Five Alvin Lee Tracks You Should Know

Alvin Lee came to fame fronting British blues-rock band Ten Years After. Heroes of Woodstock, TYA became a hot live attraction, releasing a string of well-received albums in the very late ‘60s and the first half of the 1970s. The band’s tight musical approach and Lee’s searing, proto-shredder guitar playing were the big draw, but Lee and TYA had good songs, too.

Not long after releasing a 2012 solo album, Still on the Road to Freedom, Lee died due to complications during routine surgery; this writer was one of the last journalists to interview the guitarist, mere months before his untimely passing at age 68. Here are five standout tracks featuring the guitarist and singer.

“I’m Goin’ Home” by Ten Years After from Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More (1970)
Thanks to Ten Years After’s bravura set at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, Alvin Lee earned the sobriquet “the fastest guitar in the West,” a label he disliked. But there’s no denying the fire and fury of his playing on this cut, spitting out rapid-fire guitar licks in front of the assembled masses. Ten Years After’s performance of “I’m Going Home” would be a highlight of the Woodstock film and its soundtrack, and whether he liked it or not, Lee would include the song in subsequent TYA concerts.

“I’d Love to Change the World” by Ten Years After from A Space in Time (1971)
Ten Years After scored their biggest success with this 1973 single. Combining an appealing folk-based melody on acoustic guitar with blazing electric guitar runs, “I’d Love to Change the World” was a minor hit in the U.S. and Canada. The song’s durable melody and anti-war message resonated with listeners; in subsequent years the song would be used in many films and TV programs to help evoke the spirit of the early ‘70s.

“So Sad (No Love of His Own)” by Alvin Lee and Mylon LeFevre from On the Road to Freedom (1973)
On a break from Ten Years After, Alvin Lee teamed up with American gospel singer Mylon LeFevre to make a low-key album that would come to be recognized as a pioneering work in country rock. As sturdy as the songs are, it would the album’s personnel that brought it fame: the lineup included Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace (both ex-King Crimson); Reebop Kwaku Baah, Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood (all of Traffic), Mick Fleetwood, Ron Wood, and the writer of this song: George Harrison.

“It’s Getting Harder” by Ten Years After from Positive Vibrations (1974)
Ten Years After was never a “singles band.” Though the group would release more than two dozen singles during its original run (1968-74), only four would chart in the U.S., and only one of those (“I’d Love to Change the World”) cracked the Top 40. But TYA had plenty of solid songs, and they didn’t always place Alvin Lee’s lead guitar out front. The catchy “It’s Getting Harder” showcases some funky clavinet work and tasty synthesizer lines from Chick Churchill; Lee’s fleet-fingered guitar work is the icing on the cake. If any late-period Ten Years After single deserved hit status, it was this one.

“Highway of Love” by Ten Years After from About Time (1989)
Ten Years After broke up for the first time in 1975; Lee went on to a solo career. By 1988 the original quartet had reunited, and they released a new album the following year. Recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, About Time has flashes of the classic TYA sound, though the album is very much a product of its time. Yet amid the ‘80s production flourishes, the record’s most popular cut, “Highway of Love” still showcases Lee’s strong vocals and nimble guitar work. Though the band would remain together well into the 21st century, About Time would be the final studio project from the original lineup of Ten Years After.