Are you Doctor?

 

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Number 4: “Cricklewood Green”---Ten Years After (1970)

Between 1967 and 1969, it could be said that Alvin Lee and Ten Years After were honing their craft. They were a hot, exuberant rock-blues band (as opposed to blues rock) but were still pretty rough-edged. Their first album, though very good, was pretty basic. Alvin, Chick Churchill, Leo Lyons and Ric Lee showed their true prowess in the live recording ‘Undead’, part of whose charm was its rawness. ‘Stonedhenge’ and ‘Shhhh’ contained some great material, but also showed the growing pains and aching joints of adolescence. With 1970’s “Cricklewood Green”, Alvin Lee achieved a great desire of his: working in an up-to-date studio (Olympic Studios), having production control and armed with some of the best songs he had written to date.

The result is near-phenomenal. Seemingly out of nowhere, this gritty, backstreet band with live stage chops was able to put together a crisp, clear masterpiece. (Granted, there is a one-in-a-million glitch on the second track, ‘Working The Road’: an engineer accidentally brushed against the feed reel of the master tape during recording, causing a one-second wooble, which was allowed to remain in the mix---I actually heard this on the first vinyl of the album I purchased, thought it was a flaw in the record, and brought it back to the store to exchange for a new copy. The new copy, of course, had the same flaw. Now, it is a cherished piece of history).

There is one track on the set, the country-flavored bit of sci-fi, ‘Year 3,000 Blues’, that is only very good, but the remaining seven tracks are marvelous. The hard ballad, ‘Circles’, the grinding blues ‘As The Sun Still Burns Away’ and the two opening cuts, ‘Sugar The Road’ and ‘Working On The Road’ are sheer delight. ‘Me And My Baby’ is a hot roadhouse jazz-jumper that is fantastic; ‘50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain’ is a rock classic and there was never a better hook-driven monster than ‘Love Like A Man’.

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1565

"Rebel Rouser"---Duane Eddy (1958)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1566

"Babies"---Pulp (1993)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1567

"You're The Cream In My Coffee"---Annette Hanshaw (1928)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1568

"Respect"---Aretha Franklin (1967)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1569

"Sara Smile"---Hall & Oates (1975)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1570

"Nature's Disappearing"---John Mayall (1970)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1571

"Need Your Love"---Cheap Trick (1979)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1572

"Hitchin' A Ride"---Green Day (1997)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1573

"An Elpee's Worth Of Tunes"---Todd Rundgren (1974)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1574

"Homebreakers"---Style Council (1985)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1575

"Living In The U.S.A."---Steve Miller (1968)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1576

"Are Friends Electric"---Gary Numan & Tubeway Army (1979)

 

Number 3: "Song To A Seagull"---Joni Mitchell (1968)
In March of 1968, the chill of Winter still settled across North America; Canada and the northern United States awash in white, a 24 year-old woman from Alberta named Roberta Joan Anderson, but by this time known as Joni Mitchell (having married folf-singer Chuck Mitchell) released an album on Reprise Records.
The world then changed.
The painfully personal lyrics amidst the marvelous combination of folk and pop, elegant guitarwork and girl-woman vocals softened the dark nights of Winter, cautiously welcomed Spring and heralded a Summer of wonder that lasted fifteen years before the muse began to fade.
While Mitchell produced seven more excellent albums and three pretty good ones across that period, the debut, "Song To A Seagull" is the best and stands as one of the greatest albums of all time.
Ten tracks, all written by Joni and incredibly, all excellent. On a five-star scale, all ten rate six stars which is unheard of; this is similar to a scholastic honors' student scoring 5.0's on a 4.0 scale because perfection is only abstractly measurable.
The songs, 'I Had A King', 'Michael From Mountains', 'Night In The City', 'Marcie', 'Nathan La Franeer', 'Sistowbell Lane', 'The Dawntreader', 'The Pirate of Penance', 'Song To A Seagull' and 'Cactus Tree' have to be heard---or rather, experienced, to be believed. I suggest listening carefully in the dark, near a crackling fire, on a Winter's night.
The album was expertly and lovingly produced by Joni's lifelong friend, David Crosby. All of the music is performed by Joni on guitar and piano, accompanied by only Stephen Stills on bass and Lee Keefer on banshee (which, as far as I can tell is a kind of hurdy-gurdy).

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1577

"Vacation"---Go-Gos (1982)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1578

"Cool Me Down"---Kieran Kane (1995)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1579

"Reflections In Blue"---Sun Ra (1956)

 

The Trail of the Lonesome Track #1580

"Turn The Beat Around"---Vicki Sue Robinson (1975)