29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High voltage Alvin Lee style!, April 10, 2001
This review is from: Alvin Lee's Ten Years Later - Rockpalast Live (DVD)
I for one was left in amazement at the sheer energy of Alvin's performance along with his unique guitar technique and overall charisma. If you love hard driving rock and blues and want to plug in to the power of human emotion and energy delivered "in your face", this DVD is for you.
Like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Alvin Lee's style and delivery is about the harnessing of human emotion and energy as opposed to pure technique. After watching this DVD, I was left with the feeling that 90%+ of all guitarists out there can never get in the "zone" Alvin gets into. When it was over, all I could say was "WOW"
If you can tune Alvin's energy in and Marshall Fine's comments out, this is a DVD well worth putting in your collection.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alvin Rocks, July 4, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Alvin Lee's Ten Years Later - Rockpalast Live (DVD)
For those who have only seen the Woodstock footage of Alvin Lee, you're in for a hell of a suprise. What's he been doing all these years since? My guess is practicing, judging by his playing these days. I had the pleasure of opening up for him with my band about 15 years ago at Toads Place in New Haven, CT. We were expecting an old warhorse to creep in and hack away at his old set, us feeling rather sad for the old geez. Instead Alvin and friends showed up and politely handed us our [rears]. They were tight, he was on top of his game, melodic (which suprised the hell out of me) and outstanding, both from a guitar and a vocal perspective.
This DVD captures all of that and gives you some insight into why he had and should still have a rep as one of the great blues musicians. Well worth checking out. And if you ever get the chance to see him live, go!!!!
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great, but should have been longer, November 27, 2001
We all surely remember Alvin Lee as the warp-speed guitarist in "Woodstock." Doubtless, we also remember him for perhaps the widest vocal range in history, from a charming baritone to a scream to break windows, to make use of the old tape ad.
Lee brings us all to this video. However, I hate to inform the true Lee fan that his vocal range decreased substantially from 1969 (Woodstock) to this German taping (1978). I suppose he just wore out his vocal chords, the price you pay for that incredible singing.
Instead of back-up from his traditional band, Ric Lee, Chick Churchill, and Leo Lyons, of Ten Years After, for this recording, he's backed by Tom Compton on drums and Mick Hawksworth on bass.
Compton is spectacular. He has more drums and cymbals in front of him then there are people in Utah, but he still plays them well! I say that because too often I've seen drummers with an enormous set acting as if their drum geography will make up for their lack of playing ability. He has an extensive set, but beats them mercilessly and skillfully, while sitting, and standing, and during a spectacular solo. The drums don't play themselves like a drummer or two I've seen, but his style is closer to Ginger Baker or Mitch Mitchell than that of the others I refer to, not violent, but, shall I say, dramatic.
Hawksworth is probably underplayed. I'm not sure how he gets as good a sound out of his basses as most of the times he seems to be beating, rather than picking, the strings. But he gets a sound reminiscent of a good Hofner or Rick bass while playing three of them none from those brands. (All right, I have no idea why he switched basses a couple of times. Maybe it's to bring a little attention to himself when so much is going to Alvin!) I wish he'd been given the opportunity for a bass solo. They're rare, yet I like them.
You may recall that in Woodstock, Lee used the strings of his guitar as a beat instrument: he taped them with his fingers and just kept beat, a novel use of the strings. In this video, he used a drumstick on the strings in one of the tunes. That demonstrates something of the electronics of the guitar--one couldn't get much of a sound from an acoustic guitar that way--but also provides another sample of Lee's novel showmanship. During "I'm Goin' Home," the Ten Years After classic in which the dwindling of Lee's vocal range was most conspicuous, he didn't tap the strings but did on the microphone. It's a little less charming but still novel.
The taping was good, enough movement, plenty of close-up on Lee's amazing fingerwork and his face which gets hyperdramatic during those wild solos. But it still showing plenty of the other musicians to make it exciting without inciting motion sickness.
And you even get to see the security people holding back the crowd before the encore, a testament to the dedication to Alvin Lee fans.
If you're an Alvin Lee fan, I recommend this, especially if you collect his stuff. Again, I wish it were longer, but this will still do. It provides more than just Woodstock to remember Alvin Lee by.
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