ROCK ON
ALVIN LEE E-ZiNE ISSUE ONE
JULY 2002
| PALANTIR THE ORIGINAL FANZINE OF THE TEN YEARS AFTER MUSICLOVERS SOCIETY.... Reprinted from issue one....April 1968. ON WITH NEWS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. T. Y.A.'s first Scandinavian trip (lOth.Feb.-18th.Feb.) was a huge success. Whilst over there they did Television appearances and press interviews. Alvin did an interview for I'AktueltII, SWld.ay, 25th.Feb. which caused quite a stir with its political content. T .Y .A .were rather mystified by the Scandinavian audiences, who express their appreciation in a very different way to English ones, to quote Alvin's "Aktuelt"' interview: "In England the audience shouts and yells if they like what you play. If they don't, they give you the slow hand clap. When the Danish audiences just clapped we did not know if it was because they liked us or not; but the promoter told us that we had taken the audience by storm ." The group made a flying visit to Paris on Monday, 25th. March, to do a Television appearance there. They all enjoyed it very much, and had time to see a little of the city and even eat frogs legs. However, even though they were warned, they refreshed themselves with the water, whilst there, and had upset stomachs for several days after! Although neither of T .Y .A.'s first records (L.P. "Ten Years After" Deram, :Mono DML 1015, Stereo STL 1015; Single "Portable People"/"The Sounds", Deram l.DM 176.) made the charts in England, they have sold very steadily. Whilst on the subject I should be very interested to know how many of you who bought "'Portable People"' prefer l"The Sounds"? .Both records have been released in the States for a few weeks and have arroused great interest in T .Y .A .over there. Alvin bumped into Eric Burdon shortly after his return. from the States and he said that the L.P. is getting a lot of air-space on American radio. This leads me to their American trip which starts on the 3Oth. May, at the Fillmore Auditorium, Frisco. At present not many definite dates have been worked out as the trip is still a fewweeks away, but they are definitely doing two three-night sessions at the Fillmore, May 3Oth .-June Ist. & June 13th. -June 15th. , and ten days at the end of their trip at the Whisky A-Go-Go, L.A., returning to England on the 8th. July. There is no definite date set for the next L. P ., but it is hoped that it will be released while they are in America, or at the latest, late July. Several tracks have already been recorded, including "I'm a spider in your web", a slow blues; and "Rock your Mama", which is a medium tempo number, especially recorded for the stereo version, with some very interesting stereo effects. All the numbers to date are originals by Alvin. Sunday 31st.March, about forty friends and acquaintances were invited to the studio, with a bottle, to join in a session. Everyone had a great time, though few of those present seem to remember the last few hours, after the bottles were emptied! I managed to hear back the tapes, the following week, and the results are terrific, especially a lot of the chat that went on in between numbers, which will probably be incorporated on the L. P., and surprising to all involved, quite a few of the numbers will be usable, though some of the late tracks prove that alcohol clouds musical minds! The title for the L.P. has not been decided upon, you may have read in the press that it will be called "Ten Years After Six Months Later", but this is not likely. Whilst on the subject of the press; one of our members, Diane Lister wrote to me enquiring, "Why all the conflicting press reports ? " .I thought that I would explain this now in case anyone else finds the press confusing. These mix-ups occur because every week the press get in touch with the agency for news and the agency obliges with the news as it is at that time. Unfortunately ideas change over the weeks and so conflicting stories appear. A particular example of this was "Portable People". The original song for the Single was a number by Alvin called "Since you left me", this was recorded, then the lyrics were altered, and it appeared in the press as "Clouds of Darkness". This was yet again changed, lyrics and tempo, and finally became "The Sounds". Whilst this was under consideration as the "A" side, Alvin wrote "Portable People", and this was finally decided upon. This whole process took place over several months and I think explains clearly how false press accounts occur . I hope that all the news that I get for you will be more accurate, but as you see things change continually. You will see that I have included date-sheets for May and June. This is because I have realised that due to postage costs it is impossible to send a date-sheet every month. Also I have noticed over the past two months that even if I were to send out a date-sheet every week it would probably not be 100% accurate, as bookings sometimes come in the day before they are due, and others are cancelled a few hours before they are due. Alterations are unavoid able and the best protection is to check with the venue a few days beforehand . As you will see on the date-sheet T .Y .A. are doing the Rome Festival on the 5th. of May. It should be a fabulous festival, I hope that some of you will be able to go to it . This first Palantir sees the beginning of Alvin's serial "Green Gilbert", and a short story by Leo called: "This Incredible Success Story of Norman Link -Who found fame in a different way from which he sought it. " I had hoped to include something by Ric and Chick, however work has kept them too busy, but they hope to do something for the July edition. Eowyn, who designed the Society poster and designs m ost of the art work for T. Y.A. and myself, hand paints badges, either with the T. Y.A.M.L.S. design (as on the letter-heads etc .) or any design or wording that you like. If you would like one just send your idea to me with a P.O. made out to Eowyn for 3/6d. I now have available photographs of T.Y .A. either individual or group shots. These are 10" x 8". If anyone would like one or more, they are 3 shillings each, plus 6 pence postage and package. P , 0. made payable to: Ten Years After Music Lovers Society. Any members who are interested in corresponding with other members, please drop me a line and I shall print their addresses in the next Palantir . Well, I shall conclude my epistle here and leave you to feast your eyes and minds on the following pages . Thank you all again for your letters and great interest in Ten Years After- . Best Wishes to you all, Vicky |