The rising stock of retro-rock radio stations have been the impetus for more than a few classic rock bands to come together again, albeit sans one or two original members. Blues based rockers Ten Years After is among a large contingent of roving bands attempting to recapture the spirit of their glory days of the 1960’s and ‘70’s. Original members Leo Lyons (bass), Chick Churchill (keyboards, organ) and Ric Lee (drums) with axe murderer Joe Gooch standing in for the legendary Alvin Lee are on the road pitching their long awaited album Now.
It would be easy to dismiss Now because Alvin Lee is no longer working with the band. But the reformed group easily holds their own within the narrow genre they’ve chosen. Churchill, Lyons, and R. Lee are as proficient as they ever were during the illustrative heights of the band, and Gooch impresses with some extraordinary lines played at breathtaking speed. Songs like "Time To Kill", "King Of The Blues" and "Long Time Running" are among the best technically played songs of any Ten Years After has produced- past or present. So the band still has their chops, which is just terrific. Trouble is there’s this great big hole that runs right through the middle of the entire album. It just doesn’t seem to have any soul.
This may not be a big problem if you’re able to get by on Gooch’s stinging guitar solos and Churchill’s supportive, lush keyboards. But for me, achieving technical virtuosity on an album is only half the battle. The most important element of music is how it communicates the feeling of the musicians playing it and finding common ground with the emotions these artists are expressing. Such expression is what made blues-rock the tremendous influence it was. And because of that lack of feeling, the music on Now strikes me as cold and extremely sterile.
Maybe the problem is you need more of a live environment to loose your dark sides upon a willing audience. That’s understandable. It’s difficult sometimes to truly let go in a dry, dead studio setting. Knowing this, I’m giving you high marks for at least attempting to create an album that exhausts me after one or two listens. However, I can’t help feeling a little abandoned by the music on Now. Its failure to pull me in shows that more time is needed to nurture the new fruit of this old band so it may ripen.
So, it’s not you, Gooch, Churchill, Lyons and R. Lee; it’s me. Now that I’ve reached middle age, my expectations of music are a little higher for classic rockers than they would be for some of the current groups whose members cut their teeth on albums like Sssh…, and A Space In Time. Considering you guys, along with contemporaries like Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Who, Rod Argent and myriad others brought the form to life, it’s more than appropriate that you now dig down deep into your roots and heave all of that youthful angst on me once again.
Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
I loved the original band, and will have to hear this at least once. The rhythm section never really got its due, as no one seemed to see past frontman Alvin Lee.
It's funny, but you're right: the more old band reform, the better the quality seems to be (re: the recent Cream DVD). Now, if the remaining Beatles (bass & drums) would get together with the remaining Who (vocals & guitar), we could declare classic rock 'n' roll has come full circle & it can be declared over for good.