Artist: Ten Years After
Released: 2004
Rating: 4/5
It’s anything but a walk in the park when you head into the studio to write an album and the band has no guitarist-vocalist rolled into one, blessed with the rare luck of having a playing and singing style you’d recognize from a mile away. After “About Time” (1989), and with TYA having released no real studio album since 1974 apart from that one, “Now” finally brings TYA back from the dead. Without Alvin Lee. How is that even possible? How risky, and how bold at the same time.
Plenty of people believe in the Virgin Mary, but far fewer believe she can actually show up. Well, in their old age TYA must have definitely seen the Virgin Mary and had a cozy little chat with her, when in 2002 Joe Gooch, barely 29 at the time, joined them. Why “barely”? Because going by the age gap, the three original TYA members could of course have been fathers to their savior Gooch.
“Now” is an album of tremendous freshness, and on it TYA have definitely found a new creative drive. In places they come at you like rowdy teenagers still brimming with the untarnished innocence of creative enthusiasm, recording their debut in the studio. Of course this isn’t a debut, but the ideas piled up, and some truly big ones came out of the pile, since an ocean of water has flowed under the bridge since the stretch of consistent studio releases in the first half of the seventies. You can only bring those ideas to life convincingly, and make a shocking impression on the masses through the prism of “blues” that stands out and sets you apart, if you have a one-of-a-kind talent like Alvin Lee in the band. Or do you? Gooch is the answer. With Gooch, Ten Years After are putting out a new “progressive blues rock” record, with the most pronounced “hard rock” peaks of their career, and it’s got “it”. It has that recognizable energy, that “beat” of pulsing and vibrating with a pair of big brass ones. That something much more wound-up is cooking in this rock is made clear right away by the opening “rocker roller”, the cheeky and incredibly fluid When It Falls Down, which brings what actually made Ten Years After so great in the first place. Explosiveness! Unmistakable explosiveness. Sure, today a generation of 20-year-olds understands the word explosiveness in rock music differently, but the Woodstock generation, who grew up with TYA, will recognize the explosiveness of TYA on “Now” damn well. We step straight into the magic of real, classic blues rock, dressed in a tightly wound guitar riff, with a rock-solid, indispensable, living, thick rhythm line lying contrastingly at its shoulder. The opening song did its job, it put a spell on the listener until they turned into one big ear. A Hundred Miles conjures up a completely different atmosphere, a mid-tempo song with more “blues obscurity” and hints of mysticism, masterfully fused with the rock’n’roll punch of an impressive guitar riff through the chorus. TYA continue with a sophisticated, gently esoteric and dreamy performance.
Gooch is an exceptional addition. With him, TYA have kept that niche. Distinctly theirs, I won’t say exactly the same as with Alvin Lee, but close enough that we can call it that niche only they know and nobody else. And what only they and nobody else can pull off again. The songs “Time To Kill”, “King Of The Blues”, the closing “Changes” and “Long Time Running”, with an impressive “slide” guitar solo that actually plays an integral role in the song, are among the most technically accomplished tracks the revamped Ten Years After have put together, and in them Gooch confirms all his mastery and why he was granted the license to fill Alvin Lee’s big shoes. The riffs are played with a heartfelt, razor-sharp approach and shine especially in tight communication with Churchill’s organ. One of the highlights on “Now” is the ballad I’ll Make It Easy For You. A typical blues, highly atmospheric tune, with piano in the central role, balanced against it by a pronounced depth of bass guitar that pulses passionately, and soaked in juicy blues guitar embellishments. Gooch has a distinctive voice, one that’s just right for keeping up the image of Ten Years After as we know it from the Alvin Lee days. The accent in the verses at times even recalls Alvin Lee’s bluesy accent.
TYA certainly haven’t stopped. But first and foremost “Now” is an album of reaffirming the legacy of TYA with Alvin Lee. A reaffirmation that they absolutely pulled off. Surely thanks to the experience they’ve gathered over all these nearly 40 years of existence. Gooch is clearly an important driving force here, holding up a trio of wise old patriarchs who had probably given up completely on the seeming “mirage” of Alvin Lee’s irreplaceability. The mirage has finally dissolved, and “Now” brings Ten Years After very, very much back from the dead. Simple as that, like I said! An album that breathes the roots of past works, that deftly navigates within its own niche, which Ten Years Afer discovered long ago and which belongs only to them, or is unmistakably theirs. It will be interesting to watch what the legends still have to tell us through the rest of the first decade of the new millennium. For now we can say they’ve more than successfully passed the tough test of a comeback. How much exploratory courage and youthful rebellion they still carry in them, we’ll see soon enough with the next album. “Now” is a cautious album, with which TYA have landed safely among the living and settled in nicely on their own familiar home turf. I mustn’t forget that this is a mature album, by mature men, for mature men. An outstanding “come back” album, with well-crafted songs and impressive blues rock motifs you won’t get tired of anytime soon.
Lineup
Joe Gooch – guitar, vocals
Chick Churchill – keyboards
Leo Lyons – bass guitar
Ric Lee – drums
Production
Leo Lyons
Tracklist
1 When It All Falls Down (3:29)
2 Hundred Miles High (7:07)
3 Time to Kill (4:33)
4 I’ll Make It Easy for You (5:34)
5 Voice Inside Your Head (4:34)
6 King of the Blues (3:36)
7 Long Time Running (6:15)
8 Reasons Why (4:42)
9 Changes (5:14)
Album length: 45:09
