Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
UNDEAD...and then some!..., 9 Aug 2002
When Alvin Lee & Ten Years After were first invited to play in America by legendary rock promoter Bill Graham in 1968, they wanted to release an album to coincide with the tour. Their 2nd studio effort "Stonedhenge" was not yet complete, so it was decided to do a live album. The result was one of the best live recordings of the period, and it arguably remains as one of the best "Live Rock & Blues" albums ever! As indicated in my Visual History book on Ten Years After - when Alvin Lee first heard this album he thought "Well that's it, that is probably the best I'll ever play and there are going to be problems recording in the future because this encompasses just about everything the band can do". Fortunately things turned out much better for Ten Years After but, listening to UNDEAD, it quickly becomes evident that Alvin's initial concerns were not unfounded. This album absolutely "SMOKES" from the onset and the musicianship is remarkable throughout.Ten Years After were quite different from the other "2nd British Invasion" blues bands of the late 60's because they effortlessly fused jazz and blues, and that characteristic is exemplified in this album. "Woodchoppers Ball" and "I May Be Wrong, But I Won't Be Wrong Always" are absolutely stunning and every bit as impressive today as when they were originally recorded. A few critics later got some sort of perverse pleasure from claiming that Alvin Lee's guitar playing was "all haste and no taste", but none of that is remotely evident on UNDEAD. His highly accomplished and precise technique on the aforementioned two songs dances above, around & under any solos recorded by the other so-called "guitar gods" of the time. The four new tracks, comprised of material originally excluded due to vinyl record time limits, have made the remastered CD even better. "Spoonful" and "Crossroads" were, of course, played by almost all of the British blues bands and Alvin obligingly introduces "Spoonful" as a "Clapton - Howlin' Wolf number". But it's a treat to now hear TYA's own version of these tunes with Alvin's own inimitable guitar work. In the wonderful booklet that accompanies the CD, drummer Ric Lee describes the added "I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes" as being, "a bit rough around the edges". Although it's not quite the polished version found on future TYA releases, it is very much a "diamond in the rough" - being an early and quite interesting 14 minute version of the song. The closer, "I'm Going Home", is only half the length of the famous Woodstock version that would emerge more than a year later - yet it is every bit as energetic, and perhaps even more so! Following Woodstock and the increased stardom that resulted, Ten Years After concert venues quickly changed from clubs to sports arenas and their music subsequently emanated from stacks of 100 watt Marshall amplifiers. In most respects, the individual talents and contributions of all four band members (as heard on UNDEAD) were lost forever in that "wall of sound". This is another reason why UNDEAD is so special, you can actually hear what a great keyboard player Chick Churchill is! I strongly recommended the other TYA re-releases ("Ten Years After", "Stonedhenge", "Live At The Fillmore East 1970" & "Cricklewood Green"). They all have bonus tracks and great new descriptive booklets authored by Ric Lee, with the original artwork plus several additional rare photos. But if you have not yet heard any of them, I suggest you start with UNDEAD ...It truly Rocks !! Herb Staehr
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8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Anti-synergism - or a case of less is much more, 7 Oct 2003
Check out TYA early career, (i.e. after they stopped being Nottingham-based Viscounts). There was the eponymous first TYA album, which showed the band should not be included in the higher ranks of British blues boom (as were Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack and Savoy Brown). However, on hearing the original vinyl release of 'Undead' for the frist time approximately 35 years ago, I discovered something different and it has been a important favourite ever since. Musically it was more advanced than the usual blues riffs played then by many an average British band This was Hammond organ lead music, with Alvin Lee more restrained and less technoflash (witness the Woodstock performance). They were digging some jazz, tunes by written by other folk and by TYA, beit with a bluey feel. For instance 'Woodchopper's Ball', which reportedly had TYA jamming with Woodie Herman at the Newport Jazz Festival soon after. Indeed, I would suggest 'Undead' is an early jazz rock album. And then we had the third TYA album 'Stonedhenge', with yet another change of direction.Lurch forward three decades and we have this remastered CD of 'Undead', the complete Klooks Creek gig. But what a real disappointment. I was hoping they had dug up more of the jazz flavoured material from the archives. But alas I discovered to give the 60's audience (and now us) a 70 minute set, TYA had been forced(?) to dip back into the bag of 2nd rate blues heard on their first studio album. As result we have a major dilution of what was a classic British rock album of the late 60's. I strongly recommend go searching for the original Deram CD, unremastered and without the additional, (superfluous, detracting, distracting) tracks and ponder what TYA would sounded like if they had pursued that type of rock music?.
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3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Bit dated ..............., 11 Aug 2004
There's no denying that Ten Years After produced some wonderful music for the time and if you listen to Rock & Roll Music To The World you'll understand why. Undead though is typical of the time; shallow live album that would have been great over a few beers down the pub as a spotty teenager but is too jazz influenced. Some of the jazzier numbers like 'I may be wrong' and 'Spider In Your Web' are not reflective of their true talent.If you want an introduction to TYA try a different album.
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