Ten Years After – A Space In Time

I have version 1) : -1D / -1E . The sound is just fantastic ! Oh, BTW : it is a "Hot Stamper" purchased from Better-records, years ago !

I've tried it with my headphones, a dynamic pressing, I love it. Without the Headphone, I have to put the sound higher than normal to hear Alvin Lee voice.

A wonderful album really near from perfection.

If there was a quintessential Ten Years After album, for me A Space In Time would be that, not for anything it does or doesn’t do, more for the cohesive feel, its stance, structure and tenor, especially as it features the haunting stoner ballad “I’d Love To Change The World.”

As I said, this album is entirely cohesive, and while still true to their roots, what’s delivered here is transformative for the band, the compositions are shorter and more concise, more direct and perhaps even more commercial in their arch. Gone are the flower power manifestations, featuring more dark and at times delicate meanderings, that are also upbeat and filled with delicious choruses, signifying perhaps a last gasp of fresh air before the music industry journeyed down the dark alleys of the 70’s.

The most dramatic change found here is that no longer were the songs built around guitar riffs, but the on more desirable string fingerings of Alvin Lee’s guitar, where one might suggest that these changes were due in part to the dynamic success Led Zeppelin were having with more intimate acoustic compositions that led to intimate deliveries. Yet bewilderingly, there are more psychedelic influences to be found on A Space In Time than on any other album, a fact that was not lost on fans who embraced this record for all it was worth, especially when considering the number “Let The Sky Fall,” where the song drifts off into the realm of spaced hypnotic blues. Then there’s “I’ve Been There Too,” a shivering example of the band exploring the contrast and juxtaposition between electric and acoustic guitars, allowing listeners to roam freely between opposing-ly warm sensations … and I haven’t even mentioned the unexpected jam, where Lee, Lyons, Churchill and Ric Lee come together with an eager willingness to please not only fans, but each other.

All of this suggests that Ten Years After set out to find some new colours, and did so in spades, uniting differing blues’ styles from all corners of America, certainly due to the relentless touring, where significant blues variations they’d not dared to dream of were presented to them, with the result being nothing short of a timeless body of work that carried the band to a new level. Turning the corner, there is certainly a bit of lameness, as Alvin Lee's lyrics have always served as merely adequate vocal companions to his instrumental pyrotechnics, yet the lyrics/poetry on this album often border on the senseless and inane. Try not to whine as Lee sings “Got no streetcar named desire - And I'll never light her fire” on the number “Hard Monkeys,” where you become fully aware that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Of course a formal a poet he's not, simply listen to his attempt at a tactful metaphor in the horrendous “Over the Hill,” “Like a cripple and his crutch - I have learned a bit too much - Seems that doubt (?) should never touch again.” This song, incidentally, features a grating string quartet arrangement behind Alvin's singing and easily rates as the group's worst studio track … but somehow it’s all easy to overlook, and very easy to embrace.

Of course, when all is said and done critics like Billy Walker of Sounds claimed that while he enjoyed the album, it lacked the strength and stance he was hoping for. Though Robert Christgau of the Village Voice went on to say that, “A Space In Time is one in which rock comes of age, still retaining its toughness in the midst of being one of the band’s fullest and most charismatic coherent albums ever.”

*** The Fun Facts: As to the album’s title, the Philosophy of space and time is the branch of philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding the ontology, epistemology, and character of space and time. While such ideas have been central to philosophy from its inception, the philosophy of space and time was both an inspiration for and a central aspect of early analytic philosophy. The subject focuses on a number of basic issues, including whether time and space exist independently of the mind, whether they exist independently of one another, what s for time's apparently unidirectional flow, whether times other than the present moment exist, and questions about the nature of identity (particularly the nature of identity over time).

Review by Jenell Kesler

JAPAN CD 2004 TO-67506

Fantastic album, for me the pinnacle of Ten Years After, with less heavy rock'n'roll and more acoustic melodies. Simple acoustic songs with country flavors like Here They Come, Once There Was a Time and I've Been There Too turn into real nice groovy tunes. My favorite song is Let the Sky Fall, as it shows that the simplest tune can become something magical in Alvin Lee's hands. My father too keeps humming it non stop after 40 years.