Ten Years After - Live At The Marquee (2008) DVD5

Sometimes we can type until our fingers are battered, bloodied stumps and still fail to come up with anything that’s a patch on that which some poor, harried blurb writer managed to spit out seconds before popping down the pub for a few pints. So what are Ten Years After all about? Take it away Blurbie...
“In the beginning God made the guitar. Then he created a new breed of guitar Gods to play it, and Alvin Lee of Ten Years After was the fastest guitar-slinger in the West.” Yes, those pints were well and truly earned. Actually, that remarkable piece of literary mastery is not the only part of this disc which conjures up visions of Spinal Tap. Ten Years After formed in the ‘60s, went through more name changes than a small eastern European nation and more break-ups and regroupings since than a child’s beloved jigsaw puzzle. They also had the same line-up of guitar, bass, keys and drums, and pumped out a sort of electric blues rock hybrid that may sound eerily familiar to those previously unaccustomed with Alvin and his gang. All that’s missing is the wee Stonehenge - oh, but they did, in fact, release an album entitled Stonedhenge, so...
Brought to prominence in the classic film version of THAT late ’60s love-in, Woodstock, here Ten Years After appear in a reformation gig from 1983, at the famed and much-loved London venue The Marquee Club. Fairly staunchly adhering to the unwritten prog-rock rule that frowns upon any song that clocks in at less than five minutes, only seven tracks make up the just shy of one hour of concert time we’re presented with. They even manage to stretch their famed I’m Going Home out to almost 14 – with a little help from a few randomly inserted rock classics along the way.