Ssssh (Collectables)

SSSH is one of Ten Years After's best studio albums, although like its predecessor, "Stonedhenge" (albeit to a lesser degree), it's something of a period piece. It's not a straight blues album, by any means; "If You Should Love Me", for example, is an attractively watery re-write of the Beatles' "Hey Jude", while the opening "Bad Scene" is (unsurprisingly) a cautionary piece of acid rock, heavy on the fuzz guitar and sound efffects.
"The Stomp", however, is another one of leader Alvin Lee's thinly veiled tributes to John Lee Hooker (and a nice showcase for organist Chick Churchill). The album's centerpiece is a salacious version of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl" featuring some pretty hot soloing by Lee as well as re-written lyrics that got the track banned on radio in its day. Don't miss Lee's hilariously incoherent liner notes, which seem to exhibit the influence of certain controlled substances.|