Ten Years After - Blues (1971)

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

Ten Years After - The Sounds (1972)

I put this album together to collect some hard to find songs by Ten Years After, as I'd always loved tracks like 'Going To Try', 'Love Like A Man' and 'No Title' and wondered if there was any rare stuff tucked away online. After I'd uncovered a number of rare songs I had a look online to put some notes together to accompany them, and was surprised to discover that the 'Alvin Lee And Company' album from 1972 was actually a compilation including a lot of these songs, whereas from the title I'd always assumed that it was a collection of collaborations with other artists. Consequently I'd never heard it, but having now seen the track listing I decided to carry on with this post, as I'd included the original 'Spider In My Web' which was re-recorded for the Deram album, and as 'Standing At The Crossroads' later turned up on the extended re-issue of 'Undead', I've omitted that and replaced it with some other out-takes from the debut album and 'Cricklewood Green' sessions, plus a couple of tracks from sessions in Cap Ferret in 1972, completely forgotten until they were unearthed recently for a retrospective box-set. It's quite a mixture of styles, from the early psyche-pop of 'Portable People', to the experimental 'The Sounds', the pure blues of 'Spider In Your Web', and the jazzy 'Woodchopper's Ball', all showcasing Alvin Lee's dazzling guitar-work, but it also shows the different aspects of the band's repertoire, and proves that their reputation isn't just built on that famous live performance of 'I'm Going Home'. 

Track listing

01 Portable People (single 1968)
02 The Sounds (b-side of 'Portable People')
03 Rock Your Mama (single 1968)
04 Spider In My Web (b-side of 'Rock Your Mama')
05 Hold Me Tight (previously unreleased 1968)
06 Woodchopper's Ball (previously unreleased 1968)
07 Holy Shit (The Cap Ferret Sessions 1972)
08 If You Should Love Me (b-side of 'Love Like A Man' 1970)
09 Warm Sun (previously unreleased 1970)
10 To No One (previously unreleased 1970)
11 Look At Yourself (The Cap Ferret Sessions 1972)