Ten Years After - A Space In Time - (1971 uk hard blues rock, teinted of acoustic guitar - Wave audio format)

What sets this release apart from earlier TYA albums is the liberal use of tasty acoustic guitar and plenty of sound effects and studio tricks that complement the overall texture. From tuning a radio dial to open a 12-bar boogie blaster(Baby, Won't You Let Me Rock and Roll You)to backward tape solos(Let The Sky Fall)to 50's Sci-Fi(Here They Come), Alvin Lee and Company were in top form on this 1971 "Time Capsule". Lee also shows that he was no slouch on harmonica as he belts out the blues harp(One Of These Days)along with the nice licks from his trusty hot-rodded Gibson ES-335's. Lee's lyrics ran the full gamut on this collection, from country honk(Once There Was A Time)to otherworldly beings "who fly out of the sun", and "know everything we must learn"(Here They Come). He sings painfully about the pitfalls of drug addiction, but optimistically about recovery(Hard Monkeys, I've Been There Too)and tells us that he notices the World's ills but doesn't know what to do, so he "leaves it up to you"(I'd Love to Change the World). Leo Lyons(Bass), Chick Churchill(Keyboards) and Ric Lee(Drums) are excellent as usual. This is the one that occupied a particular "Space in Time" for its era, and gets my vote as the best overall TYA album due to the diversity of the material and subject matter. There's just about something for everyone.(By Douglas J. Hultsman "doogie_rigel4")

Ten Years After - Here They Come


Tracks Listing
01- One of These Days – 5:52
02- Here They Come – 4:36
03- I'd Love to Change the World – 3:44
04- Over The Hill – 2:28
05- Baby Won't You Let Me Rock'n'Roll You – 2:16
06- Once There Was a Time – 3:22
07- Let the Sky Fall – 4:19
08- Hard Monkeys – 3:10
09- I've Been There Too – 5:44
10- Uncle Jam – 1:57

Credits
Alvin Lee : guitar, vocals
Ric Lee : drums
Leo Lyons : bass
Chick Churchill : keyboards

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Rock Island - Rock Island (1970 us, hard blues psych, 2010 remaster edition - MP3 320k and FLAC)

Rock Island formed in 1969 in Philadelphia and had a few different line-ups before the final members that recorded this album, which consisted of Cobb Bussinger (keyboards, vocals), Mike Kennedy (guitar, vocals), Frank Schallis (drums, vocals), B.J. Taylor (lead vocals), and Tony Curcio (bass). Three of the members-Cobb, Mike, and Frank -were previously in a band together named The Many Few.

Rock Island played throughout Philly at many of the Belmont Plateau and Pennypack "Be-lns," held outside in city parks, and coffee houses like Hecket's Circle and built a very good local following. The Group recorded a 4-song demo and went to New York to shop it. They called every record company in the city and made as many appointments as possible.

One producer that really liked the demo was Jeff Hest, with Project 3 Records, which was a fairly new label founded by Enoch Light. Enoch liked the band very much and signed Rock Island to a one-LP contract. Jeff Hest was assigned as producer for the band and made many trips to Philadelphia for the purpose of choosing material for the upcoming album. Once the songs were chosen, the band started recording at A&R Studios in New York City and made multiple trips to New York to record a few songs each trip.

The single Hard and Never Easy was released at the same time as the album and was successful in the mid-west and some areas of Europe. The band made their New York debut at Ungano's, opening for Rod Stewart and the Small Faces and played many times at the Electric Circus in New York. The band took on three managers who arranged for the group to rehearse in the soon-to-be-opened Playboy Club on Broad Street in Center City Philadelphia. A few nights each week the band would allow passers-by to come in and watch their set, which provided a lot of great feedback while putting together their live show.

The band also acquired a limousine, which proved to be a lot of fun travelling to gigs and back and forth to New York. In May of 1970, when the band was at their peak musically and rehearsed to perfection, the Kent State University massacre took place, where four students were killed and nine wounded after being fired upon by the Ohio National Guard. This event caused many universities and colleges to cancel their summer concerts, hence cancelling many of Rock Island's concerts and leaving the band ready and willing to perform but with no available venues to play. Over the next few months the band, having no clear plans, started having internal problems and eventually one of the members left, then another.

After replacing the missing members, the music was never the same, and the band lost impetus and direction. At this time, Project 3 offered Cobb Bussinger and Frank Schallis a contract to record another LP with the condition that they were the sole writers. Bussinger/Schallis, having been a writing team for 10 years, accepted the deal and hired former Rock Island guitarist Mike Kennedy and added Ric Criniti as bassist. The new band was named RAIN and recorded one album with Project 3 Records in 1972. Frank Schallis passed in 2000, Mike Kennedy in 2006.
Cobb Bussinger
El Paso, Texas, February, 2010


Tracks
1. Blue, Blue Lady (M. Kennedy) - 2:59
2. Runnin1 Through My Mind (Jeff Hest) - 5:09
3. When I Was A Boy (R. Bussinger, F. Schallis) - 3:10
4. I Keep On Tryln1 (M. Kennedy, B.J. Taylor) - 2:13
5. Hard And Never Easy (M. Kennedy) - 3:05
6. She Has Left Me (R. Bussinger, F. Schallis) - 3:12
7. Won't You Stay Another Day (M. Kennedy, F. Schallis) - 2:21
8. I Remember (M. Kennedy, B.J. Taylor) - 2:20
9. Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You (M. Kennedy, R. Devlin) - 2:22
10.Blues (R. Bussinger, M. Kennedy, B.J. Taylor) - 8:13
11.Blues Reprise #1 (M. Kennedy) - 0:40
12. Blues Reprise #2 (M. Kennedy) - 0:28

Rock Island
*Cobb Bussinger - Keyboards, Vocals
*Mike Kennedy - Guitar, Vocals
*Frank Schallis - Drums, Vocals
*B.J. Taylor - Lead Vocals
*Tony Curcio - Bass

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Free - Highway (1970 uk, hard blues rock, remastered with bonus tracks - MP3 320k and FLAC)

Highway was recorded just three months after the band scored the career-redefining hit "Alright Now," with their profile at an career-topping high, but morale heading toward an all-time low. Guitarist Paul Kossoff was reeling from the death of friend Jimi Hendrix, a new single, "The Stealer" -- the follow-up to The Hit -- bellyflopped ignominiously and, when the album followed suit, the band itself was not far behind.

Heavily influenced by their admiration of the Band, Highway has understandably been described as Free's answer to Music From Big Pink, sharing both the laid-back vibe and mellow looseness of that role model. Where it went awry, of course, was in the fact that Free was not cut out to be country-rock guitar-twangers, no matter how fiery their missionary zeal.

Yet, the strutting rockers "The Stealer" and "Ride On Pony" alone shatter the brave new mood, while reflective romancers like "Love You So" and "Be My Friend" could well have been composed specifically to rid the band of the shadow of "Alright Now," and prove that underneath the coolest exterior, there beat a heart of the molten gold. Of course, Free had bathed in such waters before, and the closing "Soon I Will Be Gone" certainly bears comparison with any of their past ballads.

Nevertheless, too much of Highway reacted to the pressures of the recent past, rather building upon the strengths that had made such events possible in the first place, and you reach the bonus tracks appended to the 2002 remaster despairing that they will ever rediscover that earlier flair. But the 1971 hit single "My Brother Jake" is a gorgeous knockabout clearly informed by the Faces' recent assault on Free's own throne, while a couple of BBC session tracks, sensibly highlighting both the best ("Ride On Pony") and the worst ("Be My Friend") of the album itself, pack a punch that was clearly absent in the studio.

In fact, whatever your opinion of Highway itself, the bonus tracks comprise an entire new reason to pick up the album.
by Dave Thompson,


Tracks
1. The Highway Song 4.14
2. The Stealer (Fraser/Rodgers/Kossoff) 3.14
3. On My Way 4.04
4. Be My Friend 5.45
5. Sunny Day 3.07
6. Ride on a Pony 4.17
7. Love You So (Rodgers/Kirke) 4.54
8. Bodie 3.05
9. Soon I Will Be Gone 3.01
10.My Brother Jake 2.49
11.Only My Soul 2.27
12.Ride on a Pony" - BBC Session 4.27
13."Be My Friend - BBC Session 5.34
14.Rain - Alternate Version 3.54
15.The Stealer - Single mix 3.21
All tracks written by Fraser/Rodgers unless otherwise stated

Free
*Paul Rodgers - Vocals
*Paul Kossoff - Guitar
*Andy Fraser - Bass
*Simon Kirke - Drums

Other releases by Free, posted here
1970 - Fire And Water (2008 double CD deluxe edition)

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