Alvin Lee –  “Still On The Road To Freedom” – 2012 

I would like to introduce you to my new album. Still On The Road To Freedom.

In 1972, after Woodstock catapulted Ten Years After into the Rock Arenas, I decided to take the road to freedom rather than the road to fame and fortune. It was the only decision for me as in my desperation to get away from the responsibility and the commerciality of the music industrialist, I was in danger of joining the dead before 30 club. “Moderation is for monks, what’s the most I can have?” I was searching for and needing freedom. It was freedom from the big tour schedules, playing every night in huge arenas where the sound echoed like a freight shed and the security was armed police with cotton wool in their ears. Freedom from the managers, agents and lawyers who saw me as a money making commodity. “We only want what’s best for you my boy.” Yeah sure. Freedom from being responsible for satisfying other people’s greed. But most of all, freedom to make music of my own choice without worrying about what other people thought or expected. I have always followed my instincts and tried to maintain a natural flow in what I do, both in music and in life. I play by ear and follow my nose, that’s what I like to do, what’s the point of following someone else’s nose.

I am never sure which direction my music is going to take, but I do know that to be worth while, it has to be a natural progression. It has to evolve freely. It has to be instinctual and not commercially premeditated, free from undue interference. Free from the many pressures of the rock and roll circus.

The songs on this album are taken from a batch of 33 songs that I have written over the last four years since the release of my previous album Saguitar. I tried at first to bring all the tracks along together at the same time, working simultaneously on all 33 songs. This was a mistake, too much to remember, too hard to stay focused. It took me over two hours just to listen to all the songs I had.
Eventually, realizing my mistake, I picked fifteen songs I liked the best and it all started to flow, naturally and easily again. This is the reason that the material on this album is so varied, with so many styles and types of music. But strangely enough as I worked, mixed and fiddled, the album slowly became an entity in itself with a beginning, a middle and an end. It developed a concept of its own, travelling from the Road to Freedom, back to the 1950’s up to the present day, then arriving back full circle to Love Like A Man. But let’s not talk about music, I prefer to let the music play and speak for itself. That’s what it’s all about.

Alvin

ALVIN LEE & TEN YEARS AFTER

Summary

A  192 page book documenting the career of the influential “Second British Invasion” blues/rock band and their legendary lead guitarist Alvin Lee. Provides complete coverage from the early days in Nottingham through the most recent tours in 2000. 

A prolific touring band, Ten Years After performed at almost every important rock venue and festival in the 60s & 70s. From London’s Marquee Club to the opening weekend at San Francisco’s Fillmore West, from Woodstock to the Isle of Wight Festival and beyond, dozens of rock’s most memorable and historic concert events are recalled in words and pictures. Profusely illustrated with 400 rare concert and backstage photos, posters, handbills & vintage ads that list appearances of Ten Years After and many other major bands of the period (Doors, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc.). Includes Ten Years Later and the Alvin Lee Band.

This limited edition 8-1/2 x 11 perfect bound book is printed on coated matte paper with a full color laminated cover. It is a must have for anyone who would like to revisit or learn about the concert events that helped shape classic rock.

The "TEN YEARS AFTER BIBLE" by HERB STAEHR!