Thoughts on Alvin Lee

The other day I was at work and felt like listening to some music.  So I got out some CD’s that I had with me and selected one I hadn't listened to in quite some time; “A Space In Time” by Ten Years After.  The next thing I did was check my email open a news feed we regularly get, and there was a small headline that said “Legendary Woodstock Guitarist Dies.”  You can imagine the chill that ran down my spine when I opened the link and found out who it was.

Everybody who’s ever heard of Alvin Lee and Ten Years After will now pony up and give their thoughts on him and his music. And, I guess I’m going to do it, too.  Probably won’t be much different for me, just that when I was starting to play he was one of the players I most admired.  And, really, I still hear a lot of his style in my own playing.  Nowhere near as good, of course.

All the things I’m reading about him refer to TYA’s performance at Woodstock.  That was a heck of a show.  There were big names whose performances there didn’t really go well, and some didn’t even make the movie.  Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead.  Some big names got to add Woodstock to an already impressive resume, like Jimi Hendrix and The Who.

There were other acts whose career got kick started by being on the bill, in most cases during the day when the “lesser” acts – at least, lesser known – took the stage.  Santana and Richie Havens both got their first national attention there, along with Sly and the Family Stone.  And of course, Ten Years After’s “I’m Going Home” was an often-referred-to highlight.

In truth, they already had a couple albums out by the time they played the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in August of 1969.  They sold reasonably well in the UK, but barely made a ripple here.  That changed, of course.  The timing was good as well, as their first few albums weren't nearly as good as the ones that were to come.  Oh, the first few, Watt and Stonedhenge and Shhhhhh were all right, and they’re enjoyable to listen to even now.  But the production quality was haphazard and the performances were spotty.  Still, as icons of the British Blues movement they hold up well against contemporary albums from Fleetwood Mac and Savoy Brown.

With the Cricklewood Green album, things began to change.  Everything from the songwriting to the sound of the records took a big step forward.  The next album, A Space In Time, contained their biggest single, “I’d Love to Change the World.”  That album and the two that followed, Rock and Roll Music To the World and Positive Vibrations, were arguably just as good.  Captured Live was also very good.

At this point Alvin Lee apparently got the urge to move on.  Before Positive Vibrations he did a live double album with a whole different band backing him up, going out as Alvin Lee & Co.  It sold fairly well, but I never really liked it as much as any of the TYA stuff.  He continued making solo albums with different musicians that didn't do really well or sound nearly as good.

It always seemed funny that he would feel it necessary to go solo in the first place.  He was the sole songwriter for Ten Years After, did all the singing, and played all the leads.  If ever a band could be considered no more than backing musicians, it was TYA.  And yet, somehow, he never sounded as good with anybody else.

The ultimate confirmation came in 1989 when he got back together with TYA and did a reunion album called “About Time.”  It was as if they never left.  It’s a really good record, and if you ever get the chance to hear it, you’ll understand.  I guess since then he’s been in and out of the band and has kept recording and touring.

To be honest, I’d kind of lost touch with Alvin Lee for a long time.  I have all the TYA stuff and a few of his solo albums.  Every now and then I’ll get the urge and break one out, the way I did the other day at work.  He was a big hero of mine back in the day.  I always felt kind of bad that he faded away the way he did.

I often wonder about people like him.  He was so big, and it looked like Ten Years After was secure in its place in rock history.  Look at the other acts that made an impression at Woodstock.  The Who and Santana are still around, as are Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (together and apart).  Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix are gone, but their music lives on and is as popular and respected as ever.

Then there’s acts like Ten Years After that flashed, burned for a while, and then petered out.  I don’t really know a lot about Alvin Lee’s life, so I don’t know if he was bitter about that.  You hear every now and then about “rock stars” that have a big hit, and then the ride ends and most of the band goes back to something like a regular life.  They go back to school, or start a business, or just get a job and that rock star period is a footnote of their lives.

And there’s always one guy in the band who thinks he can make lightning strike one more time.  He keeps playing, keeps making demos, keeps showing up on VH1 Classic or Entertainment Tonight as “Joe Blow, formerly of That Group.”  Is that what Alvin Lee’s life was like since the mid 1970’s?  Was he a pathetic Once-Was who was eternally trying to recapture the glory days?  Hey, didn't you used to be Alvin Lee?

I've seen pieces in the last couple of days that suggest that he actually stepped away from the spotlight on purpose, and that his leaving TYA was the means of doing it.  He liked playing music, and was good enough and fortunate enough that he got to do it for the rest of his life.  He kept playing live, kept making albums, and kept being respected for his considerable talent and accomplishments.  He just didn't need the whole star trip.

I hope that’s the way it was.  It seems consistent with the man who wrote:

Everywhere is
Freaks and hairies
Dykes and Fairies
Tell me where there’s sanity
- "I’d Love to Change the World", from A Space In Time

In the early ‘70’s he did an album with Mylon Lefevre called “On the Road To Freedom.”  Mylon is a well-known star in the Contemporary Christian Music scene who, before he “got religion” used to open for people like Clapton, etc. etc. etc.  I got to hear Mylon speak at the Creation festival back in the ‘80’s, and somebody asked him about whether or not he ever heard from any of the rock star buddies from his early days.

He reported that his old friend, Alvin Lee had accepted Jesus and become a born-again Christian.  That would be consistent with the man who wrote this:

I can’t relate to any power structure
Where ego is the driving energy
I let mine go a long, long time ago, now
When I decided that I would be free.
- "Religion", from Positive Vibrations

Rest in peace, Captain Speedfingers.