ALVIN LEE IN TENNESSEE
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Alvin Lee in Tennessee is at times more manana than mania, reflecting both Alvin's Spanish lifestyle and the musical influence of his guitar hero, Nashville legend Scotty Moore. Certainly, Take My Time is as laid back as Alvin will ever get: "hear the rasta man shout, there's too much rushing about so I'm gonna take my time." Similarly, and sadly the only other song to feature Scotty because of his hearing problems, Let's Get It On, is gentle rock befitting the ambience of the Blueberry Hill studio. These tracks remind me of Alvin's great guitar duets with George Harrison where two excellent musicians in their prime complemented each other perfectly. Getting Nowhere Fast is another example of a mellow Lee: "you got to make it last my friend, how can I make you see" and "crawling home at midnight ain't no way to be." However, don't think that Alvin has changed too much because a rich seam of hard, pure rock and roll runs through this album which reaches a crescendo in the national anthem I'm Going Home, via I'm Gonna Make It, How Do You Do It and Tell Me Why. Going Home is a masterpiece, with septuagenarian DJ Fontana succeeding where much younger drummers have failed. Mountain drummer Corky Laing (who played on the live Woodstock version) wrote recently, " Keeping time with Alvin Lee on this number was like following a runaway train that had PMT!" Apart from the rock and roll, we have a touch of (Let's) Boogie and the eclectic Something's Gonna Get You, a reminder that Alvin continues to push the musical boundaries as he did on the Road to Freedom. Every Alvin Lee CD boasts at least one absolute classic and for me it is Rock and Roll Girls, a tribute to Long Tall Sally, Boney Moroney, Suzy Q et al; whilst pure Lee there are tantalising hints of Chuck Berry, Elvis and even Orbison's Pretty Woman. The small number of musical critics who dismissed Alvin's guitar solos as "all haste and no taste" in his early days will be choking on their humble pie when they hear his latest offering. Jazz influences are increasingly evident in Lee's playing style which is overall as technically brilliant as it ever was but more mature, restrained and thoughtful even if he can and does still play at 100 mph when the occasion demands it. This maturity extends to the vocals and to the lyrics, all of which contribute to the maintenance of Lee's status as the world's best exponent of blues-rock. Mind you, it helps that Alvin keeps good company; apart from Scotty and DJ, Pete Pritchard is outstanding on double bass throughout, with veteran pianist Willie Rainsford also putting in a storming performance. All in all, the verdict from Dave "The Bishop" Scott is that everything about Tennessee is first-rate and this extends to the production, cover design, artwork and Toni Franklin's impassioned sleeve notes which could only have been written by a true fan.

Dave "The Bishop" Scott
Blues Matters!

FROM NetRhythms

When I was younger - much younger - I had a mate called Meff - don't ask - who was rather keen on a little boogie. Not the old-time, rolling piano kind of boogie, more the guitar-driven kind as delivered by such exponents as the Allmans, ZZ Top and their ilk. Rocking boogie, I suppose you could call it.

It was common in those days to put together cass tte compilations of favoured tracks by one's favourite bands and, with Meff in mind, I compiled a rather nifty series of C-90s bearing the amusing monicker, or so it seemed at the time, "Hey, Meff, D'ya Wanna Boogie?".

Time's ground on, I've not seen Meff for 20 years or more and C-90s are all but consigned to history, but, were I still compiling, there'd be a few tracks from this, Alvin Lee's latest album, that would be earmarked for inclusion, because, as is evidenced from the first track, "Let's boogie", the old guitar slinger can still, erm, boogie.

"In Tennessee" fulfils a long-held dream of Lee, to play with Elvis Presley's near-legendary guitarist, Scotty Moore, and came about after the two met in London in 1999. A musical friendship was spawned which culminated in their locking horns at Moore's studio in, funnily enough, Tennessee. Moore pulled in old cohorts drummer DJ Fontana, double bassist Pete Pritchard, pianist Willy Rainsford and Hammond organist Tim Hinkley and, thus, one of the tightest, rockingest little bands was assembled.

Lee says: "These guys can learn a song after one listen and put down a great take in one go." So productive was the partnership that all the album' s 11 tracks were on tape within only two days.

Throughout, the playing is exemplary - classic rock'n'roll with each player knowing exactly what to play, and when, and with none over-egging this most satisfying of puddings. Particular mention should be made of the role of Fontana and Pritchard who comprise an awesome rhythm section with some of the most tasteful drumming to be heard anywhere. You couldn't get a fag paper between 'em!

But what of Lee himself? He wrote and sings all the songs and it's clear that he's having a great time - singing with the odd, quite noticeable, Elvis inflection and playing his trademark Gibson with clarity, imagination and no small amount of skill and dexterity.

He is, of course, most famous for leading '70s blues-rockers Ten Years After and for having what were commonly held to be the fastest fretboard fingers in the west. With a nod to his past, the album winds up with what was his and TYA's signature song, "I'm going home", here possibly lacking the raucous attack of youth, but more than compensating with the sagacity and patience of a couple of decades' experience.

So, is it worth Alvin Lee fans of old investigating what he's up to now? Well, if they like traditionally flavoured rock'n'roll played with passion, verve and a sense of fun, definitely. He, like all of us, is not getting any younger, but he's got the chops and the good sense to look back to the roots of the music he loves and, with the help of some of those that were there at the beginning, recreate a little of that old-time magic.

And, on the off-chance my old oppo's reading this, I'll ask the question one more time: "Hey, Meff, d'ya wanna boogie?"

Fred Hall

From Music Industry News Network

Alvin Lee Is Joined By Scotty Moore And DJ Fontana On New Album 'Alvin Lee In Tennessee'

ALVIN LEE is returning to his musical roots on his new CD, ALVIN LEE IN TENNESSEE, out May 18 on Rainman Records. On his 25th album, the legendary singer and guitarist--of Ten Years After fame--is joined by his own musical heros, former Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer DJ Fontana, to cook up an authentic blend of rockabilly and blues. LEE will mark the album's release with a six-week co-headlining tour of Europe and the U.K. with Edgar Winter that launches April 17 in Oxford, England and wraps May 27 at London's famed Royal Albert Hall. A U.S. tour is expected this summer.

Ever since he picked up his first electric guitar (a Guyatone) as a kid back in Nottingham, England, LEE heard the call coming from Nashville, in the form of Scotty Moore's gritty, soulful playing on "Heartbreak Hotel" and other Elvis hits.

As he assured a local newspaper back in 1967, on the eve of his own worldwide acclaim for his instrumental wizardry with Ten Years After, Moore was his favorite player. Those rockabilly licks burned into LEE's brain and helped spark the fire in his playing--a fire that would engulf the world with his history-making solo through "I'm Going Home" at Woodstock '69. By the time the two guitarists crossed paths and briefly played together in London back in '99, LEE knew that he had no choice but to get into the studio and tear it up with his hero.

Flash forward a few years and LEE's getting off the plane in Nashville with his "Big Red" Gibson 335 guitar in hand, ready to record a new album with Moore. To make the sessions a truly special event, the recording took place in a space Moore built into his own basement. Not only that: the band that would gather there was probably the finest that could be assembled for a few days of pure rock & roll: DJ Fontana, the rhythm dynamo on all those Moore sessions with Elvis, would lay down his no-nonsense, nothing-but-the-groove backbeat on drums. Pete Pritchard, a co-founder of the respected Alligator label, would slap, hammer, and lock his acoustic bass line into the rhythm, just as he had done on records with Chuck Berry, Bill Haley & His Comets, and other masters of the craft. And the organ and piano would be manned by Willie Rainsford, who has been summoned to record or tour with Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Marty Robbins, Steve Earle, Dottie West and countless other artists who know great keyboard playing when they hear it.

The results jump from the surface of ALVIN LEE IN TENNESSEE. LEE may never have had a band as tight and soulful as these all-stars. There's not a wasted note in the pop of Fontana's snare or Pritchard's prowling bass. And there isn't a band alive that can play pure rock and old-school R&B like these guys either. You won't hear any fancy effects, unless you count that slapback on some of LEE's lead vocals. Every song in this set exists for one purpose only: to inspire the band to hit it with passion and joy. And every lick they play is aimed right at you, with the intention of getting you out of that chair and up on your feet.

Jump right in with the opening track, "Let's Boogie," on which LEE digs into the beat with a sound and feel that recalls Western swing as much as boogie-woogie. Follow it with "Rock & Roll Girls," where the guitar changes hats and evokes the tone and feel of classic Chuck Berry--with a hint of Little Richard tossed in on the piano. Vintage Chicago R&B sets the mood on "Take My Time" and "Let's Get It On"--check out LEE's chords and fills, which take us back to some Southside lounge circa the late forties. "Getting Nowhere Fast" offers an acoustic moment, though the restlessness in the interplay between the guitars that keeps us from kicking back too far. There's much more too, all leading to a remake of LEE's Woodstock tour de force, but this time "I'm Going Home" carries a double message: There in Scotty Moore's studio, he actually has gone home.

No doubt ALVIN LEE has plenty yet to do in music. Ditto for Scotty, DJ, and the rest. But with ALVIN LEE IN TENNESSEE he's reached at least one of his goals. No matter what happens now, he can pack this music into his memory and take it wherever he goes.

From Beartown U.K.

At its best, rock'n'roll is a primitive beat, it's simple guitar patterns that picked up speed from the blues with a drum that thumped the rhythm full square.

Fifty-years-old, give or take a month or two, the greatest exponent was one Elvis Aaron Presley; teenagers appeared virtually overnight and the world was never the same again. The originals are now the same age as my dad; the former wild men have become respectable elders whose names are whispered in awe.

Young back then, Alvin Lee became wide eyed at every mention of rock'n'roll icons. Growing up, he diverted to the blues and made a career out of his group, Ten Years After, with slight variations of title - substitute "Later" for "After" - he continued in merry retro rock mode.

Cut to 1999 and a Gibson guitar bash in London, Lee finds he's on stage with two of Presley's sidesmen, guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D.J. Fontana, performing a medley of old tunes including "Blue Suede Shoes," and "Hound Dog."

Inspired, Lee took himself off to Moore's home studio where with a bunch of picked hands, he recorded this feel-good set of pure jump and jive.

Lee has written 11 songs perfectly in style, full of pony tailed girls, be bop, brothel creepers and not enough time for dancing. It may sound tame by today's standards but Lee manages to coax some masterful solos out of his big-bodied lead. It sounds like he's having a good time, the music is immediate from the rootsier acoustic picking to the clean spun extemporisation of titles such as "Let's Boogie," or "Rock and Roll Girls."

Hard to imagine that half a century ago this was considered sinful and that a whole generation of parents thought the world was going to end in revolution and chaos.

How things change, I mean, look, we've got Will Young, Westlife and Rachel Stevens - and how dangerous and subversive are they? Don't start me on that! www.alvinlee.com will have all the details.

S.J.

From Abacho

Ja, ja, sie kommen langsam in die Jahre, unsere Gitarrenhelden von damals. Zwei Grundrichtungen lassen sich in den Alterswerken der mittlerweile zu Legenden erhobenen Künstler feststellen: Entweder man wird leicht sentimental, ruhig und lächelt weise, oder man gräbt noch einmal in seinen Jugenderinnerungen, um sich ungestört und ohne Zwang, fortschrittlich und wegweisend sein zu müssen, seinen Wurzeln zu widmen. Letzteres, versetzt mit einer gesunden Prise Senior-Coolness, praktiziert Alvin Lee auf seinem neuesten Solo-Album 'In Tennessee'.

Er 'fühle sich wieder wie 15', konstatiert der langjährige Chef von Ten Years After. Dem können sich wahrscheinlich alle anschließen, die während des unvergesslichen Auftritts der Band in Woodstock ihr erstes Kind gezeugt haben. 'In Tennessee' zelebriert Rock´n´Roll und Boogie in seiner ursprünglichen Form und versetzt uns zurück in die Zeit von Petticoat, Tolle und Wirtschaftswunder. Während Ten Years After ohne ihren Charakterkopf durch die Weltgeschichte zogen, hat Lee sein Vorbild Scotty Moore kontaktiert, der gleich noch D.J. Fontana mit einbrachte. Wer die beiden sind? Drummer und Gitarrist der Band von Elvis Presley. Cool, der 'King is back', nur in Gestalt von Alvin Lee. Bei Songs wie 'Let´s Boogie' oder 'I´m Gonna Make It' bekommt man wirklich das Gefühl, dass hier einer Zeit gehuldigt wird, die der Generation des neuen Jahrtausends wohl nur aus 'Zurück in die Zukunft' und Liedern von Dick Brave the Backbeats bekannt ist. Aber da gibt es ja noch die andere Seite von 'Live In Tennessee', die stille Zufriedenheit, die Relaxtheit und leise Kritik am Gang der heutigen Gesellschaft. Da stellt sich dann schon mal Clapton´sche Gelassenheit neben und über das nach wie vor ausdrucksstarke und energiegeladene Spiel des Alvin Lee. 'Once I was a man who´s on the move, nowadays when I can I wanna groove' - diese Zeile aus 'Take My Time' trifft den Punkt: Nicht mehr der Rocker von früher, aber trotzdem noch mit jeder Menge Feeling zur Sache gehend, so präsentiert sich Alvin Lee auf 'Live In Tennessee'. Und zum Abschluss gibt es eine mitreißende, 'rollige' Variante des Ten Years After-Klassikers 'I´m Going Home'. Na, das hat Alvin schon oft gesagt, und nie wahrgemacht - aber das war und ist gut so.

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