I would get Live At The Fillmore East instead

A Ten Years After concert is so energetic and intense, that it is hard to believe that were doing the same basic show for a decade. The core songs were always the same: I'm Going Home, I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes, Help Me, Good Morning Little School Girl and the Hobbit. It was what they did in 1970 and what I saw them do in 1976. That took up over an hour of the show. That left time for about three other songs, which would come from the latest studio album.

This album was originally released as 2 LP's and was over 80 minutes long. When it was released as a CD, they removed one track, the Hobbit. I don't know if you can get a complete double CD of this album. I haven't seen one. The Hobbit is basically a drum solo with a nice guitar intro. As drum solos go, it isn't bad. But, I am not a huge fan of drum solos.

This is a great album, but I would get Live At The Filmore East instead. It has all the core songs (including the Hobbit), plus great versions of Love Like A Man and 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain.

Recorded Live is a little more polished than Live At the Filmore East, because they have been playing the songs longer. But, there isn't that much different between the performances. Recorded Live does have three different songs: One Of These Days, You Give Me Loving and Choo Choo Mama. One Of These Days is great, You Give Me Loving is fairly good, and Choo Choo Mama is fairly worthless.

If you already have Live At The Filmore East, should you buy this one also? It all depends on how rabid of a Ten Years After fan you are. One Of These Days almost makes this worth getting on its own. Then you get to hear slightly different versions of all the core songs, which in some cases are better here.

I'm Going Home is also available on the Woodstock soundtrack. I think that is the best version. I Can't Keep From Crying is on the Isle Of Wight soundtrack and that is my favorite version of the song. Al Kooper, who wrote I Can't Keep From Crying remarked that the residuals allowed him to buy a car (a VW).

Caveat Emptor! Don't get the one w/out "Hobbit!"

Save up a few extra coins and get the Import version or the re-mastered version of this release. The omission of "Hobbit" for the first USA release was a big mistake. Not only are you missing Ric Lee's bombastic drum solo, but also Alvin's smokin' tone to kick off the drum solo from "Big Red", his 1958 Gibson ES-335 wired through enough Marshall stacks to blow the house down. The omission is like Led Zepplin II without "Moby Dick" on it!

For those interested in such trivia, Big Red was acquired by Alvin in the early 60's for around 45 pounds, case included! Being an amateur boffin(guitar tech), Alvin removed the pickup covers and installed a single coil pickup in-between the bridge and neck humbuckers "to give it more top end". Suffice it to say that the tones and controlled feedback that emanate from this heavy duty axe border on magical.

The many decals that decorate Big Red were passed along to Alvin at Woodstock and other venues and "just got slapped on". The guitar was re-laquered after being repaired(the neck got broken), and the decals became permanent fixtures, "which is fine" as Alvin put it.

A good view of one of Alvin's ES-335's(not Big Red though...it has a Bigsby!)is on the back cover of the A SPACE IN TIME album, laying atop a pinball machine with the strings in disarray.

For those lucky enough to witness TYA live, we have the memories of a so-tight band in full swing. Leo Lyons has to be the most energetic bass player on the planet. He bobs, he weaves, he seemed to be in perpetual motion for the whole show! Chick Churchill's excellent keyboard work layed down the rhythmic foundation along with Leo and Ric for Alvin's jacked solo's and smooth riffing.

This "official TYA bootleg" was culled from performances during nights in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris and Frankfurt, and the sound quality of the live recording is just fantastic(I noticed that some other reviewers had actually critiqued the varying sound quality of the different released versions, so you may want to read up a bit before making your decision).

The song selection ran from cuts off of the very first TYA album, up through ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC TO THE WORLD. Sadly, no cuts were offered from the most excellent CRICKLEWOOD GREEN album. I agree with another reviewer that the version of "I'm Going Home", although fantastic, pales in comparison to the benchmark, which was of course from Woodstock.

For the sake of proper running order, it is "Extension on One Chord" that is sandwiched between the intro and outro of "I Can't Keep From Cryin' Sometimes". The blistering guitar pyrotechnics during this extended jam are just awesome. Alvin slides, scrapes, chicken picks and plays with reckless abandon on this jam. Note Alvin's tuning down of the low E string during one part to play some tasty bass, including a rocking send up of the "Peter Gunn" theme. At one point, a brief cover of the main riff from Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love" gets a big applause from the audience. The intro to this medly, where Alvin does fast scat vocals along with his guitar picking is a joy, and the way he slides into "Cryin'" from this is a master stroke.

All in all, a jolly good show, and IMHO one of the best live albums of the era, along with the Who's "Live at Leeds", Allman Bros. "Live at the Fillmore East", Humble Pie's "Rockin' the Fillmore" and The Stones "Get Your Ya Ya's Out".

one of the greatest live albums ever

This is a great live album. They are jamming here. I mean here are a lot of guitar solos. Ten years after is a great live band.
And Alvin Lee is a great guitarist. Actually TYA is very bluesy.
Especially here. Every classic rock lover should love this. This
is a masterpiece. Trust me. Not many bands jam so much. And many
bands don't improvisate or play guitar or organ solos at all. Many bands just play the song, that they have to play, and go home. And the song sounds like it's re-recorded in studio, and
they added the audience noise. Especially these times' bands.