Guitar slinger Alvin Lee had been playing for several years before the group Ten Years After coalesced just in time to get a residency at London’s famed Marquee Club in late 1966. Having fleshed out their sound by adding piano player ‘Chick’ Churchill, the band signed with Decca’s progressive Deram label on the back of an appearance at the epochal Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival.
The Ten Years After debut was released in October 1967 and was an exemplar of the British Blues Boom, offering blues-rock interpretations of blues classics such as Willie Dixon’s ‘Spoonful’ as well as a collection of originals. The band called it quits in 1974 after their ninth album (in seven years). And that’s without the double LP Ten Years After Live (1973). All but the last mentioned are included in this 2021 boxed set from Chrysalis.
This is an excellent collection for anyone a fan of British blues-rock. Right from the early days the band played American music with enthusiasm and skill, led by Alvin Lee’s incendiary guitar work. Lee is the band’s focal point through all phases: the early years, the psychedelic influences, the post Woodstock popularity and the later albums embracing a broader rock palette.
As is the current fashion on CD re-issues, this collection of ten discs is housed in a clamshell box with an excellent booklet. As well as an extensive history and reproductions of posters and other ephemera of the time, the booklet includes recollections from band members and other significant players, adding a pleasing immediacy to the read.
He was the first badass, super fast lead guitarist I remember hearing as a kid. Legend.
Slash [Booklet quote]
Alvin Lee was an excellent guitarist who many consider under-rated. Part of the problem might be that Lee was a much better guitarist than singer. Not that there is anything remotely wrong or sub-par about his vocals; I’d make a short-term pact with a minor demon to sing that well. But in Premier League rock terms, his is not a strong voice. He’s no Chris Farlowe thunderhead or Robert Plant skyrocket. Still, a high proportion of these albums are top notch, with only a few in danger of relegation.
The bonus disc, by the way, is material from the Rock And Roll Music To The World sessions. Good solid stuff, but nothing revelatory.
Overall, probably one for committed fans rather than the casual listener. Your current correspondent, for example, loses interest after 1970. Still, it is terrific value for money.*
* Just under $50AU for the box
Ten Years After 1967 - 1974 [10 CDs with light card sleeves] Chrysalis Records 2021
vinylconnection.com.au 
The best Ten Years After album is for me “Stonedhenge”. There is a eight minutes lively improvisation in “No Title” and some simple blues-rock hits like “Going To Try”, “Speed Kills” and “Hear Me Calling” are differentiated, but nevertheless intoxicating rock songs, and the thumbnails between songs are anything but stopgap. The album title and cover art also showed some ingenuity.
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Stonedhenge is great, isn’t it?
Working through the box, I really enjoyed the youthful energy of the debut and Cricklewood Green. The last couple seem a bit ‘by numbers’.
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Sure, there are some good Ten Years After albums till “Cricklewood Green”. I also like their fourth LP “Sssh” which captures the power of their live performances in the recording studio.
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Wow! 18 CDs! I actually have a couple of albums, an may be tempted … maybe one for my Christmas list if Santa is feeling flush 😉
Great band; fantastic guitarist and agree, I think they are often overlooked and underrated.
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Fingers crossed that Santa will come through. Easy to imagine the red-suited chap cranking up “I’m going home” (their Woodstock show-stopper) after a long night delivering pressies!
(10 CDs in the box, btw)
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Well done, all I have is a comp for these guys.
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Yeah, nice to have the selection. Most of the albums (like many at the time) are pretty short (32-35 mins) so I imagine pulling one out now and then for a bit of an electric boogie. 🙂
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Sounds like the time I made a disc of all the Van Halen albums and got through the first (at least) four while I worked around the house for a bit lol.
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That’s a fun idea. “Your Go To cd for chores”!
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I was having so much fun it wasn’t even like chores at all.
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👍😊
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“Cricklewood Green” is my fave TYA album, by a long margin, and one that I still spin pretty regularly. I’ve heard all the other early ones, but am not as familiar with them . . . maybe need to get the box to freshen the memory!!
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There’s a lot in the box, J.Eric!
Yes, Cricklewood Green is my favourite too. I also really like Stonedhenge and the debut. (I bought it from the horrible A place; it was very good value)
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I just went through an intense listen to these guys (before you sent me on a Soft Machine ride). lots to like especially that early stuff with some gems to be found in the later work also. Good looking package from a group that made solid music.
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Great summary, CB. Did you have a (temporary) fave? For me it was Cricklewood Green.
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Im jumped on the train with Cricklewood when I was a kid. So much good stuff when I was indulging a while ago. Jazzy blues on the first few. I also heard our buddy Mose influencing Lee’s vocals. It was a case of me rediscovering and discovering music I had missed. All those albums in that box set were getting lots of spins. Kind of blended together. Stonehenge, Shhh, Space in Time are from my pile so familar with them. I really did wallow in it plus I was hooked into the live sets. Now look what you did Bruce, you’re nudging me back to it.
* Disclaimer – CBs mind is a little cooked having listened to quite a bit of music since the 10 Years After indulgence.
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Sautéd in music is a good state, mate. Enjoy. 🙂
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[…] The early Ten Years After albums are great. Full of exuberant blues rock playing, led by the incendiary guitar of Alvin Lee. I’d say Watt is the last ‘essential’ LP, though others might disagree. The box featured here. […]
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