Customer Reviews

Cricklewood Green

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

'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.

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.

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!

Ten Years After with front-man Alvin Lee made a good handful of solid blues/rock albums in the late sixties and early seventies. Alvin Lee is a terrific guitarist, and he had the reputation of being the fastest in the world at the time, when Ten Years After was at the height of their populairiy.

Lee wrote almost all of their music, and he had a skill of writing catchy blues-based guitar riffs. One of their best known songs of that type "Love Like a Man" is the key track on this 1970 album. Though his songwriting is somewhat uneven, probably because of pressure to constantly to come up with material for new albums and singles, their best songs still sound great today.

On Cricklewood Green the highlights, besides "Love Like a Man", are "Working on the Road", "50.000 Miles Beneath my Brain", "As the Sun Still Burns Away" and the great acoustic ballad "Circles". The two out-take bonus-tracks are okay; best is "Warm Sun".

Cricklewood Green was one of the first LPs I purchased, and this transfer makes me remember why. Of the eight tracks from the LP, five are excellent. That is a high percentage.

TYA was riding high in 1970 when this LP was released. Shortly after Woodstock, where Alvin's too long performance of "I'm Going Home" made folks doubt his veracity, and after 3 solid but unspectacular releases, TYA found a huge success. Cricklewood Green was, according to the liner notes, on the Top 10 for months. Nearly everything worked on this. Alvin's tendency to overlong solos was reined in, his writing was crisper and tidier than before, keyboards were used brilliantly, the drumming was solid, and the vocals worked perfectly. This was British blues that rocked, or British rock that bled blue. Either way, this LP launched them to a height they never again were to reach. A Space In Time had their biggest radio song, but was far weaker, and I never heard any of their later stuff, nor did I seem to have reason to.

Nope, as far as I know, Cricklewood Green stands at the top of their not unlofty pile of work. Whittle it down to the best, and you have a scorching, well-written and well played set list that stands against anything of its time. And the remastering is excellent. I listened to this on excellent stereo equipment way back when, and this was so clean and clear. I was impressed.

Forget the "bonus tracks" one is negligible, and one is dreadful; no bonus there, I'm afraid. While I hate to see 40 minutes of material on 80 minute discs, nothing was gained by adding these, and something was lost. As The Sun Still Burns Away was a sensational closer, a fiery and inflamed guitar with burning singing and scorching keyboards; now two more tepid songs follow to diminish the mood.

It seems pointless to add my deux centimes after so much has been written, but I've always been a fan and even in my dotage I still am. Stonedhenge and Undead are my particular faves. College and the promise of endless responsibility kind of disappeared around those days. After Woodstock, Cricklewood Green played a lot on the radio. I can also remember local bands having a trounce and a whack at "Love Like a Man" and "50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain". Remember when it was cool to bash at a riff (I mean "explore") for seven minutes? Yikes. "Me and My Baby" is priceless. "Year 3,000 Blues" up there too. Anyway, without going on about its obvious attributes, buy it again if you have to. Classic classic. Also check out Lee's new Saguitar album. It's excellent. And modern. PS...I also play a 335...nope. Not even close.

While I've owned the 2001 Chrysalis version of Cricklewood Green for several years, and consider it to be a rock classic, I've always longed for something that sounded better sonically. That version is very muddy and muffled.

Well, I just received the 2002 EMI Europe version, and it is everything I hoped for - and more than I expected. It sounds VERY good - dramatically better than the Chrysalis issue. It also has a nice booklet where Chrysalis gives you a folded paper with the outer album art on it. Buy it new from a Marketplace seller, and you'll pay the same price as you would if you bought the lesser Chrysalis from Amazon. That's a good deal!

This is my favorite Ten Years After album..."Shhh" had the better cover with it's monster movie hippie face but this has better music. Some of the best jazz/blues fusion with the rockin'est beat you'll ever hear. Alvin Lee used to get quite a bit of stick for singing too much like Mose Allison, but so what? He did it and he did it well.

I love Chick Churchill's very cool organ playing, so well-done, complimenting Lee's fluid guitar playing. "Me and My Baby" is a slinky swinging blues, "Year 3000" is a bouncy country-fried Les Paul tribute, and the more rockin' tunes like "Love Like A Man" , "Working On The Road" and "As The Sun Still Burns Away" deliver amazing performances from the whole band.

After you get this blazing CD get "Ssshhh" with the scary cover and wicked tunes.

You want everything that Ten Years After, has to offer. This album has straight up blues songs, jams, a little country honk. Great offering by an underated band. 4 1/2 stars

CRICKLEWOOD GREEN was one these outstanding albums that nourished and wrought still more the status of living legend of Alvin Lee who by then, was regarded as the fastest guitar all over the world.

Indeed, after his successful and unforgettable incursion in Woodstock (who can forget his devastating and febrile performance "I'm going home by helicopter", many people began to realize the praised epithets went far beyond ane motional acknowledgement.

Alvin as the leader of the group knew to impress the band of a balanced sound that went from the classic rock pieces to the saddest blues and from time to time a happy incursion in jazz lands.

This album contributed notably to enhance the wrought legend and was a rotund success in its style. The band will always be reminded and recognized as one of the most prominently ranked in its category and cult rock ensembles ever existed in the late sixties.