Alvin Lee has passed

I got this off of the Alvin Lee website. This is an incredible loss! My thoughts are with his family and friends. WITH GREAT SADNESS WE HAVE TO ANNOUNCE THAT ALVIN UNEXPECTEDLY PASSED AWAY EARLY THIS MORNING AFTER UNFORSEEN COMPLICATIONS FOLLOWING A ROUTINE SURGICAL PROCEDURE. WE HAVE LOST A WONDERFUL MUCH LOVED FATHER AND COMPANION, THE WORLD HAS LOST A TRULY GREAT AND GIFTED MUSICIAN. JASMIN, EVI AND SUZANNE   If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Rainman Records artist: Alvin Lee - Still On The Road To Freedom - New Recording Review

Alvin Lee... yes the real Alvin Lee, has just come out of the studio and is ready to release a new cd, Still On The Road To Freedom, on August 27, 2012. To say that I am a long time Alvin Lee fan is a tremendous understatement. I was a young kid when I heard Alvin Lee for the first time and it was an eye opening experience. I had never heard such music. The song was I Woke Up This Morning from the SSSH album and it was on an obscure radio station that my older teenaged sister had on in the family car. My musical interests are forever changed. This new recording with 12 new tracks and one remake that is totally unrecognizable from it's original form shows that lee is still exploring uncharted territory. The first track, the title track, Still On The Road To Freedom, follows a lot of previous jazz/blues influenced rock tunes by Lee and there is absolutely no question that Lee can still sing, write and play with the effort of a feather. Great song. He has undeniable form and tone. By the way, I have been asked before what classic guitar amp tone is.. I mean...identify it I point to SSSH. Some things never change. Listen To Your Radio Station is up next with Lee experimenting with beat and soloing, not at all unlike Jeff Beck. I would never compare the two superstars because they are so different, but I am only stating that Lee on this particular song too to a Beck formula and played great guitar riffs over a solid drum riff.... very cool. (Now don't buy this and complain it doesn't sound like Jeff beck...it doesn't...it sounds like Alvin lee!) Midnight Creeper gets a smooth bass/drum rhythm going and Lee plays guitar and sings over this basic drive pattern. This cd has quite a bit less structure than many of his compositions of the past.It gives Lee a much less structured framework in which to work and is quite tasty if you can set aside your TYA expectations. Save My Stuff catches Lee on harp and doing a polished little blues track but maintaining his basic rock structure as in more recent solo efforts. I'm A Lucky Man explores Lees early country (rockabilly if your prefer) roots ... if you really listen you can hear Porter Wagoner as much as Chuck Berry.... that's what is great about real music... it defines definition and blurs lines. Sound Of The Red Rock captures a unique side of Lee which I have seen. It has a bit of a Spanish flare to my ear and a melody that is very strong. Nice and Easy really captures the style of JJ Cale with the laid back voices and biting guitar work. Back In 69 takes a clue from Bo Diddley but anyone hearing it would definitely peg it for Alvin Lee not only because of his recognizable hooks and distinctive voice but his unmistakable guitar playing. This song features riffs that I have never heard from Lee and is the most experimental track on the cd. I really like it. Rock You see's Lee tromping around in funky territory. Lee's voice still sounds as fresh as it did the day that I first heard it. Remarkable. Lee wraps the recording with, as I alluded to before, a remake of one of my favorites, Love Like A Man, but it is really pretty unrecognizable as the same track unless you are really listening. It takes the stance of a heavy bottomed Texas blues with a touch of swing and a rock twist. It's really quite interesting and then to top it off with Lee using not only signature riffs but multiple pinched harmonics like I never heard from Lee. Alvin Lee's creative juices are still flowing strong. This recording is not only going to delight the thousands of fans that I encounter each day but will certainly capture many many more. Oh Yeah...and don't take the cd off too fast...there's a nice acoustic track at the end of the cd.

Alvin...great to have you back!


If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Couldn't find the new arrangement on this track...but I can listen to it anyway!

Love Like A Man - Alvin Lee

This guy is one of the few responsible for getting me from listening to the radio and listening to "MUSIC". I have already told the story before so I won't reiterate... but let's just say Alvin blew my doors off when I first heard him on a one speaker am radio station!

Thanks Alvin!! Keep playing!!
Alvin Lee (born Graham Barnes, 19 December 1944, Nottingham, England) is an English rock guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at the age of 13, and with Leo Lyons formed the core of the band Ten Years After in 1960. Influenced by his parents' collection of jazz and blues records, it was the advent of rock and roll that sparked his interest, and guitarists such as Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore provided his inspiration.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click Here

Spider In My Web - Ten Years After

The studio cut of this appears on "Undead" which is a great recording of vintage Ten Years After with Alvin Lee. Check it out!!



Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition they have had twelve albums enter the US Billboard 200, and are best known for their tracks "I'm Going Home", "Hear Me Calling", "I'd Love To Change the World" and "Love Like a Man".
Chick Churchill (born Michael George Churchill, 2 January 1946, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England) is the keyboard player of the British late 1960s to 70s rock band, Ten Years After
Churchill began playing the piano at the age of six and studied classical music until he was fifteen. He became interested in blues and rock music, and joined his first band Sons of Adam in Nottingham. Churchill then met Alvin Lee of The Jaybirds. At first, Churchill joined the band as its road manager, but he soon became the keyboard player.

In November 1966 there was a name change to Ten Years After. With this group, Churchill played at major rock festivals including Woodstock in 1969, and the Isle of Wight Festival on 29 August 1970.

In 1973 he recorded a solo album You and Me (Chrysalis 1051)

Ten Years After broke up in 1976 and Churchill became Professional Manager at Chrysalis Music; the company was then owned by his manager, Chris Wright. In 1977, he left to found Whitsett Churchill Music Publishing with Tim Whitsett, publishing and promoting American artists, especially from the south.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Rock and Roll Music To The World - Alvin Lee

Ok...Humor me!! I haven't played Jeff Beck in a couple of days!!
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

You Knew It was Coming.... Interview - Alvin Lee

Just for fun!!

Alvin Lee (born Graham Barnes, 19 December 1944, Nottingham, England) is an English rock guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at the age of 13, and with Leo Lyons formed the core of the band Ten Years After in 1960. Influenced by his parents' collection of jazz and blues records, it was the advent of rock and roll that sparked his interest, and guitarists such as Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore provided his inspiration.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Love Like a Man - Ten Years After

As you know...one of my top 10 of all time!!
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE


Alvin Lee and Ten Years After

Enjoy!!

Love Like A Man

Alvin Lee and Ten Years After... still can't get away from the best blues rock

Oh to see these guys again together!

Slow Blues in C - Alvin Lee

Now I warned you when you tuned in, I love Alvin Lee. Time for my daily dose. This isn't the best example of his work but I gotta take what video has to offer me. Hope you enjoy it.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Help Me

This is a guy who has been so far under the blues radar that it is almost unbelievable. I talk with guitar players who have been playing and they say...oh yeah...he played that one song on Woodstock. That's his whole deal. Alvin Lee is a spectacular guitar player and a terrific blues player. His band Ten Years After was very experimental for the time and they did a lot of different sounds from blues to "rock and roll". He even ventured into country (British style)and had quite a long career but as with many players was tied to the few songs that gave him airplay and he burned out. He stopped touring for a while. He reformed different bands but never regained (on cd) the magic that was created in these old Ten Years After recordings. Sure there are some gems in everything that he does and I heard a live album that he did a few years back in Italy and it was terrific. Ten Years After has reformed but Alvin refuses to hop the pond so they are with a new guitar player.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE


Hope you like it.

I Woke Up This Morning

This is rare early footage of Alvin Lee and Ten Years After playing a developmental version of a blues song they later developed. Just seeing Alvin not playing an ES335 is strange. Alvin is one of th3 original guitar smokers. You gotta dig this to see where a lot of the modern guys came from. Enjoy.
Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE