Cream (band)
Cream (also "
The Cream") was a 1960s
British supergroup which featured
guitarist Eric Clapton,
bassist Jack Bruce, and
drummer Ginger Baker.
Recording Years
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 the manic tempo changes of Ginger Baker. 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 (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 form of jazz. Indeed, Cream's live shows demonstrated elements of jazz-rock, and Baker commented in a 2005 interview that he and Bruce consider Clapton a jazz musician, even if Clapton himself doesn't.
Break up
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. This story would later be recounted by Ginger Baker in the liner notes for the 1997
box set Those Were the Days, wherein he insists that he stopped playing along with Clapton, and it was only Bruce that carried on.
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 written by 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."Later years
Inspired by more song-based acts, particularly
The Band, Clapton went on to perform much different, less improvisational material with
Delaney & Bonnie,
Blind Faith with Baker,
Derek and the Dominos, and in his own 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 the band in the hope that he would act as a buffer between Bruce and Baker. However, Cream broke up before Winwood had the chance to accept (or reject) the offer.
On
January 4, 1969, shortly after Cream split,
Jimi Hendrix was performing live on The
Lulu Show when he suddenly cut short his own number and segued into "Sunshine of Your Love", which he dedicated to "the Cream". The show's technical staff, however, took the decision to quickly end transmission, and their rendition of the song only lasted little over a minute. "Sunshine..." itself had been originally inspired by a Hendrix concert, although it is doubtful that Hendrix realised this at the time of the performance.
All three members of Cream didn't play together again until 1993, when they were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and briefly set aside their differences to perform at the
induction ceremony. This was the last time they were together as a group until, at Clapton's request, they reunited in May 2005 for a series of four shows at the
Royal Albert Hall, the venue of their final concerts in 1968. The reformed band also played at
Madison Square Garden from
October 24 - 26, 2005.
Cream, together with
The Who, made a significant impact upon the popular music of the time providing a heavy yet technically proficient musical theme that foreshadowed the emergence of bands like
Led Zeppelin and
Rush 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 the
Grateful Dead and
Phish.
In 2006, Cream received a
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their contribution to, and influence upon, modern music. On January 12, 1993, Cream was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Albums
* Fresh Cream - 1966
* Disraeli Gears - November 1967
* Wheels of Fire - 1968 (double album - In the Studio and Live at the Fillmore.)
* Goodbye - 1969
* Live Cream - 1970
* Live Cream Volume II - 1972
* Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6 2005 - 2005
;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
;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
;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.*Before deciding upon "Cream," the band considered calling themselves "Sweet 'n' Sour Rock 'n' Roll."
*Shortly after the band's formation in 1966, they jammed with
Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was a big fan of
Eric Clapton, and wanted a chance to play with him onstage.
*Although
Wheels of Fire was released as a double album including the disc
Live at the Fillmore, only "
Toad" was recorded there. The other tracks were recorded at the
Winterland Ballroom.
Goodbye was their only #1 album in the United Kingdom.
*"I'm So Glad" (originally by
Skip James in 1931) was the only song to appear on both Cream's
first and
last albums.
*None of the band's four studio albums contained
title tracks.
*"N.S.U." and "SWLABR" were the only two songs released by the band whose titles comprised of an
acronym. They respectively stand for "Non-Specific Urethritis" and "She Was (or Walks) Like A Bearded Rainbow".
*"
Toad" and "Steppin' Out" were their only songs that did not contain lyrics.
*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 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".
*When George Harrison briefly walked out on the
Beatles during the
Let it Be sessions,
John Lennon made the suggestion that the band could recruit Clapton to replace him.
*When Cream played the Royal Albert Hall in 1968 as their final shows, Clapton became the first person ever to smoke a cigarette on its stage.
*Cream's support (opening) act at their Farewell Concerts in 1968 was
Yes.
*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.
*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.
*All three band members have played with each other in other groups.
Jack Bruce and
Ginger Baker played together in the
Graham Bond Organisation,
Blues Incorporated and
BBM, and
Clapton and
Bruce played together near the end of
Clapton's tenure with
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. After the Cream breakup, Baker and Clapton played together with the short-lived
supergroup Blind Faith with singer/keyboardist
Steve Winwood and bassist
Ric Grech.
*
Ginger Baker currently resides in
South Africa.
*
Official site created around the reunion concerts.
*
Cream discography, news and infos from
Music city.
*
Cream Lyrics*
Cream - an extensive fan-based website.*
Eddy's Cream Page; The Story of Rock's First Supergroup
