music friday: alvin lee and ten years after

Alvin Lee, guitarist/singer for Ten Years After, died on this date in 2013 at the age of 68. (Unrelated trivia: Estepona is where my grandparents were from.) We saw Ten Years After at Fillmore West in 1968, on a bill headlined by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, with Fleetwood Mac (the Peter Green version) as openers. This was a year before Woodstock ... more to the point, it was two years before the movie of Woodstock came out, after which Alvin Lee was the proverbial "household name":

I've always wondered about that watermelon at the end. Someone named Mark Rosenthal, who was at Woodstock, has this story, which he told to Raquel B. Pidal, after seeing the movie. Seems someone near Mark had a watermelon, and they were going to cut it up and share it. But some stoner said no, he was going to give it to Alvin Lee. They told him he was crazy, the stage was a million miles away, but he disappeared with the watermelon. A year later, Mark saw the movie, and found out what had happened to that watermelon.

Ten Years After was a major act for a few years after the Woodstock movie. Lee's guitar playing was always the center of attention, but he was also the primary composer for the band. For me, he was a better instrumentalist than songwriter. The band's biggest hit was "I'd Love to Change the World", and it sounds great ... whenever it comes up on Classic Rock stations, I have to listen. But the lyrics ... as Christgau said, "fellow seems to believe that if you 'tax the rich to feed the poor' you soon run out of rich, with dire consequences."

Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
'Til there are no rich no more?

My favorite of all Ten Years After songs was Woody Herman's "Woodchopper's Ball". Lee's speedy fingers are so ridiculous that they make me smile every time. The version I grew up on was from their live album Undead, but this version from 1983 gets the point across:

Footnote:

I mentioned Fleetwood Mac. I can't let the moment pass without giving a shout out to Peter Green, and his greatest performance, "Love That Burns":

Comments

[Tomás]

Great post. I know the song "I'd Like to Change the World" but I couldn't have named the band or Alvin Lee, so thanks.

[Steven Rubio]

It's funny, I thought I'd included a YouTube of that song. So I added one after the fact. Thanks!

[Carl Broom]

I am totally disgusted with all of the guitar ratings!You know it’s a bunch of phoney bs!This guy in my opinion is right next to Hendricks Jeff beck!A lot of young people are turning on to his music and everyone of them onare blown away!By this mega star!Listen to Album SPace in Time and listen to his guitar amazing! Yes rolling stone and guitar have lost their credibility!Alvin stoled the show at Wood Stock!Listen to I’m going Home!Yes Hendricks Townsend And Carlos Santana’s were there he blew Woodstock away!Look man give this guy his due! Jimmy Page said Alvin Lee was the only guy he would pay to see!So there you go if y’all want credibility put the man where he belongsRip Alvin the world is turning on to your music years later!!!!!They all say same thing this guy is brilliant!

[CarlBroom]

Forgot to tell ya on space in time Love to Change World but also check out everything on Space in Time!Let The Sky Fall Here we Come all of songs fabulous!Also he and George Harrison did The Bluiest Blues another fabulous song!Thers a video of him using a drum stick on strings this guy plays slow to warp speed in seconds!He is singer and lead guitarist!You will not be sorry and play this album at party no body knows about him well they will be hooked!They were light years ahead!