Undead
Ten Years After
Deram DES 18016
1968
When I saw Alvin Lee's obituary last week, I immediately flashed back to all the time I spent during my high school years playing air guitar to Ten Years After's famous performance of "I'm Going Home" on the "Woodstock" soundtrack album. To this day I can mentally recall his epic solo by heart. It was one of my favorite cuts on that album and my favorite part of the movie. I dug the band in high school but then I started to pay attention to the words of Lee's apathy anthem "I'd Love to Change The World" with its homophobic slurs and complaints about taxing the rich and decided I didn't like him very much anymore. I do still like this album though from its psychedelic cover to the highly charged blues-rock inside. I consider it one of their best records. It was their second album, recorded live at Klooks Kleek in London. After a brief introduction the band jumps into the swinging "I May Be Wrong, But I Won't Be Wrong Always" with plenty of Lee's trademark lightning fast guitar runs. Lee was not nearly as imaginative as the top line guitarists of his era, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page, but his energy and fluidity are impressive. There is also an organ solo from Chick Churchill and a bass solo from Leo Lyons which seem pedestrian next to Lee's playing. My biggest knock on the song and the band is that Lee isn't much of a singer, when he tries to get down and get bluesy, he sounds strained. Fortunately there isn't much singing on the song which goes on for nearly 10 minutes, it is mostly a framework for the extended soloing. The side concludes with a fast-paced workout on Woody Herman's "Woodchopper's Ball." This time there is no singing to get in the way of Lee's frenetic fretwork. It is a dazzling performance. Churchill takes a lengthy organ solo that is quite engaging but it sounds like it is in slow motion in comparison to Lee. I could do without Lyons' bass solo which stops the song dead, but Lee's final solo brings the song back to life and he practically has my speakers smoking with his incendiary licks. Great stuff. Side two opens with "Spider In Your Web" which is a slow blues that exposes Lee's weak vocals. Since speed is the essence of Lee's style, this slow tune works against his assets as a guitarist not that the slow tempo stops him from unleashing a torrent of notes but they sound forced and showy. The more stately pace does give Churchill space to stretch out a little for his solo which I find more convincing than Lee's. Next up is an instrumental version of "Summertime" which is taken at a faster tempo than normal. It sounds sort of jazzy and I like it, but it is ruined when it evolves into "Shantung Cabbage" which is the name given to Ric Lee's crappy drum solo which seemingly goes on forever. The album concludes with "I'm Going Home," the song the band made famous in "Woodstock." It is a tad slower than the "Woodstock" version but it is tighter and less bloated as well. It is a thrilling performance and gives the album a rousing finish. Admittedly this is pretty simple stuff, repetitive blues based riffs with minimal variations and banal lyrical content, Lee's hyper-active playing is the only thing that makes it exciting, if not interesting. I generally only reach for it when I want to bop around mindlessly, it does get me going that's for sure. Recommended to air guitarists looking for a challenge.
Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Epic BN 26402
1968
This is the debut album by Fleetwood Mac. It is generally known as just "Fleetwood Mac" but I've opted for the title that is on the spine of the album sleeve to distinguish it from the 1975 "Fleetwood Mac" that was a very different group's commercial breakthrough. It is basically the same cover as the English original except that someone at Epic Records decided to add a pink border to the cover picture for reasons that escape me. The track listing is the same. As you probably already know, Fleetwood Mac started life as a blues band, part of the British blues boom of the late 1960s. With the addition of Danny Kirwan, this line-up of the group would evolve into a remarkably powerful and creative rock band, their "Live In Boston" box set is one of my most cherished records, I wouldn't trade it for everything Cream ever recorded. At this stage though they were basically a straight blues band, talented but derivative. I'm not a big blues fan, rhythm and blues is much more my thing. On the rare occasion when I feel like hearing the blues I'm going to be reaching for Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf or B. B. King, not John Mayall, Dave Kelly, the Groundhogs or any other English group imitating them. Nonetheless I do play this record sometimes for a couple of reasons. One is that Peter Green was a truly gifted guitar player. His beautiful, fluid solos send me every time I hear them. The second reason is that I find Jeremy Spencer to be very entertaining. His shtick at this time was basically to imitate Elmore James, but he does it so well that I play his records more than James himself. His passionate singing and exuberant slide guitar playing really bring these songs to life. The manic cover of James' "Shake Your Moneymaker" on this album is easily my favorite cut. It is impossible for me to hear it without bopping around, it is pure kinetic energy - rock and roll at its finest. Spencer also tackles James' "Got To Move" and his own compositions, "My Heart Beat Like A Hammer," "My Baby's Good To Me" and "Cold Black Night" are obviously derived from James' songs, particularly "Dust My Broom" and "The Sun is Shining." I like all of them, especially "My Heart Beat Like A Hammer" which really rocks. The one exception from Spencer's Elmore James fixation is his solo performance of Robert Johnson's "Hellhound On My Trail" which features some rather moving singing and piano playing from Spencer although it is even more derivative than his other cuts. Peter Green's compositions are not much more original than Spencer's but at least they are more eclectic. My favorite is the slinky "Looking for Somebody" which boasts some really nice harmonica work as does the raunchy "Long Grey Mare." "I Loved Another Woman" is another slow smoldering blues that features some of Green's best guitar work on the record. I admire the guitar solo on "Merry Go Round" as well. Green's solo acoustic performance on "The World Keep On Turning" much like Spencer's "Hellhound On My Trail" just serves to reveal how imitative this record is - minus the distracting power of the full band all I hear are English guys copying their idols. This is also the case with "No Place To Go" which can't hold a candle to the urgency and desperation of Howlin' Wolf's ferocious original despite Green's passionate vocal. Regardless of the lack of originality in this music, I still appreciate this record, it was obviously made with a lot of love and enthusiasm and more than a little talent. Recommended for John Mayall fans who wish he had a better sense of humor.
