The Stranglers, Uriah Heep, The Wailers, and Ten Years After

But their musicianship and menace transcended the genre, creating a sound unique to themselves. With their first three albums (Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes and Black and White) being released within an astonishing 13 months of each other, scoring hit singles with ‘Peaches’, ‘No More Heroes’ and ‘Walk On By’. Further success was to follow with ‘Always The Sun’, ‘Strange Little Girl’ and the mercurial ‘Golden Brown’, amongst many others, earning the group 24 Top 40 singles and 19 Top 40 albums in a career spanning six different decades.

With this unique Stranglers sound, combining a brilliant melodic touch with a dark aggression and effortless cool, The Stranglers are now recognised as one of the most credible and influential bands to have emerged from the punk era. In 2024, the Stranglers celebrate their 50th anniversary with a sell-out tour of the UK including the prestigious Royal Albert Hall and headline slots at festivals worldwide.

The band’s 2021 UK top 5 album Dark Matters was their highest charting album for 38 years showing The Stranglers are still a creative force to be reckoned with. Dark Matters achieved wide critical acclaim and was described by many music mags as ‘their best album for forty years’.

Dark Matters also became the swansong of Dave Greenfield, Stranglers’ keyboard player of 45 years who performed extensively on the record before his sudden passing in 2020 due to CoVid-19. Dave was a highly acclaimed keyboardist whose unique approach and instantly identifiable playing style massively contributed to the group’s inimitable sound.

Formed originally in 1967 by guitarist Mick Box with David Garrick, as Spice. Having answer a music paper ad, Garrick and Box were joined by drummer Alex Napier and bassist Paul Newton. The band gigged, eventually making their way to the marquee level and gained the attention of Hit Record Productions Ltd.'s boss Gerry Bron who helped them get signed to Vertigo Records. The band changed their name to Uriah Heep and started to record their debut album, and three quarters into the recording of the album Alex Napier was replaced by Nigel Olsson (who in turn was replaced by Keith Baker). Despite the minor change, they released their debut album “…Very ‘Eavy…Very ‘Umble” in 1970.

Two albums later the band went through another lineup change resulting in a newfound chemistry. Using this, they released “Demons and Wizards” which was released in 1972 and peaking at number 20 in the United Kingdom and 23 in the United States. A year later Uriah Heep recorded and released a live double album during their performance at the Birmingham Town Hall. Meanwhile, Ken Hensley had gradually recording his own, mellower material; releasing his solo debut Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf the same year.

Unfortunately due to heavy alcohol use, the band became inconsistent with their performances for the rest of the 70s; in fact, it wasn’t until the release of “Fallen Angel” in 1978 that the band recorded an album with a consistent lineup. However, this was short lived when yet another member quit the band. They finally hit their stride with a constant lineup from 1987 until 2007, resulting in successful touring with some of their shows becoming recorded and released as live albums. Additionally, their release of their 1995 album, “Sea Of Light” was well received and was followed three years later by the release of “Sonic Origami” which allowed them to successfully tour Europe. The band released their 23rd album, “Into The Wild” on 15 April 2011 and again went back into the studio in early 2014, releasing “Outsider” later that same year.

To sum up the history of The Wailers is akin to summing up the history of The Beatles, except even more so. The influence and impact of Bob Marley and The Wailers goes far beyond that of the fab four, to the extent where some, very understandably, call Marley a straight up prophet. Even from a purely musical perspective, we’re talking about the creators of some of the most iconic pop music of our time. So, no pressure then.

The first incarnation of The Wailers eventually consisted of Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingstone playing together as a power trio. However, after several chart successes Livingstone and Tosh were unwilling to tour, so the band split and Marley reformed the Wailers as his backing band. It’s hard to believe that everything that happened next only happened in seven years, but come 1981, Marley passed away due to cancer.

After Marley’s passing, bassist Aston “Family Man” Barrett arguably became the band leader. In fact, Barrett’s nickname came from how he saw himself as the organizer of the band from the very beginning. He’d been Marley’s most trusted lieutenant right up until his passing, responsible for most of the songs arrangements and playing on the vast majority of his greatest hits.

Under his guidance the band has played to an estimated total audience of 24 million people over the years, and have worked and performed with artists like Sting, Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana. They are the pioneers of one drop reggae to this day, and with a line-up as experienced as they are, a live show of theirs can still knock people for six at twenty paces. Highly recommended.

Front man Alvin Lee led an assortment of virtuoso musicians in Ten Years After, which included guitarist Chick Churchill, drummer Rick Lee, and bassist Leo Lyons. Prior to the band’s formation several core members were in a group called Ivan Jay and the Jaycats. The band after several name and line up changes would morph into Ten Years After. The group would later assume the name Jaybirds and then Ivan Jay and the Jaymen.

They became very popular locally but branched off to London in 1966 to play with the Ivy League. This same year they completed their official lineup with the addition of keyboardist Chick Churchill. The band altered their name two more times before settling on Ten Yeats After. They changed it to Blues Trip upon signing Chris Wright as their manager and to Blues Yard during their show at the Marquee Club.

In 1967 they entered in a recording contract with a subsidiary of Decca called Deram and released their self-titled debut. The album featured 4 cover songs, two of those being Willie Dixon compositions “Spoonful” and “Help Me”. Though the release did not receive enthusiastic reviews, it created awareness of their presence and gave them a chance to showcase their potential.

Their second album “Undead” more than made up for the insecure start set by their previous release. “Undead” was recorded live in an intimate jazz club in London called Klooks Kleek. It flaunted the band’s deep understanding of blues and boogie music, paying a particular amount of attention to jump blues. The album contained only 5 tracks; however, they were considerably more lengthy than the standard pop song. The shortest track which was the Gershwin cover “Summertime” clocked in at 5:44 and the band original “I May Be Wrong, But I Won’t Be Wrong Always” took up 9:49 worth of space on the album. It was the track “I’m Going Home”, which threw Ten Years After into commercial stardom. The single became a hit in both the US and UK and boosted album sales significantly.

The band amped up the production of albums within the next 2 years, yielding 4 studio releases during this time frame. “Stonedhenge” came out in 1969 and consisted of mostly original tracks with the exception of the 59 second rendition of the folk traditional “Three Blind Mice”. “Ssssh” was also released that year and rose to No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on the UK charts.

The band’s follow up “Criklewood Green” received glowing reviews and entered the Billboard 200 at No.14. The album was released in 1970 as was “Watt”, which was another album consisting of entirely original material apart from the closing track “Sweet Little Sixteen” written by Chuck Berry.

The band fulfilled their contract with Deram after the release of Watt and released their next album “A Space in Time” through Columbia. The band departed from their improvisational psychedelic blues style and went into a more coherent pop direction. Though this approach worked initially, it’s success did not cross over to their 1974 album “Positive Vibration”. After this release the group decided to call it quits.

The band reformed approximately 10 years after their break up, performing at the Reading Festival. The concert was recorded and released on CD as “The Friday Rock Show Sessions”. The group took yet another break but got back together in 1988 to play a few concerts and record the album “About Time”, which was released in 1989. Ten Years After did not release another album until 2004s “About Time”, which was followed in 2008 by “Evolution”; however, both recordings did not feature principal songwriter Alvin Lee.