"…Only Thing I Understand Is Living…”
Released 26 July 2010 as a 3CD set - "Think About The Times: The
Chrysalis Years 1969 to 1972" by TEN YEARS AFTER on Chrysalis/EMI
5099964214726 takes its title from a track on their great 1970 album
"Watt". Here are 50,000 miles of boogie details…
Disc 1 (76:53 minutes):
1. Bad Scene
2. Two Time Mama
3. Stoned Woman
4. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
5. If You Should Love Me
6. I Don’t Know That You Don’t Know My Name
7. The Stomp
8. I Woke Up This Morning
Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "Ssssh" – released August 1969 in
the UK on Deram SML 1052 and in the USA on Deram/London DES 18029
Track 9 is "If You Should Love Me" – the non-album 7"
single B-side to the 'American' release of "Love Like A Man" issued
in 1970 on Deram DEM 7529
10. Sugar The Road
11. Working On The Road
12. 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain
13. Year 3000 Blues
14. Me And My Baby
15. Love Like A Man
16. Circles
17. As The Sun Still Burns
Tracks 10 to 17 are the album "Cricklewood Green" – released
April 1970 in the UK on Deram SML 1065 and in the USA on Deram DES 18038
Disc 2 (79:17 minutes):
Track 1 is "Love Like A Man (Single Edit)" – a non-album
version [A-side] issued May 1970 in the UK on Deram DM 299
2. I’m Coming On
3. My Baby Left Me
4. Thing About The Times
5. I Say Yeah
6. The Band With No Name
7. Gonna Run
8. She Lies In The Morning
Tracks 2 to 9 are the album "Watt" – released December 1970 in
the UK on Deram SML 1078 and Deram XDES 18050
10. One Of These Days
11. Here They Come
12. I’d Love To Change The World
13. Over The Hill
14. Baby Won’t You Let Me Rock n Roll You
15. Once There Was A Time
16. Let The Sky Fall
17. Hard Monkeys
18. I’ve Been There Too
19. Uncle jam
Tracks 10 to 19 are the album "A Space In Time" – released
August 1971 in the UK on Chrysalis CHR 1001 and in the USA on Columbia KC 30801
Disc 3 (60:16 minutes):
Track 1 is "I'd Love To Change The World (Single Edit)" – a
non-album 7” single version [A-side] issued September 1971 in the USA on
Columbia 4-45457
2. You Gave Me Loving
3. Convention Prevention
4. Turned Off TV Blues
5. Standing At The Station
6. You Can’t Win Them All
7. Religion
8. Choo Choo Mama
9. Tomorrow I’ll Be Out Of Town
10. Rock & Roll Music To The World
Tracks 2 to 10 are the album "Rock & Roll Music To The
World" – released October 1972 in the UK on Chrysalis CHR 1009 and in the
USA on Columbia KC 31779
Track 11 is "Choo Choo Mama (Single Edit)" – a non-album 7”
single version [A-side] issued November 1972 in the USA on Columbia 4-45736
Track 12 is "Love Like A Man (Recorded Live At Bill Graham's
Fillmore East)" – a non-album 7” single version [B-side to “Love Like A
Man”] issued May 1970 in the UK on Deram DM 299
Housed in a double jewel-case with a fairly skimpy (but informative)
8-page booklet - EMI have released many multiple CD sets in this 'retro' series
with the same generic packaging - Robin Trower, Frankie Miller, Barclay James
Harvest, The Groundhogs, UFO and The Edgar Broughton Band among them. All are
remastered and pitched at mid-price.
In this case (as is with most of the others) – the superb remastered
sound comes courtesy of PETER MEW at Abbey Road. It should also be noted that
"Ssssh", "Cricklewood Green" and "Watt" are
different remasters to the 2002 versions done by PASCHAL BYRNE at Alchemy Audio
in London. The other big draw here for TYA fans is the difficult to find and
hugely popular albums "A Space In Time" and "Rock & Roll
Music To The World" from 1971 and 1972 respectively – available remastered
- and reasonably priced at last.
Musically – as one reviewer rightly says – some tracks are plodding and
none are 'live' and therefore not really representative of the band at their
best. But dealing with what we do have - there is so much on here to savour.
"Working On The Road", "I'm Coming On" and "Choo Choo
Mama" are great boogie tunes. I also love the acoustic vibe of
"Circles", the Prog Rock keyboards of "Standing At The
Station" and the string arrangements of "Over The Hill". There
are even wise deliberations on beliefs on the trippy treated vocals of
"Religion" (lyrics above). It isn't all genius - of course not. But
there are 5 studio albums & five rare 7” single sides on here – and that's
an awful lot of Classic Rock music for not a huge amount of wonga.
Niggles - packaging wise its workmanlike at best. I would have much
preferred it if this entire series has gone down the road of Columbia's
"Original Classic Albums" mini box sets – albums in repro card
sleeves with the full session info available via download from Sony’s website.
But alas…
Too often overlooked - TEN YEARS AFTER still hold huge swathes of fans
in serious affection – and on re-hearing these remasters and Alvin Lee's
terrific axework – it’s easy to know why. Rock & Roll Music To Us...
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