Located on 105 Second Avenue in New York City, the Fillmore East was the
brainchild of concert promoter Bill Graham. A small theater with a seating
capacity of a couple of thousand, this quaint little venue featured the
likes of Humble Pie, The Allman Brothers, Mountain, Creedance Clearwater
Revival and many other big name acts of the countercultural 60s and early
70s.
Working with Cream could have earned Eric Clapton credit in the earlier
inventions of "power trios." So when Cream disbanded, Ten Years after
seemed a natural choice for picking up the blue-rock banner Clapton, Jack
Bruce and Ginger Baker flung to the ground. Hardly considered a power trio
because of organist Chick Churchill rounding out the ensemble, Ten Years
After was the continuum of what Cream had mapped out. Guitarist Alvin Lee
might have been the 'fastest gun the the west' as he charged up and down the
fretboard with stratospheric blues-rock runs. Leo Lyons wouldn't be left in
the dust as he followed along on his bass pumping adrenaline. Ric Lee's
jazz approach to drumming was fresh and made his solo spot on "The Hobbit" a
noticeable display of human energy. Chick Churchill was no keyboardist
virtuoso. His job was to add texture to material like "Love Like A Man" and
"GoodMorning Little SchoolGirl" to help them attain hit single status.
Which makes listeners of classic blues rock wonder why Live At The Fillmore
East took 30 years to release. While not on a par with the Allman Brother's
golden nugget, the double cd sets finds Ten Years After at the height of
commercial success. Cream might have broken up at that point in time. But
those witnessing the February 27th and February 28th performances at the
Fillmore all but forgot Clapton and his band of merrymen. Ten Years After
were a group that took no prisoners when they speeded through "Fifty
Thousand Miles Beneath My Brain" and unleashing their jazz hounds in "Love
Like A Man" and "Good Morning Little SchoolGirl."
With the dawning of the seventies, came the long jams characterizing Ten
Years After, The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band, taking them
into the early morning hours. "Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob" is a nineteen minute
workout of blues-based psychedelia under a jazz and rock smokescreen with
each member stretching their chops and even saluting Cream with hints of
"Sunshine of Your Love." Like many jam songs, "Skoobly" gets quiet, moody,
slow and psychologically abusive all at once.
The second CD is more or less the same. "Help Me" is an Alvin Lee guitar
marathon of rippling guitar notes geared for mass destruction running at
sixteen minutes. Like the infamous Woodstock performance, "I'm Going Home"
finds Alvin ripping notes in machine gun fury and earning his fastest gun
the west moniker. Even the comatose of the hippies were standing in their
chairs shaking their hippie hair and dropping their granny glasses as Lee
and gang shook the stage with a triple-decker sandwich of rock, blues and
boogie. More amazing is that Alvin never used effects. Tapped the strings
with a drumstick. Other then that, Alvin preferred to let his fingers do
the talking.
And walk they did. "I Woke Up This Morning" finds Ten Years After returning
to bluesy jazz roots. Lee acknowledges original rock master Chuck Berry
with steamy platter takes on "Sweet Little 16" and "Roll Over Beethoven."
"Spoonful" is another lickathon of Lee's guitar hijinks.
Ten Years After fans wanting morsels of blues rock shoveled ay Alvin and
company owe it to themselves to seek out this disk. Aside from being guitar
player's heaven, it's also proof that Ten Years after could rock with the
best of them. For those who might remember and were in the crowd that night,
it's a chance to lay back, listen to the music and reflect on misspent
youth.
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