Label: Chrysalis Records (US), F2 21084
Style: Blues Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Nottingham, England
Time: 39:15
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 209 Mb
Charts: UK #4, AUS #19, CAN #11, DEN #5, FIN #8, GER #8, ITA #17, NOR #8, US #14.
Only a year had passed since Ssssh and they’re already miles away. They’re not being particularly amazing with their new style, but this is still miles away. This is not the raw rip-roaring tone they had on that one. But neither is it a bunch of weak grooves as was Stonedhenge. Instead, this is the first record where they have discovered synthesizers – and synthesizers were to play a vital role for the band during the next few years. Indeed, along with the Who, Ten Years After might be defined as pioneers of the ‘synth-genre’. On most of these songs synths play a modest, but distinctive role (unlike the completely unabashed synthfest on Watt), and this gives the record an obvious prog feel. Plus, production is better than ever – modern techniques, no doubt? This is often regarded as their best album, and indeed it was their best-hitting album in the UK. But me no. Oh no me. These songs are all good, ass-kicking and quite mightee, but they just don’t hook me as much as the ones on Ssssh.
If I might suggest a comparison, this album is to TYA as Who’s Next is to the Who. It marks the arrival of a completely new group that’s only to happy to break up with its past. I mean, Alvin and his guitar are still there, and they still form the centerpiece of the band, but the sound has changed radically. Early Ten Years After were all groovy, hip and funny; late Ten Years After are all sad, melancholy and dark. I mean, you can still encounter a groovy ditty now and then, but mostly it’s just creepy, gloomy tunes, with a deep, rumbling, echoey production, an abundance of the minor key, bitter pissed-off lyrics and a thoroughly angry and smokin’ lead guitar. A lot of ‘cosmic’ overtones, too – in the studio at least, Ten Years After are moving even further away from the listener, distancing themselves and beginning to speak as if from a completely different planet. In all, Cricklewood Green is as deceiving a title as could be – it should bring something folkish to mind, you know, like Songs From The Wood or something like that. Instead, it’s a dark dreary ‘cosmic rock’ album. Bah.
(full version: classicrockreview.wordpress.com/category/ten-years-after-cricklewood-green/)
01. Sugar the Road (04:08)
02. Working on the Road (04:20)
03. 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain (07:42)
04. Year 3.000 Blues (02:26)
05. Me and My Baby (04:10)
06. Love Like a Man (07:41)
07. Circles (04:01)
08. As the Sun Still Burns Away (04:43)