Cream (band)

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For other uses, see Cream (disambiguation).

Cream (also "The Cream") was a seminal 1960s British rock band which featured guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker.

1 History
2 Discography
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit]

History

Celebrated as one of the first great power trios and supergroups of rock, their sound was characterised by a melange of blues and psychedelia, combining Clapton's mastery of the genre with the airy voice of Jack Bruce and, at times, manic rhythms of Ginger Baker. The drug-influenced imagery and ambience of the time abounds. Cream epitomised the high energy sound of the time, anchored in a familiar blues style; from the traditional blues classics such as "Crossroads" and "Born Under a Bad Sign," through more eccentric imagery found in "Strange Brew" and "Tales of Brave Ulysses," and culminating in the protracted indulgences of "Spoonful" and "Toad". Their biggest hits were "I Feel Free", "Sunshine of Your Love", "White Room", "Crossroads", and "Badge". The latter song was co-written by Clapton and George Harrison, who played guitar on the recording under the pseudonym 'L'Angelo Misterioso' for contractual reasons. The late Felix Pappalardi, producer (and later member of Mountain), sometimes called the 'fourth member' of Cream, is featured heavily on the Disraeli Gears album, notable for its striking design by Martin Sharp. British poet Pete Brown wrote the lyrics to many of the band's songs and was another important contributor.

While their studio work and songwriting were therefore relatively formal, in a live setting Cream were almost a completely different band, improvising constantly, with songs regularly surpassing the 20 minute mark. This gained them a reputation as (along with The Grateful Dead) as one of the first jam bands. Much of this stemmed from Bruce and Baker's origins as jazz musicians, although during an interview on The South Bank Show in the late 1980s Clapton attributed the extending soloing to their unwillingness or inability to stop playing and because none of the trio was officially the bandleader with the authority to rein in the other two. Bruce has stated that without Clapton's influence the band would more likely have played a kind of jazz, although what they played in concert was indeed jazz-rock fusion, and Baker commented in a 2005 interview (included with the Cream reunion DVD) that he and Bruce consider Clapton a jazz musician, even if Clapton himself doesn't.

Cream broke up in November 1968 due to clashing egos and divergent musical visions: Bruce and Baker were notorious for not getting along, and Clapton famously related how he once suddenly stopped playing in a concert without either of the others noticing. After the completion of Wheels of Fire in mid-1968, the band had had enough and wanted to go their own separate ways, but management persuaded them to do one final tour to promote their new album. This "farewell tour" consisted of 22 shows at 19 venues in the United States between October 4 and November 4, 1968, and two final farewell concerts at the Royal Albert Hall on November 26, 1968. Initially another double album was planned comprising live material from this tour plus new studio tracks, but a single album, Goodbye was released instead with three live tracks taken from their performance at The Forum in Los Angeles on October 19, 1968, and three studio tracks, one from each of the band members. The two Royal Albert Hall concerts were filmed for a BBC documentary and released on video (and later DVD) as Farewell Concert. Both shows were sold out and attracted more attention than any other Cream concert, but their performance was regarded by many as below standard. Baker himself said of the concerts: "It wasn’t a good gig ... Cream was better than that ... We knew it was all over. We knew we were just finishing it off, getting it over with."

Inspired by more song-based acts like The Band, Clapton went on to perform much different, less improvisational material with Delaney & Bonnie, Blind Faith, his own Derek and the Dominos, and in a long and varied solo career. Blind Faith came about immediately after the demise of Cream following an attempt by Clapton to recruit Steve Winwood into Cream in the hope that Winwood would act as a buffer between Bruce and Baker; Cream broke up before Winwood could accept the offer. On January 4, 1969, shortly after Cream split, Jimi Hendrix was performing live on the Lulu show and cut short his own number, instead beginning an instrumental version of "Sunshine of Your Love" (which itself had, perhaps unknown to him, apparently been originally inspired by a Hendrix concert) which he dedicated to "the Cream".

Image:Creamlondon.jpg

The three members of Cream didn't play together again until 1993, when Cream was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and played at the induction ceremony. The band reunited in May 2005 for a series of four shows at the Royal Albert Hall, where they had played their final concerts in 1968 (documented on the album Goodbye.) The reformed band also played at Madison Square Garden from October 24 - 26, 2005.

Cream made a significant impact upon the popular music of the time, together with The Who providing a heavy yet technically proficient musical theme that foreshadowed the emergence of bands like Led Zeppelin in the later 1960s and 1970s, and contributed to the emergence of most later forms of heavy metal and hard rock music. The band's live performances influenced progressive rock acts and other jam bands such as Phish and The Mods.

In 2006, Cream received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Discography

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Albums

Fresh Cream - 1966
Disraeli Gears - November 1967
Wheels of Fire - 1968 (which was issued as a double album with the first album "In the Studio" and the second "Live at the Fillmore.") (However, only one track ("Toad") was actually recorded there; the other three tracks were recorded live at the Winterland in San Francisco)
Goodbye - 1969
Live Cream - 1970
Live Cream Volume II - 1972
Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6 2005 - 2005

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Singles

"Wrapping Paper" / "Cat's Squirrel" - October 1966
"I Feel Free" / "N.S.U." - December 1966
"Strange Brew" / "Tales of Brave Ulysses" - June 1967
"Anyone For Tennis" / "Pressed Rat and Warthog" - May 1968
"Sunshine of Your Love" / "S.W.L.A.B.R." - September 1968
"Spoonful part 1" / "Spoonful part 2" - September 1968
"White Room" / "Those Were The Days" - January 1969
"Crossroads" / "Passing the Time" - January 1969
"Badge" / "What a Bringdown" - April 1969
"Sweet Wine" / "Lawdy Mama" - June 1970

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Compilations

Heavy Cream - 1972
Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream - 1983
Creme de la Cream - 1992
The Very Best of Cream - 1995
Those Were The Days - 1997
20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Cream - 2000
BBC Sessions - 2003
Cream Gold - 2005

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Videos / DVDs

Farewell Concert - VHS, DVD, recorded Royal Albert Hall, November 1968
Strange Brew - largely a re-edit of Farewell Concert plus some outtakes
Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6 2005 - DVD, recorded Royal Albert Hall, May 2005
Cream: Disraeli Gears (2006) - DVD, a reflection on what went into making Disraeli Gears, and the impact it had on the 60s.

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Trivia

All three band members have played with each other in other groups. Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker played together in the Graham Bond Organisation and Blues Incorporated, and Clapton and Bruce played together near the end of Clapton's tenure with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. After the Cream breakup, Baker and Eric Clapton played together with the short-lived supergroup Blind Faith with singer/keyboardist Steve Winwood and bassist Rick Grech.
The late George Harrison, former Beatles guitarist, wrote a guitar riff for the song Badge, as well as most of the lyrics. He also played guitar on the track, credited on the Goodbye album under the pseudonym "L'Angelo Misterioso".
Ginger Baker currently resides in South Africa.
Even though the song title is spelled correctly on their studio albums, "Tales of Brave Ulysses" is misspelled ". . .Ulysees" on the compilation album Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream.
The band's reunion at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005 was the first time Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker had played together since their 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Prior to the band's reunion at the Royal Albert Hall, they had played neither "Badge" nor "Pressed Rat & Warthog" live. However, as a solo artist, Clapton has played "Badge" live, as indicated on The Cream of Eric Clapton.
All three band members contributed material to their albums, as well as singing lead vocals.
According to an interview with Ginger Baker on the DVD of the band's reunion, the reunion itself was Eric Clapton's idea. Baker was not originally keen on doing it, but in retrospect is glad he did.
"N.S.U." and "S.W.L.A.B.R." were the only two songs the band released that used only initials in their titles.
Before deciding upon "Cream," the band considered calling themselves "Sweet 'n' Sour Rock 'n' Roll."
Goodbye was their only #1 album in the United Kingdom.
Shortly after the band's formation in 1966, they got a chance to jam with Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was a big fan of Eric Clapton, and wanted a chance to play with him onstage.