Watt [Import]

Ten Years After | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 22, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: 101 DISTRIBUTION
• ASIN: B00149ND8M
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,151 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #81 in Music > Classic Rock > British Invasion

Editorial Reviews

Out of print in the U.S.! Import pressing of this 1971 album from the Blues rockers, their sixth album overall. Watt was the follow-up to their most successful album: Cricklewood Green. Watt features seven tracks recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes and one ('Sweet Little Sixteen', originally by Chuck Berry) recorded live at the 1970 Isle Of Wight festival. The album features the classic line-up of Alvin Lee (guitar and vocals) Ric Lee (drums), Leo Lyons ( bass) and Chic Churchill (keyboards) . EMI. 2008. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an underrated surprise, May 4, 2009

By 

B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Watt (Audio CD)

WOW, talk about underrated- that pretty much sums up my feelings with the lost album by Ten Years After called Watts. What makes the music on the album so special to me? Well, I've heard Cricklewood Green, but the songwriting on that album isn't quite as high as it is here. Something about this particular set of songs is really really good to me.

Quality blues rock, but not necessarily the typical kind of blues rock most people immediately think of- Ten Years After liked to create blues rock in a way where the songs feel more like pop songs, but with a little bit of jamming thrown in for good measure. The jams are really really cool too. Not in ANY way boring. It was a winning formula for the band during the early 70's, but the results are REALLY satisfying to me on Watt.

"Gonna Run" reminds me of Canned Heat a little bit, and I LOVE that song. "She Lies in the Morning" is absolutely fascinating as far as highly enjoyable vocals is concerned. You'll probably fall in love with that melody the first time you hear it- it's extremely catchy.

This is truly an underrated album, and everyone must find a way to hear it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite TYA Album, March 22, 2004

By 

Fred Rayworth (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Watt (Audio CD)

I love this album and since it was the first album by them that I purchased, all the others just seemed to pale in comparison. There is just something about this album that hits all the right spots. It brings back fond memories of living in Spain in the early seventies. My favorite track is My Baby Left Me and my wife and I played a cover of that in our band for years. If you want to hear the band at their best, I highly recommend searching out this gem.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TYA's Greatest, January 21, 2003

By 

Jiri Schwarz (Prague, Czechia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Watt (Audio CD)

Definitely TYA's masterpiece. It's probably my most frequently played album at all, still after those 30 years. I still feel the smell of the parties of the seventies in Prague, dancing with a gal to Think About the Times. The album has an extremely unique atmosphere (yes, also tired in a way, maybe frustrated, but also full of tenderness and love in Alvin's voice and music as well, straight from the heart, subdued lights mandatory), which is only partially captured on other TYA albums (e.g. Cricklewood Green, A Space In Time). The totally happy tune, She Lies In the Morning, is really great (maybe adding some genuine British /Liverpool?/ inspiration to the mixture). Alvin's guitar solos are at his best: more "homogenous" with more self-control, with greater than ever melodic invention. Maybe some R&B purists will not like it, but Watt heralds the great change from the music of the sixties to the actual modern rock sound of the seventies (what a progress if you compare it to their somewhat plain R&B debut some 3 years before). Just listen to the brief shift into a fantastic jazzy improvisation, years before the climax of the jazz-rock era. The value of Watt is probably in its very specific sound that has brought together divergent inspirations, from hard-rock to jazz. Watt is the real achievement, the true result of previous learning how to play the blues. I only admit that the closing Sweet Little Sixteen has been performed much better by other bands (and TYA themselves could play R'N'R classics far better indeed), but it does not hamper the overall feeling from listening to the album. In short, if you want to know something on TYA, Watt has to be the choice.