Alvin Lee - Anthology Volume 2

Guitar on everything – play loud or not at all

A second helping of the Ten Years After frontman’s solo work (another double CD at that) follows 2002’s Anthology. It is, as you’d expect, heavy on riffs and light on melody. To be fair on Al, though, he puts his all into everything, so there’s little to dislike.

Perhaps the most interesting tracks are the selections from 2004’s Alvin Lee In Tennessee, which see him singing and playing with his youthful inspiration, Scotty Moore, and various good ol’ boys. Collectors will be interested in some offcuts from the live In Flight that never made the original edition, while George Harrison, a near neighbour when Lee lived in Henley, adds a distinctive guitar signature to Talk Don’t Bother Me. Another ballad, The Bluest Blues, is also made the better for Harrison’s subtlety. Elsewhere, One More Chance is a venture into funk that’s interesting but doesn’t work, proving that Lee’s probably right to go with what he knows. No matter how far he distances himself from TYA with Kokomo’s backing singers, gospel singer Mylon Le Fevre and the like, he returns to blues-rock roots in the end.

A bonus comes at the end of the sleevenotes, where Alvin has annotated each track with personal reminiscences, making for interesting reading.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Repertoire | REP 5101 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Michael Heatley
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