This is a most welcome reissue of an album that may not rank as one of the biggest or most important albums of the 1970s, but one worthy of some serious re-evaluation.
Ten Years After (brothers Alvin Lee and Ric Lee, Leo Lyons, and Chick Churchill) was one of the many groups or artists to first emerge out of the 1960s British blues and R&B boom, to become part of the fabric of British rock that dominated in the mid-to-late 1960s and most of the 1970s. Hailing from Nottingham, the group’s heavy blues music quickly morphed into a more psychedelic sound on its self-titled debut album in 1967 and on its next two albums, Stonedhenge and Ssssh, both released in 1969.
1969 was a key year for Ten Years After, as the group’s incendiary performance at Woodstock, highlighted by “I’m Going Home” featured in the Woodstock film, put it on the musical map. Through 1970s Cricklewood Green and Watt, the band didn’t completely shake off its heavy blues rock and psychedelic sound, but the former in particular showed the group to be capable of making a great album.
With A Space in Time, released in 1971, the group went beyond the promise of Cricklewood Green and made what is perhaps its best album. The album included the track “I’d Love to Change the World” that perfectly captured the times, lyrically and musically. The album was one of the group’s most diverse and showed lead guitarist Alvin Lee just as adept at acoustic guitar work as he was as a blazing hot electric player. There are even a few prog and orchestral touches giving the album a little more of the feel that the title suggests.
The album has stood the test of time and has now finally been reissued. This reissue was well thought out and features two vinyl albums. The first album is of the new 2023 remix by Chris Kimsey. The second album includes the original mix. This 50th anniversary edition was half-speed mastered at Abbey Road studios and the records were pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl.
The original album was engineered by Kimsey. It’s not often that reissues of classic albums from the 1960s and 1970s with new mixes have the remix done by the original engineer or producer. The original mix sounds excellent and there is a tasteful blend of rock, blues, pop, and even a little prog and jazz. The main ingredient that makes this album such a classic is the melding of fiery electric guitar and lush acoustic guitar. That sound is most prevalent on the original mix. For the new mix, Kimsey takes a very subtle approach, but there are sounds on this mix one might have missed on the original. Kimsey also brings out the spacier side of the album with the new mix.
The album was the group’s first in its new record deal, wherein its records would be released on Chrysalis, but through Columbia, marking the group’s first album not released in the UK, through Deram, its original label. The group would only record two more studio albums, calling it a day after Positive Vibration in 1974. It would reunite for one more album with Alvin Lee in 1989. Three more albums without Lee would follow.
This reissue is a must-have for fans of key ’70s British rock albums and a full-fledged Alvin Lee and Ten Years After revival is long overdue.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
