Ten Years After - Ssssh. & Cricklewood Green (MFSL_24K_GOLD_UDCD_687)
Ten Years After - Ssssh/Cricklewood Green (MFSL Gold 2 in 1 CD) (Found)
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Artist: Ten Years After
Album: Ssssh/Cricklewood Green
Released: 1997 (Originally Recorded in 1969-70)
Mobile Fidelity UDCD687
Genre: Rock,British Blues,Blues-Rock
The Band:
Alvin Lee: Guitars, Lead Vocals
Lee Lyons: Bass
Chick Churchill: Organ, Pionos
Ric Lee: Drums
AMG Review: Mobile Fidelity reissued two of Ten Years After's best albums, 1969's Ssssh and 1970's Cricklewood Green, on one gold disc in 1997. These records are among the group's best and this is a good way to acquire them, but fans should know that this disc costs more than buying the two records separately. For audiophiles, this won't be a problem, since the remastered tapes will be worth the extra money, but less dedicated fans should be aware of the steep retail price of this disc. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine
AMG Review On Ssssh: This was Ten Years After's new release at the time of their incendiary performance at the Woodstock Festival in August, 1969. As a result, it was their first hit album in the U.S., peaking at number 20 in September of that year. This recording is a primer of British blues-rock of the era, showcasing Alvin Lee's guitar pyrotechnics and the band's propulsive rhythm section. As with most of TYA's work, the lyrics were throwaways, but the music was hot. Featured is a lengthy cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl," with reworked lyrics leaving little doubt what the singer had in mind for the title character. Also included was a twelve-bar blues song with the ultimate generic blues title, "I Woke Up This Morning." Ssssh marked the beginning of the band's two-year run of popularity on the U.S. album charts and in the "underground" FM-radio scene. — Jim Newsom
AMG Review On Cricklewood Green: 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
Amazon User Review On Ssssh: The three primary vices of the late 1960's are on vivid display on this, Ten Years After's fourth album, released in 1969. While songs giving a sympathetic ear to underage sex ('Good Morning Little Schoolgirl') and drug usage ('Stoned Woman') are frowned upon today, it's revealing what Alvin Lee and his 'mates were committing to vinyl way back in the 1960's. You would probably draw the ire of Bill O'Reilly and perhaps the FBI for uttering lyrics like "I want to b_ _l you all night long" to an imagined "little schoolgirl" in this, the second millennium (I suppose Alvin could implicate original writer Sonny Boy Williamson for the faux pas, however). Alvin was 24 years of age when he suggested to this little schoolgirl that there was "nothing wrong" with such yearnings, nor does he sound disgruntled over his observation that "she's gonna keep him stoned out of his mind all the time" on 'Stoned Woman'. While Alvin and many of his contemporaries may have second thoughts about such judgements today, it's clear that very liberal attitudes were being quite freely propogated, and certainly followed in this era. And while it may be easy to dismiss such indulgences as typical of the times or youth in general, the problem is that it's so hard to separate Alvin's questionable sentiments with the great rock and roll music he composed to accompany it. While the B-side of the original vinyl version of 'Ssssh' is a bit uneven, the A-side is pure, unadulterated, rabid rock and roll heaven. The sound of the first four tracks stand up nicely against any comparable 16 minute sequence anywhere in rock.
The album leads off with the great up-tempo rocker, 'Bad Scene'. The lyrics deliver an angry rant about life's hassles, from "hurtin'" to "chokin'", with Alvin's vocals processed through something that makes his voice sound like a tinny 1930's radio broadcast. I'm not sure what the intent is of that processing, but it sounds extremely cool. 'Two Time Mama' follows, opening with a bouncy acoustic riff and morphing into a boogie along the lines of Canned Heat's 'Goin Up the Country'. There's a great slide guitar to be had under the cautionary lyrics. 'Stoned Woman' is up next, featuring a sweet bass beat, fine guitar hooks, and Alvin delivering up plenty of tasty 'Ugh's, 'Ooh's, and 'Aah's. 'Good Morning Little Schoolgirl' winds up the quartet with 6:34 of solid-rock, and more orgiastic screams, grunts, moans, and groans.
The B-side of the original vinyl starts out with a melodious acoustic track spiced up with a bit of wah-pedal guitar in the background, but 'If You Should Love Me' slowly gains steam until you're seriously folk-rockin' with fine organ support from Chick Churchill. After a two minute acoustic guitar and piano ballad, 'I Don't Know That You Don't Know My Name' (a real challenge to decipher for any TYA fan who's stoned out of his mind all the time...), serving as an intermission, TYA return to the blues-rock with a decided groove in 'The Stomp'. The disc winds up with perhaps the weakest track, a heavy and solid, but derivitive standard electric blues number, 'I Woke Up This Morning'.
If you're a fan of heavy blues-rock music with excellent hooks and riffs, this vintage TYA disc is made for you, especially if you're okay with the provocative lyrical content. Be forwarned that this particular version (and there are versions aplenty of 'Ssssh'... which really should be 'Shhhh', shouldn't it?) of 'Ssssh' is marketed as a remastered disc from EMI Special Markets, but nowhere in the package is remastering mentioned, nor does the EMI moniker appear anywhere. Entering the bar code into the ebay listing generator, however, does identify this as a remastered disc from EMI. The label on the disc is Chrysalis, but the recording date is listed as 1975, which is a total mystery. Nevertheless, it sounds good, and perhaps that is all that matters in the final analysis. - D. Schmittdiel
Amazon Review On Cricklewood Green: Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee's hyperactive guitar solos (fretboard attacks a speed-metal guitarist would be proud to unleash) caught the ear of British rock fans and built a bridge to the blues. The well-produced Cricklewood Green, consisting of all-original material by Lee, is the group's best studio effort. For a band that made its reputation with live performances, most conspicuously at the Woodstock festival, that's probably minor praise, but it's praise nevertheless. The extended workout of the hit single "Love Like a Man" is the centerpiece of the album, one that opens with the frantic buzz of the back-to-back road songs "Sugar the Road" and "Working on the Road." But Lee, ably assisted by keyboardist Chick Churchill, fleshes out the trademark Ten Years After blues frenzy with an assortment of atypical approaches and styles. "Me and My Baby" delivers Lee and the band in a relaxed, almost swinging, mode, while "Circles" is a rare ballad offering. The sci-fi blues of "Year 3000 Blues" and semi-psychedelia of "50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain" and "As the Sun Still Burns Away" further extend the album's reach without sacrificing any of Lee's guitar excursions. --Michael Point
Track List:
01. Bad Scene (Lee) - 3:30
02. Two Time Mama (Lee) - 2:00
03. Stoned Woman (Lee) - 3:30
04. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (Williamson) - 6:58
05. If You Should Love Me (Lee) - 5:21
06. I Don't Know That You Don't Know My Name (Lee) - 1:59
07. The Stomp (Lee) - 4:34
08. I Woke up This Morning (Lee) - 5:30
09. Sugar the Road (Lee) - 4:05
10. Working on the Road (Lee) - 4:15
11. 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain (Lee) - 7:37
12. Year 3,000 Blues (Lee) - 2:23
13. Me and My Baby (Lee) - 4:10
14. Love Like a Man (Lee) - 7:36
15. Circles (Lee) - 3:57
16. As the Sun Still Burns Away (Lee) - 4:45
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