71: Alvin Lee & Mylon Lefevre – On the Road to Freedom

on the road to freedom - alvin lee & mylon lefevre

On the Road to Freedom available from Amazon

Part of the responsibility of running my own personal School of Rock is that I have to go back and rethink what I loved the most, even when I haven't heard it in years. Alvin Lee and Mylon Lefevre's joint project On the Road to Freedom (1973) is an album that capitvated my imagination in a way only early 70s non-suck rock could.

First, you have Alvin Lee, the ground-breaking guitarist from Ten Years After who by '73 had a library of diverse and brilliant collection of releases in his wake. Leaving Ten Years After, Lee want to experiment and play around with different styles. He crossed paths with Mylon Lefevre, a Christian songwriter who penned Elvis Prestley's "Without Him" in the 1960. (Note: "Without Him" is now a standard him in many hymnals.) Lefevre was a consistent talent who worked behind the scenes and impressed many artists with his song-writing capabilities. The agreed to make On the Road to Freedom and it was recorded in Lee's newly constructed recording studio at his manor in England.

Contributing to this album are some other names you might recognize: George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood and Mick Fleetwood. This little-known gem from the early 70s deserves much more recognition for the incredible song-writing and session recordings. If you are an Alvin Lee fan and don't own this album, well there's not much I can do to help you.