mjzee Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 Guitarist Alvin Lee, whose incendiary performance with the British band Ten Years After was one of the highlights of the 1969 Woodstock festival, has died. NPR Quote
7/4 Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 I remember jumping around, playing air guitar when I was 11 to my sister's Woodstock album. One of those songs featured Alvin Lee playing a burning solo on Goin' Home. At the end he plays a final chord and his guitar is soooo out of tune. RIP Alvin Lee! Quote
robertoart Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 Wow. This is sad news. I was just reading bigbeatsteve's post mentioning the album 'recorded live'. He'll be forever remembered for 'the Woodstock moment'. I also remember a quote in an interview with someone in a guitar magazine, waxing lyrical about the first time someone told him about John Mclaughlin... The guy said to him 'you've gotta hear this guy McLaughlin...he's faster than Alvin Lee Not really the point though is it? Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 I was just reading bigbeatsteve's post mentioning the album 'recorded live'. Yeah, "I'm Going Home" on "Recorded Live" is a killer track . Almost my #1 reason for going for that album, though the rest ain't bad at all either. But considering tha musical context of that period of the 70s, this tune showed that some still could do some straight ahead kick-ass stuff that really MOVES. RIP. Quote
GA Russell Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 RIP. I saw Ten Years After in Baltimore in early '69 as a warm-up act to the Mothers. Lee was terrific, and the show was great, even though I couldn't hear the organist at all! Quote
danasgoodstuff Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 Lester Bangs on 10 Yr After @ Woodstock: 'Alvin Lee, grimacing like he was being jerked off with steel wool.' Sounded like that too, IMHO, YMMV, etc. Yes, I know, that makes me AH of the day, but I had to say it! Quote
clifford_thornton Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 Stonedhenge and Watt are very good albums. RIP. Quote
Cactus Bob Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 Alvin was something else. Really sad. So many great lp's by the man and his band. R.I.P. Quote
robertoart Posted March 6, 2013 Report Posted March 6, 2013 Lester Bangs on 10 Yr After @ Woodstock: 'Alvin Lee, grimacing like he was being jerked off with steel wool.' Sounded like that too, IMHO, YMMV, etc. Yes, I know, that makes me AH of the day, but I had to say it! Nah. it's funny. I was just reading bigbeatsteve's post mentioning the album 'recorded live'. Yeah, "I'm Going Home" on "Recorded Live" is a killer track . Almost my #1 reason for going for that album, though the rest ain't bad at all either. But considering tha musical context of that period of the 70s, this tune showed that some still could do some straight ahead kick-ass stuff that really MOVES. RIP. Someone gave me a copy of that back in the day, I always remember those little 1 minute 'interludes' on that album. One of them was like a jazz chord melody vignette. I thought it was cool. Quote
Shawn Posted March 7, 2013 Report Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) Undead (1968) is a must-have! R.I.P. Alvin. Edited March 7, 2013 by Shawn Quote
Quincy Posted March 7, 2013 Report Posted March 7, 2013 I used to have a cat who always reacted to the squawk at the beginning of "Bad Scene" from the Ssssh album. I'm a little spooked about what "routine surgery" he had, although I get that bad reactions to ordinary events happen. He was the best Alvin Lee player there ever was. Quote
PHILLYQ Posted March 7, 2013 Report Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) Maybe the greatest 'guitar face' of all time, especially in 'Woodstock' when the screen was in three panels and he was facing himself on both sides! Fine player, he could certainly ROCK. Edited March 7, 2013 by PHILLYQ Quote
BFrank Posted March 7, 2013 Report Posted March 7, 2013 Although I hadn't listened to him in years, it still came as a surprise. Sadly, his demise was similar to how Tony Williams died. Like they say, 'there's no such thing as a "routine" surgery' Quote
Cactus Bob Posted March 7, 2013 Report Posted March 7, 2013 (edited) Although I hadn't listened to him in years, it still came as a surprise. Sadly, his demise was similar to how Tony Williams died. Like they say, 'there's no such thing as a "routine" surgery' That's what I was thinking also. We lost the great Tony Williams way too soon. I remember watching the Chicago Jazz Festival on public TV just months before William's death with Hancock, Shorter & Carter and Williams really tore it up. TYA's "Undead" lp shows what these cats were really capable of. I like what Alvin said in '73 about TYA shows, from the LA Times . . . "Sudden fame from the film (Woodstock) meant jumping from cozy performances in clubs to big arenas and the band started sounding like a "traveling jukebox," Lee said as early as 1973. "We sort of auditorium-alized" was how Lee once put it as he explained the stylistic move away from the group's British blues-jazz-rock roots." From the NY Times . . . More successful tours and albums followed, including “Cricklewood Green” and “Watt.” Then, during a break in 1971 intended to provide time for musical exploration, Mr. Lee wrote the band’s only Top 40 hit, The song’s more commercial sound was a departure, and Mr. Lee later said he was not sure it had been a wise one. “I hated it because it was a hit,” he said in 2003. “By then I was rebelling, and I never played it live. To me it was a pop song.” Right On Alvin! Edited March 7, 2013 by Cactus Bob Quote
EKE BBB Posted March 7, 2013 Report Posted March 7, 2013 One of my heroes, when I was into 60s and 70s rock and blues rock RIP I was there (January 23, 1992 - Sala Revolver, Madrid): Quote
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