Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green (Deram 1970) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

Cricklewood Green provides the best example of Ten Years After's recorded sound. On this album, the band and engineer Andy Johns mix studio tricks and sound effects, blues-based song structures, a driving rhythm section, and Alvin Lee's signature lightning-fast guitar licks into a unified album that flows nicely from start to finish. Cricklewood Green opens with a pair of bluesy rockers, with "Working on the Road" propelled by a guitar and organ riff that holds the listener's attention through the use of tape manipulation as the song develops. "50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain" and "Love Like a Man" are classics of TYA's jam genre, with lyrically meaningless verses setting up extended guitar workouts that build in intensity, rhythmically and sonically. The latter was an FM-radio staple in the early '70s. "Year 3000 Blues" is a country romp sprinkled with Lee's silly sci-fi lyrics, while "Me and My Baby" concisely showcases the band's jazz licks better than any other TYA studio track, and features a tasty piano solo by Chick Churchill. It has a feel similar to the extended pieces on side one of the live album Undead. "Circles" is a hippie-ish acoustic guitar piece, while "As the Sun Still Burns Away" closes the album by building on another classic guitar-organ riff and more sci-fi sound effects. Jim Newsom AMG.

Tracklisting:

A1. Sugar On The Road

A2. Working On The Road

A3. 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain

A4. Year 3,000 Blues

B1. Me And My Baby

B2. Love Like A Man

B3. Circles

B4. As The Sun Still Burns Away

All tracks written by Alvin Lee
Recorded at Olympic Studios

Please note: The speed fluctuation at 0:52, track A2
is on the vinyl!