I have been listening to both the double-vinyl edition and the 2CD media book. Each has its own advantages, but the most important thing is that the music sounds magnificent.
Originally released in 1970, Cricklewood Green caught Ten Years After at a fascinating point in their development. The band—Alvin Lee on guitar and vocals, Leo Lyons on bass, Ric Lee on drums and Chick Churchill on keyboards—were emerging from the British blues boom but were also absorbing psychedelia, jazz, folk and the more progressive sounds beginning to shape the new decade.
For many years, I think I misunderstood where Ten Years After fitted into that changing musical landscape.
As a teenager in the early 1970s, I was being heavily influenced by Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and David Gilmour. I would see some of the older pupils at school walking around with Ten Years After albums under their arms, particularly Recorded Live, but I sometimes thought the band were still looking backwards towards the blues while everyone else was moving into hard rock and progressive music.
Listening to Cricklewood Green again—and especially hearing the previously unreleased Fillmore East performance included here—has made me realise how wrong that perception was.
Ten Years After were not stuck in the past. They were finding new places to take the blues.
The 2LP vinyl edition
The double-vinyl set is a beautiful physical object. It uses lovely textured card stock and recreates the original gatefold artwork, complete with its striking internal illustration and Alvin Lee quotation.
The two printed inner sleeves contain the excellent new essay, photographs, memorabilia and historical material. They are not poly-lined, so I will be replacing them with my own poly-lined sleeves, but the records themselves are beautifully pressed.
The first LP contains the newly remastered original album, while the second presents Ten Years After’s previously unreleased second set at the Fillmore East on Friday, 27 February 1970.
Phil Kinrade handled the remastering at AIR Mastering, and to my ears this could be the best I have ever heard the original album. There is power and weight, but also plenty of space around the instruments. It retains the character of a record made in 1970 while sounding wonderfully immediate.
The tactile element also matters. Holding this substantial gatefold sleeve, reading the notes and looking at the old photographs and concert material turns the package into a musical time machine. It takes you back to a period you may have been too young to experience personally.
That is something physical music can do particularly well. It becomes more than simply listening to the songs.
The 2CD media book
The 2CD edition follows the presentation established by the earlier Ssssh release. This is a proper hardback media book rather than a basic digipak, with the discs securely housed inside and the photographs, tape-box images, memorabilia and liner notes incorporated into the book.
The CD also provides additional music that is not included on the vinyl edition.
Alongside the original album are the single edit of “Love Like A Man,” the outtakes “Warm Sun” and “To No One,” and a previously unreleased instrumental demo titled “Cricklewood Jam.”
“Warm Sun” is excellent, but “To No One” is absolutely outstanding. If you are a fan of Alvin Lee’s guitar playing, this track alone could persuade you to buy the CD edition. His playing is astonishing.
“Cricklewood Jam” is gentler and quite different from what some listeners might expect. It reveals another side of Alvin’s playing and could easily have become part of the original album.
The live CD also includes “Sweet Little Sixteen,” which is not on the vinyl edition. This performance of the Chuck Berry song is thunderous. Ten Years After would record the song for their next studio album, Watt, but this Fillmore version captures the band tearing into pure rock and roll with tremendous energy.
The previously unreleased Fillmore East set was newly mixed by Charlie Russell, and the 2CD track listing confirms the additional studio and live material available exclusively in that format.
Rediscovering Alvin Lee
The real revelation for me is the live recording.
“I’m Going Home” will always be regarded as Alvin Lee’s great showcase. His performance of it at Woodstock helped create the “Captain Speed Fingers” reputation that followed him for the rest of his career.
However, as good as “I’m Going Home” is on this Fillmore recording, it is not necessarily the high point.
Listen to “Love Like A Man,” “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl,” “Working On The Road” and particularly “50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain.” The latter becomes a psychedelic, progressive masterpiece, constantly moving in directions you do not expect.
Above all, listen to “I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes.”
The song, written by Al Kooper and originally recorded by Ten Years After for their debut album, became an extended vehicle for exploration. This Fillmore performance is one of the finest versions I have heard.
It also helps reveal something about Alvin Lee that can sometimes be lost behind the emphasis on speed. His improvisational instincts were not based solely on the blues. There was a considerable jazz influence in his playing.
Alvin could take a familiar blues form and use it as the starting point for a journey. He would follow a musical idea along the fretboard, change direction and then take both the band and the listener somewhere completely unexpected.
He was an explorer.
In 2026, lists of the greatest guitarists often lean towards players associated with hard rock and metal. Alvin Lee’s name does not appear as frequently as it might have done several decades ago. These Ten Years After reissues are an important reminder that he deserves to be discussed alongside the truly great guitar innovators.
The “Captain Speed Fingers” label only describes one small part of what made him special.
Vinyl or CD?
If you love vinyl and want a superb-sounding replacement for an older copy of Cricklewood Green, the 2LP edition is an easy recommendation. The pressing is excellent, the recreation of the original sleeve is beautiful and the Fillmore East album is worth the price of admission.
However, the 2CD media book gives you more music.
You receive “Warm Sun,” the superb “To No One,” the previously unreleased “Cricklewood Jam” demo and “Sweet Little Sixteen” from the Fillmore concert. The hardback presentation is also excellent, so choosing the CD does not mean sacrificing the physical experience.
Some collectors will inevitably want both—and I can understand why.
Cricklewood Green combines blues, hard rock, folk, psychedelia and early progressive influences, but it is the jazz-informed freedom of Alvin Lee’s guitar playing that really stands out to me now.
The remastered studio album sounds fantastic, but the previously unreleased Fillmore East performance makes this release essential. It captures Ten Years After at full power and presents Alvin Lee not simply as a fast guitarist, but as one of the great musical explorers of his generation.
This is music recorded more than half a century ago, yet it sounds as if it could have been recorded last week.
Absolutely amazing and highly recommended.
ORDER TEN YEARS AFTER CRICKLEWOOD GREEN ON VINYL
ORDER TEN YEARS AFTER CRICKLEWOOD GREEN ON CD
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
