Watching Ten Years After perform live at Nottingham Boat Club in 1968 whilst a college student was a memorable, thrilling musical experience which has never been surpassed in a lifetime of listening to and reviewing British blues and rock artists. What stood out was not just Alvin’s sheer strength, charismatic stage presence and abundant energy but the depth of feeling and the emotion which he channeled through every note. The synergy between Alvin and Leo was breathtaking, the speed incredible, Ric’s grooves thunderous, Chick Churchill’s swirling Hammond keys harmonious. The whole band’s jamming was inventive whilst also retaining a melodic structure without missing a beat.
In some respects the early video and audio recordings of Woodstock were disappointing as they did not always reflect the fans’ experiences of how bands like Ten Years After performed. All that changed on August 17th 2024 with the release of Ten Years After Woodstock 1969 by Chrysalis Records. For the first time in over half a century, blues and rock aficionados across the world are able to hear with superb clarity all five songs and a drum solo giving them a front of stage experience on that unforgettable Sunday night at the greatest festival in the world. For most of us this is the closest we will ever be to Woodstock 1969.
Making this technological miracle possible were the production staff and cutting edge state of the art equipment, as Paul Cartledge explains:
I work primarily as a sound engineer and producer with a music production and composition company, Yellow Boat Music, based in Soho, in the heart of London’s West End. I jointly own the company along with the music composer and arranger Philip Jewson. Our studio is located within Dean Street Studios and my association with the premises is long and intricately tied up with my background in the music business.
At first only one tape was available. It was the section of the show that included “Help Me” and the band’s breathtakingly brilliant performance of “I’m Going Home” that had previously been released. Alvin’s daughter Jasmin (Jazz) wanted to know if the songs could be restored and remixed using modern technology and could that process be extrapolated to include mixing the whole show IF the other tapes could be found and IF the band would agree to such a thing. There was also the benchmark of the well-known and much loved mix of ‘I’m Going Home” to consider. I was given a digital transfer of the 8 track multitrack and got cracking. I didn’t know if a more ‘modern’ approach would work but the more I got into the process the more I enjoyed it so I kept going! It was quite a forensic mission and I dived deep into each track using a multitude of plugins and applications to clean, tidy, polish, de-noise and generally restore each track to sound more like a modern recording.
Eventually I thought ‘Help Me’ was good enough to play to Jazz who really enjoyed it. She then encouraged me to attempt ‘I’m Going Home.’ Again she was positive when I played her the first mix. Using those two as examples she was able to get the band on board in principle to mixing the whole set and the great news was that Dermot James and Jeremy Lascelles at Blue Raincoat also had positive feedback. Evi Lee was a great support as was Suzanne Lee Barnes. They told me Alvin was very particular about how his parts sounded and that they were convinced he would have been happy with the results we were getting.
We are absolutely delighted with the finished album. It was such a pleasure to work on. There is a copy of ‘Big Red’ at the studio and whenever I felt the mixes were getting close I would pick the guitar up and riff along! Not being a guitarist of Alvin’s facility I will admit to resorting to a bit of air guitar in the fancy bits! There were questions about actually releasing the whole set, but when we put it together it tells a fabulous story. You can hear the band warming up, you can feel the delays and frustration receding as they power up, and when they really start cooking it is triumphant. It’s blistering.
When Alvin hits the solo in ‘I’m Going Home’ there is a definite sense that Ten Years After are the best band on the planet at that moment and everyone in the crowd is involved. Listening to the whole set is a very special experience. The blend of band members and the audience interaction is incredibly powerful and we are lucky that Eddie Kramer recorded it for posterity.
In my musical heaven, Alvin and the TYA gang will be performing the whole set from Woodstock along with “I’d Love to Change the World” … and they certainly did!
Jasmin Lee, Managing Director of Dean St Studios gives her verdict on Woodstock 1969:
I’m so delighted this standalone set of TYA at Woodstock got the love and devotion from Paul Cartledge it deserved!! After hearing the version put out in 2019 as part of the 38-CD Woodstock Boxset, we were gutted we couldn’t do anything to improve the mix. After consulting with Blue Raincoat, and the label spending countless hours negotiating the license, it’s now finally seeing the light of day.
This is such an iconic performance and will always hold the most special place in my heart. A big thanks from me to everyone that was involved, especially Paul Cartledge at Yellow Boat Music, Dean St. Studios and Blue Raincoat Records, but most of all the fabulous Ten Years After! I hope everyone enjoys listening to it as much as we have enjoyed bringing this amazing performance to life.
Apart from the amazing high fidelity soundtrack, the other standout feature is the strong blues focus of the TYA set which accounts for around 50 of the 70 minutes running time. This is not surprising given that Alvin was steeped in the blues from an early age as his first influences were his dad’s rare collection of jazz and blues 78s. Alvin was only 12 years old when he met Big Bill Broonzy when his father brought him home having seen him at a gig in Nottingham This vivid firsthand memory of American blues stayed with Alvin; he loved America and Ten Years After would ultimately tour the USA 28 times in seven years.
Alvin’s first words to the 500,000 festival goers was the understatement “a bit of old blues to warm us up” to introduce Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful” first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf. With its pounding bass line and metronomic percussion the song was the perfect platform for Alvin’s soulful vocals and tasteful guitar licks of increasing speed and complexity.
Despite the false starts, “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” is a classic interpretation of the Sonny Boy Williamson original with its deep and provocative meaning reflected in Alvin’s vocal delivery. Trademark solos are played at lightning speed and the dueling with Leo’s pulsating bass is phenomenal.
On “The Hobbit,” Ric Lee exhibits all of the characteristics which make a great drum solo; musicality, innovation, power, speed, precision and technique. His intricate stick work including carefully executed and accentuated rimshots on snare and cymbals is impeccable. These qualities, particularly high velocity, made him a perfect fit for the band as few drummers could keep up with the relentless pace set by Alvin and Leo. The intervals of light and shade in Ric’s playing, plus extended drum rolls, deservedly won generous applause.
Al Kooper’s “I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes” based on the Blind Willie Johnson original is a masterclass in keyboard playing from Churchill The interplay between Alvin and Chick has never been more inspirational than on this album, a series of crescendos taking the extended version of this song to a new level. Alvin introduces jazz phrases, rhythms and even violin sounds from his considerable repertoire.
The captivating keyboard dominates the dramatic intro to the 1963 blues classic “Help Me” alongside Alvin’s blues-drenched vocals and piercing six-string interpolations. Drums and bass increasingly come to the fore, driving this blues tour de force towards its central theme of despair.
The album’s iconic finale, the mesmeric “I’m Going Home,” is more than a rock and roll medley; it is a national anthem which cemented Lee’s reputation as Captain Speedfingers. However, he was not just the fastest in the west but also the most innovative, powerful, tasteful and above all, respected guitarist of his generation.
Alvin deserves to have the final say about Woodstock:
We had to hang around for several hours due to a storm and they’d run out of ciggies backstage so I volunteered to go out in the audience and blag some and I came back with about 30, so I was quite popular. We were then told that we couldn’t go on stage in case we got electrocuted as there was still some rain and I just said, ‘Oh come on, if I die at Woodstock we’ll sell lots of records.’
Actual playing wise it didn’t seem that special, and the solo on the movie sounds pretty rough to me these days, but it had the energy which was what Ten Years After were all about at the time.
Even after we’d done the gig, apart from being declared a national disaster by the US government, it didn’t seem that big a deal. I think the movie is what made it big and suddenly I was on all three screens. I never wanted to be singled out but when you are the lead guitarist and the singer you get the spotlight whether you want it or not.
CREDITS:
ALVIN LEE: Vocals, Guitar
LEO LYONS: Bass
RIC LEE: Drums
CHICK CHURCHILL: Organ, Piano
Recorded at the Woodstock Festival, Bethel, New York
Executive Producer: Dermot James
Product Manager: Dan Walton
Design: Ryan Art
Sleeve Notes: Chris Welch
Mixed by Paul Cartledge (Yellow Boat Music)
Mastered by Phil Kinrade at AIR Mastering
Special thanks to: Jasmin Lee, Evi Lee, Suzanne Wigley, Ric Lee, Chick Churchill, Leo Lyons, Chris Kimsey, Jeremy Lascelles, Robin Millar and Chris Wright.
CHRYSALIS RECORDS
Streaming from major platforms
