Customer Reviews

Stonedhenge

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Stonedhenge-- is a very hard Cd to rate. So I will attempt to offer my thoughts and opinions for any curious buyers.

The musicianship is Excellent !! {5 stars}

The production and sound quality is Superior !! {4 stars}

But, where this album fails is in the song writing and in the continuity of how each flows together. The songs are very scattered. Stonedhenge, gives us the trade mark blues rock Ten Years After we are familiar with. Then all of sudden the next song is classical piano piece, then comes a jazz piece, then comes a wierd version of the kiddie nursery ryhme "Three Blind Mice" which is played strictly on the drums. "Now" can you see what I mean. Stonedhenge is literally a musical experiment.

If you prefer a very different style of songwriting with a flair for the odd than this will surely capture your interest.

From a musicianship stand piont this is a work of art.

From a songwriting stand piont this is not the normal Ten Years After. Thus the 3 stars rating.

Song variations to consider are:

"Gonna Try"-- A blues rock song that contains a couple tempo changes and an odd use of some bongos towards the end. On the plus side is some spectacular Keyboard playing.

"I Cant Live Without Lydia"-- A very short 1:20 minute piano extravaganza that borders on classical.

"Woman Trouble"-- Solid jazz feel going on. Smooth vocals,Excellent Hammond organ playing and solo as well as an awesome guitar solo. Snare drum technique is impressive. Extra crisp ride cymbal sound.

"Hear Me Calling"-- A jazz shuffle with driving boogie woogie Bass guitar patterns.Nice two part vocal harmonys.

"A Sad Song"-- More Blues happening here. Reverb effect on the vocals adds a hint of the mystery to this one. Guitar solo included.

"Three Blind Mice"-- All drums playing the theme of Three Blind Mice. A short little diddy at that !!

"No Title"-- Basically a seven minute blues rock jam session. Creative drums. Guitar and keyboards work into a frenzy towards the ending.

"Faro"-- A 1:09 minute Bass Solo.

"Speed Kills"-- The last track is a fast shuffle. Boogie woogie bass and Ryhthmic guitar work. Unbelievable snare drum roll technique !! Clean sounding jazz style gutar solo !!

Final thought: Stick with A Space In Time or Cricklewood Green for a more familiar Ten Years After. However, if you prefer the different experimenting style of Ten Years After then by all means "Buy It". Songs are still somewhat out of context in my opinion.

These expanded remastered TYA releases are all great for their fans and certainly add a lot to the old releases as far as additional tracks with beautiful packaging and wonderful ruminations and photos with commentary by Ric Lee,their drummer..their debut was a pretty traditional moody self titled blues rock cd, their 2nd was a wonderful exciting Blues Jazzier live set called Undead recorded in a small UK club atmosphere, while this experimental 3rd offering brings the band into the studio creating a rich sound scape of some great rocking blues songs,traces of jazz,scat,all mixed with a touch of psychedelia..The CD is sounds well produced and ranks in style the likes of early Pink Floyd,Soft Machine and Traffic in it's mode of experimentation.

The bonus selections and inclusion of I'm Going Home and an additional version of the rocker Hear Me Calling (later covered by Slade on their Alive album) makes this a wonderful release from this band of blues travellers whose Woodstock appearance and love of the blues with serious musicianship throughout their live puts them in a category of one of the great UK bands of the day.

As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various recordings from the 60's and 70's.

"Stonedhenge" is one of the rock and roll records that will never have a definitive rating. Why? Glad you asked. The esoteric material and the way the order of the songs were not decided on continuity it sounds as if this was a record of unreleased material and not an actual studio recording. To the existing fan this actually put a bit of mystique to the music and after a few listenings they saw beauty in the disjointed musical styles. For those new to the band they didn't have the patience to make this their first purchase and rightly so.

It would be hard to fathom the new comer following along as the drums play "Three Blind Mice" and then get hit with the highly spirited "No Title." If you have played "A Space In Time" or "Sssh" until the clicks and pops are part of the musical fabric you can fully appreciate what the group went through to be creative and chancy at the same time.

Owners of at least one Ten Years After album in their collection with an hour to digest the many roads you'll travel, don't let this pass you by.

"Woman Trouble", "Here Me Calling", "No Title" will satisfy your urge for the Alvin Lee style of blues and "Speed Kills" has the energy as a rock and roll tune to keep you coming back for more. With the inclusion of bonus material this will look nice along with "Cricklewood Green."

4 stars for the TYA fan and 3 if you are coming aboard today!

Enjoy the music and be well,

Craig Fenton

Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

I'm tired of people disparaging this album. They seem to think that Ten Years After made a mistake by going in a more psychedelic direction. Well they are wrong. Wrong, I say!

This is one hell of an album. As usual, there's a wide variety of musical styles. But unlike most other TYA albums, it's heavily drenched with psychedelia. "Going To Try", the opener, is the best example. It goes from dark and eerie to fast and rockin' all in a matter of seconds. Churchill's organ is very prominent here, especially when he plays those haunting notes in the beginnnig, amidst a wonderful vocal from Alvin. But then, unexpectedly, Leo's bass starts pounding and the band really begins to get fired up and jam. But you don't have much time to enjoy it before they slow down again and go back to that dreary, creepy atmosphere. It's a killer song.
Churchill's short piano instrumental "I Can't Live Without Lydia" is pretty cool, and very jazzy. Some would call it 'filler', but I enjoy it. And speaking of jazz, "Woman Trouble" really swings. Though it's certainly not their greatest jazz tune, it's still a good song, as Alvin once again shows that he's a real sport and lets all three of his bandmates get a chance to solo. "Skoobly-Oobly-Doobob" (cool title, eh?) is awesome, I care not what anyone says. It's basically a duet between Alvin and.....well.....himself. See, he does all these "Dooo-dooo-doo" chants and simultaneously plays the same exact notes on his guitar. It's kind of hard to explain in words, you have to hear it yourself. But it's fantastic, the way he synchronizes his voice and his guitar notes.
"Hear Me Calling" was actually a very popular song by the band at the time. A totally smokin' blues tune, it allows Alvin to unleash one of his sharpest, craziest solos ever. And those weird vocals are the icing on the cake. "A Sad Song" is simply a glorious ballad, with a riff that starts out simple and soft, then proceeds to suck you in as the song picks up the pace. Alvin's singing on this one is extremely full of soul and emotion. The overall mood of the song may be somewhat depressing, but it's so addicting that I never really notice. Such a magnificent ballad. "Three Blind Mice" is dumb, I'll admit, but still kind of funny. It's just a short little drum pattern from Ric Lee that really isn't impressive at all (a five year-old probably could've done that). But what follows it is perhaps the greatest song that Ten Years After ever wrote. It's called "No Title" (strange name for a song!), and it's one of the greatest rock songs that I've ever heard. It's an 8-minute epic with five different parts, and all of them are astounding. It starts out very slow, relaxed and peaceful, with Alvin delivering some whispery, soothing vocals (the lyrics are outstanding too). Then, when you least expect it, the tranquility is gone and Alvin comes in with a rip-roaring, almost deafening guitar jam. It's amazing. It goes from unbelievably soft to unbelievably loud before you can even blink an eye! The first time I heard it, I nearly jumped out of my seat! It REALLY takes you by surprise, believe me. Anyway, after Alvin's vicious guitar solo, Churchill comes in and takes you away to another world with his trippy organ playing (VERY trippy, actually). After that, the rhythm section gets their turn, as Leo and Ric play some swingy, jazzy bass and drum stuff. And then, for the conclusion, the song slows back down again and returns to it's original, mellow feel. WOW! What a song. It's undoubtedly my favorite TYA song ever. Five different parts, and not one of them boring. Too bad they don't make music like this anymore.
Leo's short bass solo "Faro" is kind of odd, to say the least. One of the very few examples of "psychedelic bass" that you'll ever find. And the closing number, "Speed Kills", is a 50's style rocker in which Alvin's vocals sound almost identical to Jerry Lee Lewis. No foolin'! Very big similarity. The rhythm section provides a rockin' groove, and Alvin's solo is.....well.....this is Alvin Lee we're talking about, so I don't think I need to tell you that the solo is awesome.

Definitely get this album if you're a fan of psychedelia, blues, jazz or just flat-out killer rock 'n roll. This is definitely their weirdest album ever. But in this case, weird means excellent!

Stonedhenge-- is a very hard Cd to rate. So I will attempt to offer my thoughts and opinions for any curious buyers.

The musicianship is Excellent !! {5 stars}

The production and sound quality is Superior !! {4 stars}

But, where this album fails is in the song writing and in the continuity of how each flows together. The songs are very scattered. Stonedhenge, gives us the trade mark blues rock Ten Years After we are familiar with. Then all of sudden the next song is classical piano piece, then comes a jazz piece, then comes a wierd version of the kiddie nursery ryhme "Three Blind Mice" which is played strictly on the drums. "Now" can you see what I mean. Stonedhenge is literally a musical experiment.

If you prefer a very different style of songwriting with a flair for the odd than this will surely capture your interest.

From a musicianship stand piont this is a work of art.

From a songwriting stand piont this is not the normal Ten Years After. Thus the 3 stars rating.

Song variations to consider are:

"Gonna Try"-- A blues rock song that contains a couple tempo changes and an odd use of some bongos towards the end. On the plus side is some spectacular Keyboard playing.

"I Cant Live Without Lydia"-- A very short 1:20 minute piano extravaganza that borders on classical.

"Woman Trouble"-- Solid jazz feel going on. Smooth vocals,Excellent Hammond organ playing and solo as well as an awesome guitar solo. Snare drum technique is impressive. Extra crisp ride cymbal sound.

"Hear Me Calling"-- A jazz shuffle with driving boogie woogie Bass guitar patterns.Nice two part vocal harmonys.

"A Sad Song"-- More Blues happening here. Reverb effect on the vocals adds a hint of the mystery to this one. Guitar solo included.

"Three Blind Mice"-- All drums playing the theme of Three Blind Mice. A short little diddy at that !!

"No Title"-- Basically a seven minute blues rock jam session. Creative drums. Guitar and keyboards work into a frenzy towards the ending.

"Faro"-- A 1:09 minute Bass Solo.

"Speed Kills"-- The last track is a fast shuffle. Boogie woogie bass and Ryhthmic guitar work. Unbelievable snare drum roll technique !! Clean sounding jazz style gutar solo !!

Final thought: Stick with A Space In Time or Cricklewood Green for a more familiar Ten Years After. However, if you prefer the different experimenting style of Ten Years After then by all means "Buy It". Songs are still somewhat out of context in my opinion.

Stonedhenge was a great album, it was one of Ten Years Afters best albums. What people fail to relaize is the skill that is put into this album. Sure the work is different, but it shows the unique talents of the band showing their ability to play different types of music. People who dislike this album just want to hear the basic blues that some Ten Years Songs are. But you have to listen the bass sounds in Sad Song, and some of the work with the guitar playing with the bass a little bit. This album took awhile to grow on me, and I seem to enjoy muisc more when it seems to grow on me then liking it right away. I learn to apperitate the skill that was put into this awsome work. THIS ROCKS.

This is still a thrill ride. 1969. UK charts number six. Third album. Put your brain belts on and lock the doors. Who said Ten Years After couldn't trip you out? Just kidding--you'll be alright. They do play Three Blind Mice on the drums though. There's lots of musicality on this record, regardless of what people with better taste may say. Going To Try is classic TYA and then straight into a crazy piano jazz piece. Woman Trouble another jazz-blues of the later Me and My Baby type. Nice keyboards too. Hear Me Calling is a Canned Heat influenced number right down to the harmonies. Track 6--A Sad Song--Mayall style with organ/guitar riff. No Title would also make Mayall proud. Until it gets too loud. And maybe a bit touched. Bass and drum solos--everybody in. Speed Kills is a ramped up train song. Of course, pre-cd this is where the record ends. Splat. The bonus cuts have Hear Me Calling in the pounding single version. As well as the Woodstock face-melter I'm Going Home. I don't think anyone was ever damaged by this collection of crazy. Tempered by time, this is a curiosity that I can still enjoy.

While Alvin Lee and Ten Years After made several classic albums in the early to mid seventies (Cricklewood Green, A Space in Time, Rock and Roll Music to the World and Live at the Fillmore are some of the best Rock albums of all time), this was one of their first and it shows. The songs are not great, but it isn't bad like some of the other reviewers seem to think. Comapre it to the later efforts and Stonedhenge shows how Alvin and the band evolved in to the greatest forgotten band of all.

This is a great re-issue of a classic Ten Years After album. It has been released to look like a vinyl sleeve record cover, only smaller to house the cd. The CD is covered in a plastic cover, just like the vinyl version. Beware though - as this album comes with only 4 bonus tracks, not 6 as this webpage advertises. But hey, who cares, they sound great. Well worth the purchase. The tracks are very good and clear.

Stonedhenge is a good TYA album. It includes six great blues-rock songs with four short solo songs from each of the band members. This was their first studio album so I believe the band was just having fun with all the studio effects that were available at the time. Alvin Lee himself mentioned this in the liner notes to "Sssh". There is good guitar and keyboard work on this album, especially on "No Title" and "Woman Trouble". On "A Sad Song" the cymbal is miked so closely that it sounds "heavy". There are lots of special effects on the songs and you can have fun reading the album notes trying to figure out who does what. So put on your headphones and turn it up!