Dyan Birch - vocals; Frank Collins - vocals; Mel Collins - flute, saxophone; Alvin Lee - guitar, vocals; Tim Hinkley - keyboards; Neil Hubbard - guitar; Paddy McHugh - vocals; Alan Spenner - bass; Ian Wallace - drums
This recording came from a show in London, culled from one of Alvin Lee's tours after initially leaving Ten Years After. In the same year, he crossed the pond to embark on a number of gigs for his first U.S. solo tour. Lee had done an astounding 28 U.S. tours in only seven years with TYA, and he had exploded on movie screens everywhere as part of the Woodstock documentary, so audiences everywhere were very familiar with Lee and his music.
Although TYA had seen enormous success as a live act and, to a lesser degree, as a studio band, Lee had stayed with the group longer than he felt he should have. Having been pigeon-holed into the bass-guitar-drums-organ instrumentation, and playing mostly 12-bar blues progressions, he became musically bored.
Lee departed the group in early 1974, and after releasing a country-rock album, On the Road to Freedom, with gospel singer Mylon LeFevre and a bevy of top-notch guest musicians, he put together Alvin Lee and Company. They did their first show at London's Rainbow Theater in 1974 on a dare, but the gig turned out so well that Lee released it as the double-LP In Flight. The band, which included former Humble Pie keyboardist Tim Hinkley and ex-members of Joe Cocker's Grease Band, would remain Lee's touring and recording band for several years after these tracks were cut.
Lee did a number of solo albums but did eventually reform Ten Years After. TYA's most recent Alvin Lee-sponsored reunion spanned many festivals and continents and lasted from 1997-2000. Both Ten Years After and the Alvin Lee Band continue to tour and record separately.