My 1st concert which was in Philadelphia, Pa. (the spectrum) back in the day....... What an UNBELIEVABLE GUITARIST !!!!! Very underrated !!!! He blew me away..... R.I.P Mr. Alvin Lee......Forever a fan :-)
saw them twice at the Spectrum. At the first one, I got up very close to the stage. After I had listened to the live "Can't Keep From Crying" a number of times on a live album, to see him perform that piece live was just phenomenal.
ALVIN LEE WAS AHEAD OF HIS MUSICAL TRADE,HIS GUITAR PLAYING WAS MAGICAL,TEN YEARS AFTER WILL ALWAYS BE KNOWN AS ONE OF THE BEST BANDS EVER. MY FIRST ALBUM WAS SHSSSSSSS, THEN CRICKLEWOOD GREEN, AND ALL THE OTHERS. RIP AL. 😎🎸🎶🔊🎼☮️ BOB.
I saw Alvin in the Summer of 1969 a the Boston Tea Party across from Fenway Park on Landsdowne Street. If memory serves it help 110 people. He rocked the House!
Great interview thanx...Alvin is so laid back and down to earth.....Alvin, "We did that Woodstock thing" ... 😂...."We got over toured"...😵💫...likes the small clubs with "the sweat dropping off the walls" 🤣..Love Alvin Lee 😇...😎
To the TYA fans out there..... IT IS UNBELIEVABLE THAT TYA IS NOT IN THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME !!!! The performance at Woodstock alone is enough for the induction, never mind all of the other great Music they produced. They were not a Pop band, (Alvin Lee hated that ), so they are excluded. I'm 69 YO, and was NOT at Woodstock, but once I saw the 1970 Movie (As a member of a garage band - drummer - one of my fellow band members and I already knew of TYA (Shhhhhh Album), I was totally Hooked. Saw them 2X at the Fillmore East. Alvin Lee R.I.P. - one of the best Guitarist of All Time . What;s the term used now: GOAT. He was a GOAT
Hey Rick, thanks so much for posting this. Alvin was a real hero to me. The only song I'd heard of his was I'm Going Home at Woodstock. I went on to become a Blues-Rock guitarist in my own right with my own style and then one day someone played me a Ten Years After LP, the one with Choo Choo Mama on it . . Rock and Roll Music To The World, from memory. My friend said: He plays so much like you, you must have been heavily influenced by Alvin. I said it was pure coincidence. I'd hear that ONE song from Woodstock, and no more. Anyway I then went on the hunt for TYA albums, Alvin's solo records, you name it. I have most of them, then came the Internet and torrent downloads and I just downloaded his discography back in 2004. Funnily enough, in 1987 I somehow became totally obsessed with the Gibson ES-335 and its many derivative versions. On a truck driver's pay I couldn't afford one, so I set my sights on an Epiphone Sheraton. Since 1987 I have not played a solid body guitar. In 1997 I turned professional after my work injuries became severe enough to prevent me from driving trucks, and my chemical poisoning made me too sick to do any physical work. Once away from the chemicals and onto the right medication, I came good enough to work for myself as a solo artist. By 2001 I had a sponsorship deal offered to me by Gibson Australia, which brought ES-335s within my budget, thank God. I'm 67 now, and retired with my "truck driver's back" giving me hell. I'm still an insane guitar collector but that's all stopped now, but I still own what I own outright, no debts. I've seen you twice with Yes and once solo. I'm really glad you're a Christian now. I'm one as well.
One of the world's greatest guitar Supermen ever. He always seemed like the ultimate frontmen ever, straight from Central casting. TYA always represented the finest of musicianship in every incarnation.
Yeah, I also learned Alvin lived near George Harrison who would call him up and visit and always liked how Alvin was not starstruck by George at all because he was a Beatle but considered him a fellow guitarist and regular Joe he could tease and have fun with. Alvin hung out with Jimi Hendrix back stage too. Alvin knew other guitarists respected him a lot, because of how good he was, 'superior' is even the word I would use.
I recall being in some Winterland concert in the late 70s-early 80s, waiting for the band to play. Bill Graham had a big screen TV and he would put Ten Years After up and the audience went nuts. This was the first exposure to an audience reaction of the band Ten Years After. I've been a huge fan ever since. The bass player was nuts. Alvin's speed and vocal delivery are incredible. His iconic guitar with peace sign sticker. We also used to play air guitar to his choo choo mama just for the rush. Wow!
thanks for posting. TYAs"positive vibrations" made me learning guitar from listening to alvin over and over and sampling old batteries from the fuzzbox as a trophy ..only 1978 i changed to korg ms20 synth/keyboard and then fused both passions to a musical life. so nice to see and hear this interview...memories come back.
Thanks for uploading this Rick. So little footage survives of Alvin Lee & the original Ten Years After but The Isle Of Wight (1970) footage is sitting in the "vaults" somewhere(?) ,as Murray Lerner has confirmed in interviews previously. Seems to be the only band from that gig he never released footage of. Do you know anyone in the business with contacts to the Murray Lerner estate or is there any way we could ever get that footage released that you know of?
The jazz is what I really liked about TYA; "Undead" is my reference. Rick got me back into Jazz with his choice of Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen on Desert Island disks. Since hearing that I've finally got around to Sidney Bechet who was prominent at Boots the Chemist in Coventry where I bought my copy of Deep Purple In Rock around 1970 or 71. "Where is this dream of my youth" (to paraphrase that great Strawbs track with the solo by you know who).
Alvin deserved much more respect, fame, and $ than he got. However, his relative obscurity afforded great seating at great venues from his phenomenal late 70s 3-piece, no frlls Ten Years Later. Bass, Drums...and Alvin.
Despite his obvious talent, I have never liked Wakemans music, but he is a great interviewer / conversationalist and raconteur, very bright and he can be very droll and funny and I would gladly spend a few a few hours bullshitting in the pub with him of an evening. I like him.
They're reminiscing about events that happened only twelve years before. It seems things/eras moved faster in the music business back then? Or maybe it's because the music industry was still relatively young in the 1980s and forty/fifty-somethings, at the time, felt ancient?
Just curious.....did Alvin Lee get into the drug scene? So many of his fellow stars did and some really never recovered (Stevie Wright). He always seems rational and intelligent so I wondered.
I love that down to earth attitude of Alvin Lee. I consider him one of the great guitarists in the world.
Aye.
Definitely.
R.I.P. great Alvun Lee.
Alvin Lee is one of the greatest guitarist l ever heard and happens to be my favorite guitarist of all time Alvin Lee is the real deal
ALVIN WAS A GIFT FROM GOD. My favorite guitarist ever. R.I.P.❤🍉
I like the watermelon emoji!! Woodstock!
@@RonaidCoghlan Thanks. Cheers.🍉
Mr Wakeman has interviewed some of the best guests.
My 1st concert which was in Philadelphia, Pa. (the spectrum) back in the day....... What an UNBELIEVABLE GUITARIST !!!!! Very underrated !!!! He blew me away..... R.I.P Mr. Alvin Lee......Forever a fan :-)
saw them twice at the Spectrum. At the first one, I got up very close to the stage. After I had listened to the live "Can't Keep From Crying" a number of times on a live album, to see him perform that piece live was just phenomenal.
ALVIN LEE WAS AHEAD OF HIS MUSICAL TRADE,HIS GUITAR PLAYING WAS MAGICAL,TEN YEARS AFTER WILL ALWAYS BE KNOWN AS ONE OF THE BEST BANDS EVER. MY FIRST ALBUM WAS SHSSSSSSS, THEN CRICKLEWOOD GREEN, AND ALL THE OTHERS. RIP AL. 😎🎸🎶🔊🎼☮️ BOB.
Cricklewood Green was my first Ten Years After album too (well, 8-track). I still listen to it all the time. Fantastic music.
Love alvin R.I.P brother brilliant musician.
I saw Alvin in the Summer of 1969 a the Boston Tea Party across from Fenway Park on Landsdowne Street. If memory serves it help 110 people. He rocked the House!
Saw J. Beck in 68 at the Boston Tea Party on Landsdown St.
Saw TYA in 70 at Lowell, Commodore, great great performanceà
Legend
Great interview thanx...Alvin is so laid back and down to earth.....Alvin, "We did that Woodstock thing" ... 😂...."We got over toured"...😵💫...likes the small clubs with "the sweat dropping off the walls" 🤣..Love Alvin Lee 😇...😎
To the TYA fans out there..... IT IS UNBELIEVABLE THAT TYA IS NOT IN THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME !!!! The performance at Woodstock alone is enough for the induction, never mind all of the other great Music they produced. They were not a Pop band, (Alvin Lee hated that ), so they are excluded. I'm 69 YO, and was NOT at Woodstock, but once I saw the 1970 Movie (As a member of a garage band - drummer - one of my fellow band members and I already knew of TYA (Shhhhhh Album), I was totally Hooked. Saw them 2X at the Fillmore East. Alvin Lee R.I.P. - one of the best Guitarist of All Time . What;s the term used now: GOAT. He was a GOAT
Look at the crap the so called hall of fame is letting in now
Hey Rick, thanks so much for posting this. Alvin was a real hero to me. The only song I'd heard of his was I'm Going Home at Woodstock. I went on to become a Blues-Rock guitarist in my own right with my own style and then one day someone played me a Ten Years After LP, the one with Choo Choo Mama on it . . Rock and Roll Music To The World, from memory. My friend said: He plays so much like you, you must have been heavily influenced by Alvin. I said it was pure coincidence. I'd hear that ONE song from Woodstock, and no more. Anyway I then went on the hunt for TYA albums, Alvin's solo records, you name it. I have most of them, then came the Internet and torrent downloads and I just downloaded his discography back in 2004. Funnily enough, in 1987 I somehow became totally obsessed with the Gibson ES-335 and its many derivative versions. On a truck driver's pay I couldn't afford one, so I set my sights on an Epiphone Sheraton. Since 1987 I have not played a solid body guitar. In 1997 I turned professional after my work injuries became severe enough to prevent me from driving trucks, and my chemical poisoning made me too sick to do any physical work. Once away from the chemicals and onto the right medication, I came good enough to work for myself as a solo artist. By 2001 I had a sponsorship deal offered to me by Gibson Australia, which brought ES-335s within my budget, thank God.
I'm 67 now, and retired with my "truck driver's back" giving me hell. I'm still an insane guitar collector but that's all stopped now, but I still own what I own outright, no debts.
I've seen you twice with Yes and once solo. I'm really glad you're a Christian now. I'm one as well.
One of the world's greatest guitar Supermen ever. He always seemed like the ultimate frontmen ever, straight from Central casting. TYA always represented the finest of musicianship in every incarnation.
Yeah, I also learned Alvin lived near George Harrison who would call him up and visit and always liked how Alvin was not starstruck by George at all because he was a Beatle but considered him a fellow guitarist and regular Joe he could tease and have fun with. Alvin hung out with Jimi Hendrix back stage too. Alvin knew other guitarists respected him a lot, because of how good he was, 'superior' is even the word I would use.
Alvin Lee is in the top 3 🇬🇧🎸🎶🎵 ever ❗
In high school in the '70s we listen to "Shhhhh' and 'TYA Recorded Live' a lot. Good memories.
I recall being in some Winterland concert in the late 70s-early 80s, waiting for the band to play. Bill Graham had a big screen TV and he would put Ten Years After up and the audience went nuts. This was the first exposure to an audience reaction of the band Ten Years After. I've been a huge fan ever since. The bass player was nuts. Alvin's speed and vocal delivery are incredible. His iconic guitar with peace sign sticker. We also used to play air guitar to his choo choo mama just for the rush. Wow!
So Very Cool Thankyou
thanks for posting. TYAs"positive vibrations" made me learning guitar from listening to alvin over and over and sampling old batteries from the fuzzbox as a trophy ..only 1978 i changed to korg ms20 synth/keyboard and then fused both passions to a musical life. so nice to see and hear this interview...memories come back.
He's got lightning fingers great guitarist R.I.P alvin.🎸🎸🎸
Ah, my two favorites. Alvin Lee and Rick Wakeman.
This was a great show.
Thanks for uploading this Rick. So little footage survives of Alvin Lee & the original Ten Years After but The Isle Of Wight (1970) footage is sitting in the "vaults" somewhere(?) ,as Murray Lerner has confirmed in interviews previously. Seems to be the only band from that gig he never released footage of. Do you know anyone in the business with contacts to the Murray Lerner estate or is there any way we could ever get that footage released that you know of?
The jazz is what I really liked about TYA; "Undead" is my reference. Rick got me back into Jazz with his choice of Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen on Desert Island disks. Since hearing that I've finally got around to Sidney Bechet who was prominent at Boots the Chemist in Coventry where I bought my copy of Deep Purple In Rock around 1970 or 71. "Where is this dream of my youth" (to paraphrase that great Strawbs track with the solo by you know who).
Yes I wished they had stayed in the same vein of the second album.
love ur music Rick....Alvin was such a learning for my music....so good..
Don't get confused, there is an Albert Lee, also a great guitar player in England from that same era.
Ah, nice to hear some of the information that explained what happened. Blues clubs for the Bluesers ;)
Alvin deserved much more respect, fame, and $ than he got. However, his relative obscurity afforded great seating at great venues from his phenomenal late 70s 3-piece, no frlls Ten Years Later. Bass, Drums...and Alvin.
Despite his obvious talent, I have never liked Wakemans music, but he is a great interviewer / conversationalist and raconteur, very bright and he can be very droll and funny and I would gladly spend a few a few hours bullshitting in the pub with him of an evening. I like him.
They're reminiscing about events that happened only twelve years before. It seems things/eras moved faster in the music business back then? Or maybe it's because the music industry was still relatively young in the 1980s and forty/fifty-somethings, at the time, felt ancient?
Just curious.....did Alvin Lee get into the drug scene? So many of his fellow stars did and some really never recovered (Stevie Wright). He always seems rational and intelligent so I wondered.
God he's cute.😍
25 minutes? That's not enough time for some Yes songs. Must've been an easy set list to write.
Alvin in here looks like lester diamond in Casino movie ..Sam : be a man don’t be F Pim P .. Alvin : yeah love like a man.