Cricklewood Green

• Artist: Ten Years After
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1970 04
• Total Time: 39:03
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Rock

Review

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, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Sugar the Road	Alvin Lee	Ten Years After	(4:08)
Working on the Road	Alvin Lee	Ten Years After	(4:20)
50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain (Lyrics)	Alvin Lee, A. Lee	Ten Years After	(7:42)
Year 3, 000 Blues	Alvin Lee	Ten Years After	(2:26)
Me and My Baby (Lyrics)	Alvin Lee, A. Lee	Ten Years After	(4:10)
Love Like a Man (Lyrics)	Alvin Lee, A. Lee	Ten Years After	(7:41)
Circles	Alvin Lee	Ten Years After	(4:01)
As the Sun Still Burns Away	Alvin Lee	Ten Years After	(4:44)

Credits

George Chkiantz (Engineer), Ten Years After (Producer), John Fowlie (Cover Design), Alvin Lee (Guitar), Alvin Lee (Vocals), Andy Johns (Engineer), John Fowlie (Original Sleeve Design), Alvin Lee (Electronics), John Fowlie (Sleeve Design), Alvin Lee (?), Leo Lyons (Bass), Ric Lee (Drums), Harry Goodwin (Photography), Ten Years After (Instrumentation), Chick Churchill (Drums), John Fowlie (Photography), Chick Churchill (Keyboards), Chris Wright (Executive Producer)

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