RFI: Ten Years After

"Undead" is extremely raw and brutal -- a good selection from
a small club performance before Alvin Lee became a caricature of
himself.

The second live record on Columbia is after Woodstock fame and
the band sounds less raw -- the recording being superior and the
playing more arena-ready smooth. Really long versions of some
blo-0-ooz numbers as excuses for Alvin Lee's guitar wank. It also
contains the most crunching version of "I'm Going Home" in
TYA's catalog.

More recently, a similar concert "at the Fillmore" was released
on CD. It's much the same as above.

"Alvin Lee and Company" was an album of leftovers Deram, I think,
reissued after TYA left the label. It has a couple good, short
singles in Lee's jacked-up rockabilly style and "Boogie On,"
which is something worth hearing if you're really into the
TYA shtick. Lee just smashes his guitar as everyone else drops
out for a few minutes. Bandwise, it's a number of strung together
solos.

"Ten Years Later" wasn't Ten Years After, but is much in the
same vein, Lee in a trio. It's very punch yer face -- half-studio, half-live. The boogies pound, a short version of "Going Home" is decent, the band is about midway between hard rock and metal.

Some people like "SSSShhh," "Cricklewood," "Watt," and "Rock and Roll to the World," but the live recordings pretty much condense the
best of those along with the long bl-o-o-o-o-z things that
were the coin of the realm at the time.

Thanks! I've been listening to more online... I'm not crazy about the boogie stuff (not crazy about boogie in general), but some of the rock material is really excellent. Fantastic guitar.