R.I.P. Alvin Lee Of Ten Years After

Alvin Lee, lead singer and guitarist for the band Ten Years after, passed away today at 68 after complications from surgery.

Many fans who weren’t around during Ten Years After’s Sixties heyday knew the band from their epic performance in the Woodstock movie. I wrote about my love for that movie and it’s resulting soundtrack here.

In this live rendition of “I’m Going Home,” a joyous, 11-minute meditation on the blues, Lee shreds and howls whips himself into a frenzy. But like a good chef, he lets the ingredients simmer before bringing it all to a climactic boil.  The lyrics are deceptively simple — yet the more he repeats them, the more effective they become.

At Woodstock, Lee was on the same bill as guitar heroes like Pete Townshend and Jimi Hendrix. Yet as you can see in this video, he more than held his own.