Ten Years After at the Texas Pop Festival- Photo by Steve Campbell
Luckily for us, a second
wave of "British Blues" followed the Yardbirds / Animals era,
and it brought with it some great players and bands. Possibly the most
original of all, Ten Years After, moved comfortably through electric
blues, country blues and swing jazz , hard rock, psychedelia and rock
& roll and wrapped it all up with one of the most incredible lead
guitarists the rock world has seen. Alvin Lee was as fast as lightning,
used no sound effects, was technically proficient - and wailed.
All of the members of Ten
Years After were innovative, excellent musicians. Chick Churchill handled
keyboards, Ric Lee was on drums, and Leo Lyons on bass could play faster
and better than anyone in rock.
TEN YEARS AFTER
released its self-titled first album in October 1967 and first toured the
US, at the request of Bill Graham, in June 1968. Success came rapidly to
this innovative rock band, as did album releases, with UNDEAD
debuting in 1968, followed in 1969 by STONEDHENGE and SSSSH,
in 1970 by CRICKLEWOOD GREEN and WATT, A
SPACE IN TIME in 1971, ROCK & ROLL MUSIC TO THE WORLD
in 1972, RECORDED LIVE in 1973 and POSITIVE VIBRATIONS
in 1974. During these years together, TYA toured extensively, visiting the
United States a record-breaking 28 times!
After their
"break-up" in 1975, it was eight years before TYA played
together again, brought together by the 25th anniversary of London's famed
Marquee Club. This very short reunion produced a wonderful video, AT
THE MARQUEE, and a concert together that same summer resulted in
the CD, LIVE AT READING.
In 1989, TYA was brought back together by a German concert promoter, essentially for four festival concerts. Enjoying their reunion, the band recorded and released ABOUT TIME and toured both the US and Europe. The reunion proved to be short-lived, however, and by the start of 1991, they had gone their seperate ways again. A CD, LIVE 1990 and a video, LIVE LEGENDS remain of this chapter in their career.
In 1997, TYA toured Brazil for the first time, followed by a trio of Scandinavian Rock Festivals. They were very well received at all the shows, and in January 1998, announced they had officially reunited! Since then, they have thrilled European festival audiences with their dynamic performances. They played in the USA in August and Sept. 1999 and hope to be back.(also see Leo Lyons' bio)
To see TYA's page in the Texas International Pop Festival program, click here.