Alvin Lee - ...and on guitar (1992)

Graham Anthony Barnes (aka Alvin Lee) was born on 19 December 1944, and began playing guitar at the age of 13. In 1960 he and Leo Lyons formed the core of the band he was most associated with, Ten Years After, after firstly being influenced by his parents' collection of jazz and blues records, but mostly being inspired by the advent of rock and roll. The band's big break came in 1969, when their performance at the Woodstock Festival was captured on film, and his lightning-fast playing helped catapult him to stardom, and soon the band was playing arenas and stadiums around the globe after the film brought Lee's music to a worldwide audience. Ten Years After released ten albums together, but by 1973 Lee was feeling limited by the band's style, with Columbia Records steering them into a pop direction following a radio hit with 'I'd Love To Change The World, while Lee preferred blues-rock, and so he left the band after their second Columbia LP. Along with American Christian rock pioneer Mylon LeFevre, and guests George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood and Mick Fleetwood, he recorded and released 'On The Road To Freedom', which was acclaimed as being at the forefront of country rock. Also in 1973, he sat in on the Jerry Lee Lewis double album 'The Session...Recorded in London', and a year later, in response to a dare, he formed Alvin Lee & Company to play a show at the Rainbow Theatre in London, and released it as the double live album 'In Flight'. After guesting on records by George Harrison and Splinter in 1974, he played guitar on a couple of tracks on Bo Diddley's 'The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll', and he finished the 70's with an outfit called Ten Years Later, with Tom Compton on drums and Mick Hawksworth on bass, releasing two albums and touring extensively throughout Europe and the United States. The 1980's brought another change in Lee's direction, with two albums that were collaborations with Rare Bird's Steve Gould, and a tour for which the former John Mayall and Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor joined his band, and guest appearances ceased for most of that decade, only appearing on Roger Chapman's 'Techno-Prisoners' in 1987. Lee died on 6 March 2013 in Spain, as a result of unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure to correct an atrial arrhythmia. He was 68.

Track listing

01 Movin' On Down The Line (from 'The Session' by Jerry Lee Lewis 1973)
02 Gravy Train (from 'The Place I Love' by Splinter 1974)
03 Ding Dong Ding Dong (from 'Dark Horse' by George Harrison 1974)
04 Royal Majesty (from 'Anniversary Special: Volume One' by The Earl Scruggs Revue 1975)
05 Cat Dance (from 'Peter And The Wolf' Various Artists album 1975)
06 Kill My Body (from 'The 20th Anniversary Of Rock & Roll' by Bo Diddley 1976)
07 Wild Again (from 'Techno-Prisoners' by Roger Chapman 1987)
08 No Limit (from 'Guitar Speak' Various Artists album 1988)
09 I Love New York (from 'The Taiga Symphony' by Valeria 1991)
10 Jane (From 'Rockeye' by The Outfield 1992)

Rory Gallagher - ...and on guitar (1978)

William Rory Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal in 1948, and bought his first guitar at age 12, performing in his adolescence with both his acoustic and an electric guitar. However, it was a 1961 Fender Stratocaster, which he purchased three years later for £100, that became his primary instrument and was most associated with him during his career. He was initially attracted to skiffle after hearing Lonnie Donegan on the radio, and while still in school he played songs by Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, before discovering his greatest influence in Muddy Waters. In 1963, he joined a showband named Fontana, a sextet playing the popular hit songs of the day, and toured Ireland and the UK with them, earning money for the payments that were due on his Stratocaster. Gallagher began to influence the band's repertoire, and by 1965 he had eventually moulded them into an R&B group, with a new name of The Impact. After leaving The Impact in 1966 Gallagher formed a blues-rock trio called The Taste, later shortened to Taste, which lasted until they broke up in 1970. Gallagher then embarked on a long and extremely successful solo career, releasing many well-received albums, and touring extensively. During this period he was invited to play with many of his childhood heroes, contributing guitar to albums by Lonnie Donnegan, Muddy Waters and Jerry Lee Lewis. He also played on fellow Irishman Joe O'Donnell's 1977 concept jazz-fusion album 'Gaodhal's Vision', and Mike Batt's 'Tarot Suite', another concept album from 1978. His first guest appearance was on Mike Vernon's debut blues album from 1971, where Vernon managed to get both Gallagher and Paul Kossoff to provide guitar solos for his record. Also in 1971 he guested on a couple of recordings by Chris Barber, which were later compiled onto a retrospective of the renowned jazz/bluesman, but it was the recordings with Waters and Donnegan (on his last album) of which Gallagher was reportedly most proud.   

Track listing

01 Come Back Baby (from 'Bring It Back Home' by Mike Vernon 1971)
02 Drat The Frattle Rat (from 'The Outstanding Album' by Chris Barber 1971)
03 Sleepy Lovie (from 'The Outstanding Album' by Chris Barber 1971)
04 Music To The Man (from 'The Session' by Jerry Lee Lewis 1973)
05 Juke Box (from 'The Session' by Jerry Lee Lewis 1973)
06 Hard Days (from 'London Revisited' by Muddy Waters & Howlin' Wolf 1974)
07 Poets And Storytellers (from 'Gaodhal's Vision' by Joe O'Donnell  1977)
08 Rock Island Line (from 'Putting On The Style' by Lonnie Donnegan  1978)
09 Drop Down Baby (from 'Putting On The Style' by Lonnie Donnegan  1978)
10 Tarota (from 'Tarot Suite' by Mike Batt 1978)