What does it sound like?:
It’s 1974 and my best buddy, and indeed the only other boy my age in my village was a big TYA fan. And so by default was I. Although if pressured lightly – a small Chinese burn perhaps – I’d have come clean and said I preferred Thin Lizzy or Focus, but had his own record player and I didn’t, so I listened to a lot of Alvin and the boys.
“Green” is therefore familiar to me, not least because my mate not only had the album, but also the 45 of “Love Like a Man” which had an edit of the studio version as the A side. Side B was a 33rpm cut of the same song live from the Fillmore East included here. There was more than one occasion where it was played at 45rpm and no one noticed until the vocals.
“Cricklewood Green” was TYA’s 5th and most successful studio album, released in 1970 shortly after Lee’s flying fingers were immortalised in the film of “Woodstock”. This isn’t the first “Green” re-release, as a remaster issued in 2002 added the unreleased “Warm Sun” and “To No One”. These also feature here along with the debut of “Cricklewood Jam”, which suggests the vault is now well and truly empty. I’ve read that the 45rpm edit of “Love Like a Man” was on a previous re-issue but if that’s the case I couldn’t see one on Discogs. Either way, it’s included here on the CD version; none of the bonus tracks make the vinyl release.
TYA had evolved across 4 prior albums. After a fairly ordinary blues orientated debut, the live “Undead” leant in to Lee’s guitar pyrotechnics and some jazz / swing jams. “Stonedhenge” was laden with studio effects across a variety of genres before “Ssssh” led them back to the blues with a harder edge. “Cricklewood Green” sees them balancing studio gimmicks with more rounded songs, albeit with a slightly melancholy minor key vibe.
On the opener “Sugar The Road” UFOesque sound effects give way to cowbell and a mid tempo rocker with the now familiar Lee guitar and vocal. I’ve always thought ‘Working On The Road’ would have made a stronger opener, and replaying the album now only reinforces that. More up tempo with a catchy chorus with Chick Churchill’s organ to the fore it’s still catchy and snappy. “50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain” eases the pace and the band stretch out over 7 minutes, hitting a hypnotic groove that suggests Alvin might have given “Sympathy For The Devil” a few spins. There’s then an abrupt jump via some further alien noises to the country picking of “Year 3000 Blues”. A quick spin of the original reveals this remaster is clearer with more definition and crisp without losing any warmth.
The swinging “Me And My Baby” could have been lifted directly from “Undead” before we arrive at the mean and moody “Love Like A Man”, more punchy in this mix than I’ve ever heard it before, and one of the best songs TYA ever recorded. Which might be why the following “Circles” always seemed so “meh” before the glowering blues of “As The Sun Still Burns Away” closes the original album. On the CD release, the single edit of “Love Like A Man” follows, and then the fairly unexceptional “Warm Sun” and “To No One” which offers a little more Alvin dexterity. “Cricklewood Jam” is a demo and is for completists only.
The Fillmore East live set predates the “Recorded Live” double released in 1973 by 3 years. It’s seen the light of day before as a 2CD set released in 2001 and this remaster is definitely sharper. It catches the band in great form and benefits from being more succinct, shorn of Lee’s guitar doodles and “The Hobbit”. But fear not, “Going Home” still runs to 11 minutes (never a favourite of mine) whilst the far superior “I Can’t Keep From Crying” remains an 18 minute opus. Recorded on the tour to promote “Green”, “Love Like A Man” is a hypnotic, compelling opener, and “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” as raucous as ever.
The live ‘Working On The Road’ is surprisingly shorter than the studio version, leaving me in the unusual position of wishing a TYA live cut ran longer. “Choo Choo Mama” gave “Recorded Live” a big boogie finish, but here Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” proves every bit it’s equal, with what might even be someone playing an anvil (at 2:20).
If you already have the original then this isn’t essential. But as upgrades go it’s pretty nifty and a great trip down memory lane. Which reminds me of the night Alvin played Cardiff Students Union with Ten Years Later to a crowd of around 50. I was close enough to hear his backline rather than the main PA and …….. (contd. Page 92)
What does it all *mean*?
Worth digging out the over ear headphones for this one.
Goes well with…
Did Alvin ever get home?
Release Date:
Friday 28th
Might suit people who like…
Patchouli oil. And flares.
I used to know someone, Judy (no longer with us), who was friendly with one of Alvin’s ex-wives. He had affairs, she told me on one occasion. It was the perfect opportunity to say in response, ‘So, the problem was, he wasn’t going home enough?’ 😀
Thanks for the review. Cricklewood Green was a great record, my favourite Ten Years After album by a mile. I’m guessing that the tape slowdown on “Working on the Road” doesn’t appear on this version. I had an early CD release which retained the glitch, but subsequent reissues seem to mix it out. That’s a shame; perhaps it could reappear as a bonus track as the tape-operator’s error really was part and parcel of the original album.
And Alvin got it wrong when he sang “He says there’s only one way that you stay alive / Keep working for your pension till you’re sixty-five / Hey, no, no, don’t dig it at all”. Getting that work-free monthly cheque from 65 is definitely worth putting in the time.
I can’t help but think that Ten Years After were one of the luckiest bands in the world. They were a decent enough band that found themselves promoted from Division 2 to Division 1.
Due to the late running they found themselves appearing after dark on the stage at Woodstock.
Thanks to Martin Scorsese’s editing of the film they appeared exciting and dramatic. Their reputation was enhanced through the performance of a song that I’m sure in daylight would have seemed somewhat dull and pedestrian.
As a callow 13 year old their Woodstock performance was spine tingling.
As a callow 23-year-old, likewise. But now I think, really?
I bought their first single, Portable People in 1968, and it was a sweet little hippy/psych number that showed no sign of the 12-bar monsters they were about to become.
As an obsessed young guitarist in the 80s I devoured everything I could from the Woodstock era: Allmans, Clapton, Hendrix, Beck, Zeppelin etc. Most of the guitar books and magazines I had were from the late 70s/early 80s and Lee was still mentioned at that point as ‘one of the greats’. When I finally saw the Woodstock film and later heard Ten Years After I was dumbstruck by how utterly pedestrian they were.
It’s exactly as you say, where a bunch of bands that were obviously second and third tier snuck in in the late 60s/early 70s scramble to find a new Zeppelin. By the mid 80s, I think they/he had completely disappeared from the musical consciousness.
Opening act Tyrannosaurus Rex (Marc & Peregrine sitting cross-legged on the floor) didn’t go down well. Then followed the most tedious 90 minutes of my life when Ten Years After played the same song over and over and over.