Customer Reviews

In Tennessee

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Alvin Lee doesn't make some half-baked attempt (ala Aerosmith & Clapton) to record some "faux-roots" album; he heads to the home studio of famed Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. and to put it simply, let's it rip.
This is a "old-time", toe tapping, foot stomping rock 'n' roll album, ya' know, the kind Seger used to sing about. Along for the ride are famed drummer D.J. Fontana and of course Scotty Moore. Fontana's drumming and Lee's playing are nothing short of phenomenal. The songs are all written in the classic 50's rock 'n' roll style (aka the Ten Years After song "Choo Choo Mama"). Elvis, Jerry Lee, Little Richard, Eddie Cochran all would feel right at home listening to this cd; and smiling too.
And as you browse the track list saying to yourself "Another version of 'I'm Going Home', gimme a break...", do not be too hasty to dismiss this as another "Woodstock Rerun". The version of "I'm Going Home" recorded here with the aid of Fontana's killer drumming, sounds so fresh and alive, I would even say it may even top the version recorded at Woodstock. My only reason for a "downgrade" to 4 stars is the fact many songs are a little too long and grow tiring after awhile. Most rock 'n' roll tunes of the era this album is trying to recapture log in at 2 to 3 minutes tops, while many of the songs here stretch out to 5 or 6 minutes. I would have liked to see Alvin cut his teeth on a few cover versions too; the fact all the songs are Alvin Lee compostions actually are a "semi-negative". But these points are really my own personal nit-picking.
So...if you're an Alvin Lee fan, adding this to cart is a 100% no brainer. If you love old time rock 'n' roll, adding this to cart is a 100% no brainer. In the age of corporate, manufactured, "sales numbers only" music, Alvin stays true to the rock. I tell ya, they don't make many like this anymore.

Alvin Lee has been known as one of the cleanest, fastest and most dynamic guitar players to come out of the British Invasion of the 60s. On this CD, Alvin "Takes his time" playing some great old style Rock and Roll with Elvis Presley's former bandmates. "This is the real thing" Alvin states after completing the recordings laid down for this CD. The energy and excitement that Alvin shows on this offering is fantastic. Scotty Moore helps Alvin take his time putting out some of the most upbeat music heard out of Alvin in years. If you enjoyed Ten Years After jamming to the likes of "Baby won't you let me rock and roll you" and "Rock and Roll Music to the World" then this offering is for you. Alvin even breaks out another version of "Going Home" to conclude the set. "It's time to put the roll back in rock and roll" Alvin is quoted in the liner notes. After listening to this release you will see just how he was able to do it. Great guitar work throughout with extended jams at the end of each song, along with D.J. Fontana's stellar drum playing make this CD one of the best releases of the year.What are you waiting for? Let that crazy rhythm set you free.

This CD was recorded this past year with some Nashville veterans including Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana from Elvis' band. I have heard a lot of Alvin Lee's solo work and this is easily the best I've heard. You can tell Lee is having a blast playing Sun Records style rock `n roll. It's all very much in the vein of Elvis, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. All the songs were written by Lee including a new ripping version of "I'm Going Home" to close out the album. In addition to some great rock & roll there are a couple of nice acoustic blues numbers. Lee received much recognition back in his heyday (1969-1973), but he has now become one of the most underrated guitarists of today. Highly recommended!

Alvin Lee in Tennessee is a gift. Recorded with love, wrapped up in smiles and foot tapping rhythms. This is the CD fans of roots rock and roll have been waiting for, and the only surprise is that it was given to us by a man known better for high powered blues/rock. Alvin Lee of Ten Years After fame finally gets to bury his past as the Woodstock hero by going back to the past he really loves - that of 50s Sun Studios styled roots rock. With his childhood heros Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana keeping him subdued, Lee manages to create some of the smoothest, silkiest, swingingest music he has ever played. The liner notes makes reference to the fact that the songs both look back and look forward, and that's a great way to put it. Every one of these songs, all Alvin Lee compositions, could have been recorded in the 50s, but every one also has a contemporary feel to it - and every one is a keeper! Hey Grammy Awards, here's one that deserves to be heard and honored!

When Alvin Lee was learning to play guitar, his inspiration was Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore. Now, after 40 years of thrilling music audiences with his high fire mix of blues/jazz & rock, Alvin is going home for real. With his heroes playing along, he embraces the rock and roll he loves so much with enthusiasm, energy and exquisite talent and creates a timeless classic. This is music that will make you feel good every time you listen.

This thing sounds like it could have been recorded in Memphis in the 50's at the Sun studios [except for the very long guitar solos in some song]. This is a GREAT album! I started to say they don't make them like this anymore--but obviously they do!

Alvin Lee deserves all the praise he is getting for this work. I just hope that he feels like he has found his kind of music and that there are more to come. I was really surprised!

As a bonus, I use to think that Levon Helm and Max Weinberg were the best drummers in rock and roll history, but I am going to add D.J. Fonatana to the list. His drumming on this album is a good as it gets. How in the world did Elvis let him go? A vastly underatted and overlooked figure in the history of rock and roll. I guess I should have remembered that great drumming on "Hound Dog"!

Years ago, while I lived in Asia, an acquaintance had an album of, if I recall, Jerry Lee Lewis. Among the guest musicians on the album was Alvin Lee. I'd always been fond of his lightning guitar; not only is he fast, but there's QUALITY there too. (I think of a musician friend in the same Asian city. He was fast, but there was not quality, no style.) When I saw this album, I jumped to get it!

As at least one other critic noted, the music is reminiscent of an earlier era, again, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, and on down (or up?) In fact, I kind of like the string bass. It reminds me of Bill Halley and the Comets before they went to the bass guitar.

The music isn't complex, but it's well played and a pleasure to hear.

I'm a little intrigued by a few of the lyrics. For instance, in "Take My Time," there's a line about "if you're on a fast train, cocaine, you will fry your brain." It makes me chuckle a little as a number of former druggie musicians have long since given up the drugs for "Jesus" or some other alternate. To the best of my knowledge, Lee hasn't done that. At least the music doesn't indicate that. I guess he, like the rest of us, has grown up.

Now, my reason for "only" four stars: I regret that he included "I'm Going Home" on this collection. Sure, it's well played. In fact, it's almost like a new song, done, again, like Lewis, Chuck Berry, or maybe a country musician may have played it. But it's become so much of an Alvin Lee trademark I wish he'd have left it off. Lee's more talented than to continuously remind us of how well he played at Woodstock.

Overall, though, listen to it. It'll make a great party CD!

Alvin Lee has finally found his niche. He seems right at home in the studio's of Nashville. This is some of the tastiest stuff I've heard in a while. You even get an Elvis feel throughout. I really loved the acoustic "Gettin' Nowhere Fast" It's just another side of the great Guitar Master we haven't seen for a while. Does Alvin Lee still have it? Folks, he never lost it!! Rock on Captain!!

If you need a shot of rhythm and blues, this is the record for you. Its not arena rock; just a hot little band with a really hot guitar player.

The first Ten Years After album went pretty much unnoticed in the US. But when Undead was released, oh boy... The initial reaction was shock at the fast guitar playing. But what really made Undead such a hot date was the swing. Its still one of the greatest live albums ever; check it out and see what I mean.

With Undead, Alvin Lee cast himself as a descendant of Chuck Berry and T-Bone Walker, very different from Ritchie Blackmore or Jeff Beck.

Then came Woodstock and super stardom. To those who say Alvin plays the same licks he played back then, I say, so does Santana and I have yet to hear a solo from Santana that made makes jaw drop.

Now, at long last, Alvin gets back to his roots. And he is definitely Goin' Home, playing the music he loves, with a band that's right in the pocket.

Alvin Lee have long been one of the finest gunslingers alive in Rock and Roll. His studio albums showed rock and rolls what it should be as he and his band mates blazed thru one song after another. He have for the major of his career, with the exception of the album Space and Time, avoided the limelight. His orginal two live albums (Undead and Recorded Live) with TYA are classic. And then there was his woodstock performance.

His solo career, with the exception of his first solo album, On the Road to Freedom, however have been a disappoinmemt. Not that the albums have been bad, but sometime it hard to live up to your own history. The Stones are the perfect example, once you did Exile on Main Street and everything that lead up to it, everything afterward never lived up to what you did in the 60 and early 70s. The problem is that you always end up comparing it to what came before. The same hold true with Alvin Lee

With In Tennesse, he departed the British Blues that he have used and master thru out his career and tried something different. As a result, this album made you for length of time forget that he was TYA. It was fresh, different and soulful. A musically style that have been dormat for decades. It was like listening to Elvis, Roy and others from the early 50s Memphis for the first time.

It is a shame that this album will be lost in the annual of Rock and Roll. It is a fine piece of recording that stands outside of one of the true unsung guitars players.

The only thing that could of made this album better was to leave off track 12.