30 years after - it still rocks

Have not listened to this one since 1972. Listened again in 2005. It holds up. It still rocks. In particular: Once There was a Time. Let the Sky Fall. Wow. Even the the great druggy anthem, I'd Love to Change the World, still sounds good (compare to: Stairway to Heaven -- love Led Zep but that overplayed cut is inferior to this underplayed jewel). Over the Hill is amusing, with its Sgt. Pepper strings. Here They Come - so much better than other circa 1970 folky-bluesy cuts (think Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, et al.)... OK I concede to the occasionally corny lyrics. But this CD sounds good.

Mine is better

Yah! My cd has "A space in time" and "Positive vibration" albums on it. 2 Albums for the price of one, a total of 20 songs and only four that I dislike.



Which ones I don't like:

Baby won't you let me rock'n'roll you - just boring

Once there was a time - too twang for me

Going back to brimingham - another boring one

You're driving me crazy - drive me crazy



Favorites:

It's getting harder - cheer song

I'd love to change the world - for sure it's a classic

Here they come - the end is so nice

Let the sky fall - let it play

I've been there too - georgous

Uncle jam - feel that jazz

Stone me - cute



Anyway it's good old stuff

One of the Classic Rock & Roll LPs of All Time-Got Better!

Ten Years After has always been associated with Woodstock ie: I'm Going Home. Yet, it was this LP that connected with the Woodstock Atmosphere. The Anthem "I'd Love to change the World" put everything in focus. This LP reminds me of Led Zepplin III in it's experimental nature with it's emphasis on accoustic driven numbers. The version here that is offered by BGO records far surpasses the previous offering. It 's re-mastering is excellent -as the material deserves. There is a booklet included that enlightens the collector about the band as well. Bottom line on this is it's well worth the upgrade-and if you haven't got this CD yet this is the version to get.

Time well spent to make a great record!

I read where Alvin Lee had spent much of the previous two albums writing songs for them in the back of a limo. Albums made in the middle of tours hardly ever make for good albums. And especially for a growing artist eager for the inspiration to expand his musical horizons and show the buying public a different side of himself, getting away for awhile to get alone with the boys and his guitar was perhaps the only option. So the result here is probably Ten Years After's answer to "Led Zeppelin III". But unlike the relatively-unsuccessful "Led Zeppelin III", the time spent alone to write and record not only paid off in showing the most musical variety on a TYA album, but also provided the band with their first big hit, "I'd Love To Change the World". But if you only ever buy this disc for that one song alone, you're missing a lot of what makes this a great album--one unlike any other TYA album before or since.

First of all, consider Alvin Lee's guitar playing here. You're used to hearing strictly lightning-fast, undistorted blues licks out of his trademark Gibson/Marshall set-up. There's still some of that here. But you'll notice on many of the songs, he opens them with an acoustic guitar--and he actually plays a little slower than usual. Now that may seem to some people that he was "regressing" in his style. But like a basketball player that slam dunks the ball every time, he still needs to show people he can perform a basic "lay-up". Likewise, Alvin needed to show people he can play any style of guitar, and play it well. The diversity in guitar playing and songwriting that Alvin Lee displays on this disc certainly puts him right up there with Jimmy Page in my eyes. Certainly, there's the influence of Folk rock in many of the songs here, but also the countrified, Hank Williams-esque, "Once There Was a Time", a belated tribute to the psychedelic era-"Let The Sky Fall", as well as the usual rockabilly, "Baby Won't You Let Me Rock and Roll You", and blues/swamp rock, "One of These Days" that Ten Years After had become known the previous couple of years for. They even revert back to the swing/jazz that the band first cut their teeth on in th final number, "Uncle Jam"--a surprise ending to a great album. Overall, I think one would be hard pressed to find many albums in rock with this much variety. But again, credit that to the "space in time" the band had to work with. It certainly is reflected in the more relaxed, laid-back nature of the songs here. In many of their previous albums, like "Watt" and "Cricklewood Green", the albums did sound a little "rushed" as a probable result of touring schedules, and not just Alvin Lee's quick-style. But the entire band--Leo Lyons, Chick Churchill, and Ric Lee--all put forth their most cohesive work here. Bassist Leo Lyons sounded like he actually attempted to "play" bass and not just "slap" it (if you'd ever seen the "Woodstock" film, Lyons looked to be so stoned out of his mind, his hand looked to be barely touching the strings!) And Chick Churchill was becoming a regular John Paul Jones, expanding his keyboard horizons from the organ and piano, to include an electric piano and a synthesizer--as you'll hear on "Here They Come".

For the average listener, if you like any kind of music at all, you'll find something you like on this disc. The album is almost a tribute to American music, especially the various forms that come from the South--Alvin Lee should almost be made an "honorary southerner", along with Eric Clapton, for his understanding and translation of music so far removed from his British shores. Ten Years After lays down all their influences, picked up over the past several years, not only showing where they had been, but also where they were going musically. And with the "space in time" they had to do it.