Ten Years After Album: “Space in Time”

A friend and I were recently reminiscing of a space in time before there were music downloads, mp3's, i tunes,and i pods. A time when vinyl was the musical medium . Albums contained liner notes and lyric sheets that were printed large enough to read. Cover Art was captivating and meant to be enjoyed. Songs were heard as being just a smaller segment of a larger collection of work. You dropped the needle,sat down and took it in from start to finish. Like a great movie, you wouldn't dare leave before the end. Every song set up the next one. The music was the event of that moment in time, not a wallpaper back drop. 'A Space In Time' is of that time, yet after 35 years it has stood the test. Timeless.

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.

In my opinion, this is the best Ten Years After album and also one of the best rock albums anyone ever did. This came out at the same time as Zeppelin 4 and take it from me, sounds approximately as good. Very different styles but Alvin Lee rates near the top. Crisp, clear, clean guitar playing no one else can match. "Once There Was a Time" is just one good example. This whole album is good. "One of These Days", coincidentally is also the name of one of Pink Floyd's songs from Meddle, an album Floyd came out with at the same time. Very different song though. "Here they Come" is a song I can imagine hearing in heaven if I ever get there. Just like "Once There was a Time" goes,"There'll be a guitar when I get there, or I will refuse to go". "Hard Monkeys" and "I've Been There Too" are two songs no self respecting classic album rock station should leave out of their repertoire. Suffice it to say,if you're into classic rock, you "need" this album in your collection. It sounds a bit dated, but a couple of listens and you'll get over that.

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.

I was never a huge Ten Years After fan but I did listen to them somewhat regularly "back in the day," as my kids like to say. I had this album and Cricklewood Green in vinyl plus a few cuts on the Woodstock Album.

Now my son is learning to play the guitar so I thought I'd introduce him to some "good guitar" in the form of Alvin Lee. He's not impressed with most of what I listen to but he does like this a bit.

I must say that I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I do. The more I listen to it the more it grows on me. Almost every song on this album has staying power. If you like TYA at all this is a great album overall and worth the investment.