The yr of 1969 went into the historical past of British blues-rock favorites Ten Years After because the one during which they broke by means of in America on the Woodstock Pageant. However it was additionally the interval during which they scored two of their whole of 4 Prime 10 albums within the UK. The primary of these charted on February 22, 1969, with a title that you simply would possibly say captured the temper of the occasions: Stonedhenge.
TYA had made their recording, and UK chart, debut in 1968 with Undead, an album recorded on the well-known London jazz membership Klooks Kleek. For this and the follow-up set, they have been paired with the revered Decca producer, and founding father of the important thing British blues label Blue Horizon, Mike Vernon.
His credentials already included a number of the most vital albums of the British blues-rock growth, akin to 1966’s Blues Breakers by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, different albums with Mayall and quite a few studio initiatives with Fleetwood Mac, together with their self-titled debut and Mr. Fantastic follow-up, each in 1968.
The guitar sorcery of Alvin Lee
As with Undead, the Stonedhenge set was a showcase for the guitar sorcery of Alvin Lee, throughout the achieved framework of Leo Lyons’ bass, Chick Churchill’s keyboards and the drums of Ric Lee. It included each concise items akin to “Sad Song” and “Speed Kills” and prolonged exercises such because the eight-minute “No Title.”
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Stonedhenge gave TYA their first US album chart look, with a No.61 peak. A entrance web page Billboard commercial for the brand new launch in January 1969 described the group as “exciting, different, and wild!” Sundazed’s vinyl reissue of the album had the label eulogizing: “Ten Years After‘s eponymous debut hit the door with a loud thud. Undead cracked it. And with 1969’s Stonedhenge, they knocked it down with authority, stormed the palace and showed the world that they were indeed a major act.”
The place Undead had peaked at No.26 within the UK in September 1968, Ten Years After’s ever-rising repute noticed Stonedhenge crash into the chart at No.6, as Diana Ross & the Supremes Be part of The Temptations continued at No.1. The TYA album spent three consecutive weeks at its entry place, charting in America on the identical day and reaching No.61 there, as their inventory continued to rise. Six months later, they went even larger within the UK chart, to No.4, with Sssh, then repeated that feat solely one other seven months on with Cricklewood Inexperienced.
Purchase or stream Stonedhenge.
