Album review: TEN YEARS AFTER – Cricklewood Green (Deluxe Edition)

August 9th, 2026 by jason

Chrysalis [Release date 28.08.26]

Ten Years After are a British blues rock group who really don’t get enough love. After several breaks, reunions and line-up changes, they’re still going strong, after their formation in the mid 60s. With their roots dating back to the early 60s, Ten Years After released their eponymous debut in 1967, and Cricklewood Green, the band’s 4th studio album, was released in 1970, becoming one of their most successful. The band featured guitarist/vocalist Alvin Lee, bassist Leo Lyons, keyboard player Chick Churchill and drummer Ric Lee.

This expanded reissue opens disc 1 with the original album, and a few bonuses. Opener ‘Sugar On The Road’ showcases the band’s rhythm ’n’ blues roots, a nod to the likes of the Rolling Stones, there are influences of both the British Invasion and British Blues Boom. A solid track with some neat guitar work, as is ‘Working On The Road’.

The 7 minute ’50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain’ opens more whimsically, and picks up into more epic blues hard rock. The guitar solo verges on more blistering. The kind of work out that the band became best known for. ‘Year 3000 Blues’ had a more 60s feel, but uplifting. ‘Me And My Baby’ has a Savoy Brown touch, quite catchy too.

Check out the single ‘Love Like A Man’, the album version stretching to over 7 minutes. A lovely track. The band apparently objected to the edit for the single release, so put the full live version on the B-side. One of the first singles to play at 45rpm on one side, 33 1/3 on the other. A hypnotically great song.

The whole album is a classic, it swings equally in other directions, giving hints of country, hard rock, folk and the lighter side of the British Invasion. The sound is great, and a couple of bonus tracks (including the single edit and a previously unreleased demo) round things off perfectly.

Disc 2 is the live second set from the Fillmore East, 27 February 1970. More of a natural and solid feel, it’s live that the band really made their mark and this recording demonstrates that perfectly. If I’d known better, I would have bypassed disc 1 and gone straight for this. A powerful version of ‘Love Like A Man’ opens. ‘Good Morning Little School Girl’ follows, a blues standard recorded originally by Sonny Boy Williamson.

Another highlight is ‘I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes’, which runs to 18 minutes, and the more rock’n’roll ‘I’m Going Home’ to over 10 minutes of pleasure.

Two CDs in a digibook, bonus material and a very informative notes, there are more albums that need this kind of treatment. ****1/2

Review by Joe Geesin

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