I've always considered Ten Years After to be a blues-based band, possibly because their debut album from 1967 was very much in the British Blues style of Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack, but from their second studio album onward they drifted into more of a rock style, although they did still include the odd straight blues track on their records. Listening to 'I Woke Up This Morning' from their 'Ssssh' album recently, I realised just what a great blues band they could be when they felt like it, and so I decided to put together an album of just their straight-out blues recordings from the first five years of their career. My opinion of the change in style after that debut was proved correct, when I found that there were really only eleven tracks that could be called "blues" on their seven albums to 1971, and one of them was a single b-side which never even appeared on an album. The scarcity of suitable recordings means that this album is a very concise 46 minutes, but it's a nice mix of electric and acoustic blues, most of which showcase Alvin Lee's superb guitar chops. So as a companion-piece to similar albums on the blog from Led Zeppelin, Johnny Winter and Pat Travers, here is Ten Years After at their bluesiest best.
Track listing
01 I Woke Up This Morning
02 Don't Want You Woman
03 A Sad Song
04 Year 3000 Blues
05 I Want To Know
06 One Of These Days
07 My Baby Left Me
08 Woman Trouble
09 Turned Off T.V. Blues
10 Two Time Mama
11 Spider In My Web
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