so-called security looked the other way, collecting no money at all. Jimi Hendrix, Grand Funk Railroad, John Sebastian, Steppenwolf, and Jethro Tull all played on Friday as scheduled. But, by Saturday, the bands started to realize that they wouldn’t be getting paid for their services. Due to so much gate-crashing, the band managers demanded to be paid up front before the bands even took the stage. In fact, Ravi Shanker refused to go on, Delaney and Bonnie, Miles Davis, Richie Havens and Tony Williams Lifetime didn’t even bother to show up at all.  By Sunday, the promoters gave up fighting and they called it a free concert – although in reality, it always was a free concert right from the get-go! 30,000 had gate-crashed it!  “Ten Years After” and “Cactus” both played without being paid. The same was true of “The New York Rock `N´ Roll Ensemble”, “Doctor John”, “Leslie West Mountain” and “Little Richard” followed suit, but most bands were a no-show!  A reporter asked promoter Don Friedman what he thought about the situation. His reply, “The Festival Spirit Is Dead, and it happened very quickly. I don’t know the exact reason why. Greed on everyone’s part I guess. The love and peace thing of Woodstock is out and Anarchy is in. Complete and total anarchy, that’s what’s replaced it”. It was a financial disaster. No money was paid to the collective, the bail fund collapsed and most performers were never paid their wage. It was disintegrating the entire counter-culture movement in 1970, right along with a bourgeoning rock and roll industry. But above all else, there was some blistering good music played at this, and other festivals of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The music is really what matters at the end of the day, then and now.

 

The Red Rocks Amphitheatre Is owned and operated by the Colorado State Parks System, and located near Morrison Colorado.  It’s a beautiful natural setting that seats up to 9,450 people, with acoustics made in heaven. Private and public performances have been given there, for well over one hundred years. On July 21, 1970 - Grand Funk Railroad opened the show there for Ten Years After, during a summer’s night concert. It remains some what of a little known concert, but it really did happen according to one loyal fan who wrote the following: “I went to summer school in 1970 in Golden, not far from Red Rocks. I was fortunate to see Grand Funk Railroad open for Ten Years After. What an amazing experience! Alvin Lee Red Rocks, Denver, 1970 by Dan Fong The CreativeEye   Riot At Red Rocks: This involved the band Jethro Tull, who played there on June 10, 1971. Apparently, a horde of devoted Jethro Tull fans showed up at the concert, without tickets, and expected to get in for free. The police / security there were kind enough to offer these non paying fans, a place behind the rocks where they could listen to the band – but couldn’t see them perform. After awhile, these fans weren’t at all content with that arrangement and decided to rush the security and crash through their lines, throwing rocks and stones at the guards. The police retaliated by lobbing canisters of tear gas back at the intruders. When all was said and done, it earned the venue a five year ban on rock bands playing there. The only musicians that were allowed to perform there were the following: Pat Boone, Sony and Cher, Seals and Crofts, Carol King, James Taylor, The Carpenters and John Denver.   Rock Ban Finally Lifted: The extended ban on rock and roll at the Red Rocks venue, was finally lifted, but not without a legal fight. The Denver court reversed its initial decision, when concert promoter Barry Fey, pursued the issue while trying  to book the band America there in 1975. Jethro Tull did return there to play on August 12, 2008 and again on June 8, 2011. U2 played there in June of 1983. The Grateful Dead made the place a traditional stop on their tours. 1978 was one of their dates there.  Many Famous Bands and People: The Beatles performed at Red Rocks on August 26, 1964. It was the only concert on their American tour that didn’t sell out! Jimi Hendrix played there on September 1, 1968 and loved it, along with Vanilla Fudge and Soft Machine. Geddy Lee of “Rush” said, “It’s an amazing location, one of the most beautiful concert venues in America, or anywhere for that matter” (2007 – 2010) Lynyrd Skynyrd 1987 Santana, James Taylor and Allman Brothers Band, July 4, 1992.  The Foo Fighters 2008. Tool August 3, 2002. ZZ-TOP - Pat Benatar - Billy Squire – Jackson Browne – Jimmy Buffett – Stevie Ray Vaughn – Social Distortion – Carole King – Neil Diamond – Chuck Mangione – Stevie Nicks - Willie Nelson – Boston – Dan Fogelberg – Tom Petty – Blues Travelier – Cold Play – Crosby-Stills-Nash and Young – Paul Simon – Linda Ronstandt – Moody Blues – The Eagles – The Charlie Daniels Band – Percy Sledge - .38 Special – Sha-Na-Na – Poison – Journey Peter Frampton – Molly Hatchet – Night Ranger and of course Grand Funk Railroad and Ten Years After.

back to MENU