Cricklewood Green [Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered]

Ten Years After | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 6, 2002)
• Original Release Date: 1970
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B00005B5X6
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,623 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sugar The Road

2. Working On The Road

3. 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain

4. Year 3000 Blues

5. Me And My Baby

6. Love Like A Man

7. Circles

8. As The Sun Still Burns Away

9. Warm Sun (Bonus Track/Previously Unreleased)

10. To No One (Bonus Track/Previously Unreleased)

Editorial Reviews

Ten Years After, Cricklewood Green

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 737's Coming Out of the Sky, February 13, 2006

By 

Don Schmittdiel "running_man" (Clinton Twp., MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cricklewood Green (Audio CD)

'Cricklewood Green' is, for the most part, a bombastic rockfest. In fact, the three tune, fifteen minute opening salvo stack up nicely against any other trio of songs from any rock and roll disc. But any album aspiring to greatness must demonstrate diversity, and 'Cricklewood Green' does that as well, although I could have lived with the rockfest through a double-album of this electrifying material! In my mind of minds I imagine Alvin Lee felt the same, and included songs such as 'Year 3000 Blues', the lone country-rock number in the set, and 'Me and My Baby' a Steve Miller sound-alike track and the lone jazz-rock number, simply to show everyone that Ten Years After was much more than a one-genre pony. As if that wasn't enough, one other genre is also explored with the acoustic folk-rock number titled 'Circles', which adds more than just diversity. The sweet chorus, "Doesn't/does it matter what I do..." mixes with the bittersweet sentiments and smooth-as-a-smoothie melody to produce what we in the music review business call 'a beaute'.

The remainder of the disc builds on the solid rock foundation established by the band in four previous albums. The two longest tracks on the disc are epics in composition and performance. Both '50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain' and 'Love Like a Man' time out at 7:37. I would believe that was an uncanny coincidence were it not for the curious fade out-fade in-fade out conclusion to '50,000 Miles...'. I submit that Alvin and Co. had more than artistic concerns in adding this audio addendum, although I have no answer to the question, "why did they do it?". Heck, why does Radio Shack ask for your address when you buy batteries, and why did The Beatles hoax Paul's death?

'Sugar the Road' opens the disc, and it is the prototypical opening number for an album or a concert, featuring great basic and lead guitar riffs, fun lyrics, cowbells, etc. 'Working On the Road', another gritty rocker, follows, with the sweet chorus, "I've got a feeling for home...". '50,000 Miles...' opens with a restrained acoustic intro which builds in nicely structured gradients into an anthemic rocker, very reminicent of Tom Petty's best work, and ending with a fine, distorted, fuzzy guitar lead. 'Love Like a Man' returns to the melodic guitar hooks and fleshy fretwork from maestro Alvin, in addition to a great sounding bass bridge. The original vinyl finished with the lumbering rocker 'As the Sun Still Burns Away', which builds steam like a locomotive, and winds up in a fog of psychedelic sound effects.

It is well worth the extra expense to obtain the 2002 UK remaster being reviewed here, primarily for the two unreleased tracks from the 'Cricklewood' sessions. 'Warm Sun', with its simplistic and catchy guitar hook, and 'To No One', a bombastic blues-rock track featuring a sweet organ-guitar bridge, are both good fits with the balance of 'Cricklewood Green'. Although lyrics are not included, the liner notes are adequately supplied with background on the band, the recording sessions, and the individual tracks. Beyond impressive, this set of Green tracks will grow on you. Like most truly classic albums, its sound is timeless. This is essential listening, folks, no two ways about it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the MoFi Gold!, April 10, 2009

By 

charlesn (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cricklewood Green (Audio CD)

Before I get to this review, in which I'll focus on the sonics of the remastered Cricklewood Green, here's a plea to Amazon: please keep reviews for remastered versions of CDs limited to the remaster! Anyone interested in buying a remaster already knows the merits of the musical content, or they wouldn't want to buy a remastered version. So we don't need reviews of old versions of the CD telling us how good the music is. The most important question to be answered in any review of a remaster is how it compares to the original version. Buyers want to know if the sonics really make it worth the money to buy it again, and yet so few reviews of remasters ever answer the question.

Now, as for my review of the Cricklewood Green remaster: If you're a fan of this disc (and you should be) then just stop reading and click the Buy button now. I have owned Cricklewood Green (and the earlier Ssssh) on the original vinyl, the first CDs, the MoFi Gold CD containing both albums, and now this remaster, which sonically blows all previous versions away.

My vinyl grooves are practically worn flat, so I can't speak to its sonic quality any longer. The first CDs of these albums were atrocious--the combo of '60s-era rock engineering and the harshness of the digital mastering rendered them almost unlistenable. The MoFi Gold CD, which I compared to this remaster directly, is certainly much better than the early CDs, but finishes second by a wide margin to this new version.

Overall, the instruments and vocals on this remaster have more weight and presence and are more clearly defined in the soundfield. I don't mean this in that etched, artificial sort of way that you hear on some remasters--no, I've bought my share of those, and this ain't one of 'em, thankfully! What you get here is sound that sounds totally natural, while still sounding better than you've ever heard it before. Once you've heard this version, the MoFi, by comparison, sounds flatter and far less dynamic, with vocals and instruments lacking that three dimensional sound.

The limiting factor at this point is the original quality of the engineering on the master tapes, which is very good but not great. So, four stars.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2 EXTRA TRACKS!, July 8, 2002

By 

R. W. Born "Wade" (Toledo ,Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cricklewood Green (Audio CD)

I can't tell you how many times we sat around listening to this classic.Remastered with a nice booklet and 2 extra tracks from the original LP sessions.This version sounds great.I'm elated!