Author Topic: Cream 2005 (Read 483 times)

prodigalson · « **on:** April 15, 2006, 02:44:20 AM »

I just got back from a club and thoought i'd post this before i turn in...I heard white room between sets of modern rock bands and it never sounded better,i have a friend in a local rock band.(sidenote: the band before my friends, had some weak(in comparison) looking alembic rip off bass thhat started with an R,) Anyway i don't know much about Cream except that they broke up in the late 60's and Jimi seemed releived about that!!. My mailman let me borrow the cream 2005 dvd and to me they are tearing it up(clapton seems on fire ..but i'm not really one to judge)Any input, are they just as good ,better in some areas? I have been watching the dvd and clapton seems in his element,really tearing into it..ther's a little too many introductions though ...as if everyone in the whole place doesn't know who eric clapton,ginger baker and Jack Bruce are and ginger baker pushing the t-shirts(but that's only .00005% of the video)...other than that it's pure psychedelia

David Houck · « **Reply #1 on:** April 15, 2006, 06:10:52 AM »

That show was discussed in an earlier thread here, which you might find interesting reading. In that thread someone mentioned all the space that Clapton had to fill, and I had to agree; Clapton was having to play a lot more than he normally would with his band. Although I thought he played well, I thought Clapton was actually out of his element. I think he's more comfortable in his own band. Even in the Legends DVD, I think Clapton looks more in his element than in the Cream outing. Just my opinion based on little evidence; I don't see Clapton enough to really know.

prodigalson · « **Reply #2 on:** April 15, 2006, 07:08:11 PM »

checked it out ...thanks.That sums it up pretty well for me.

bassman10096 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 15, 2006, 09:31:16 PM »

Jack Bruce definitely confirmed that he was playing less and filling up less space in his Bass Player interview. Though I enjoyed hearing that they could still do it, it was quite different. Despite it all, there were a couple places where Bruce and Baker absolutely challenged King Eric to prove his stuff. In some respects that seemed more dramatic than the old days, when sometimes they seemed just to be chasing each other in circles.

prodigalson · « **Reply #4 on:** April 15, 2006, 10:44:50 PM »

Which issue? I subsribe to bass player,even though i play guitar, i find bass players much more interesting than most guitarists.I think most bass players are better team players,Central to any groove, where the guitars and drums meet.

richbass939 · « **Reply #5 on:** April 16, 2006, 06:14:30 AM »

The Dec, 2005 BP has Jack on the cover (older photo).
Rich

bassman10096 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 17, 2006, 08:28:38 AM »

Good interview, too. Unlike a lot of guys who get interviewed for BP and feel compelled to make a lot of judgements about equipment, etc that really don't need to be made (or they are not qualified to make), Jack had a lot of intimate comments on his playing and on playing with Cream.

prodigalson · « **Reply #7 on:** April 18, 2006, 12:58:55 AM »

Yeah exactly,I didn't know he had such an extensive musical background and that he was the main songwriter.This makes me wonder if his influence on Clapton was the catalyst that made Clapton what he is today>>Just a hypothesis.I prefer to hear Clapton in this setting in 1968 or 2007.I like to see King Eric out of his element more than in it,it's nice to see him lesscomfortable and workin hard. :0) ....Thanks Rich, awesome article!
Matt

bassman10096 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 18, 2006, 08:28:08 AM »

I've always seen Jack as responsible for the tone of the band (through his ultradistinctive vocals and edgy songwriting) with Baker a very close second in the influence of his drum use and rythms(where had you ever heard someone brutalize toms that way before Cream?). Clapton, as he has said more than once, sought out the other two so he could develop in a less entertainment-stage-fame-oriented environment. He definitely brought gobs of great stuff to Cream, but I don't think he could have led the creation of that environment and sound himself (at least from the outset). He was, after all, still a pretty young guy.

jalevinemd · « **Reply #9 on:** April 18, 2006, 02:31:38 PM »

Something I'm not clear about. I've heard Cream referred to as the first Supergroup. Where were Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker before?

jalevinemd · « **Reply #10 on:** April 18, 2006, 02:34:06 PM »

Oh, I know what I forgot. I've got an unopened Cream at RAH DVD that I'll never open. Anyone interested? Send me an e-mail.

David Houck · « **Reply #11 on:** April 18, 2006, 08:38:00 PM »

Before Cream, Jack Bruce played with Alexis Korner, Graham Bond, John Mayall and Manfred Mann. Ginger Baker also played with Korner and with Bond. Clapton was also a Mayall alumnus. When Cream was formed, all three were well known in the British blues scene. The bands of Korner, Bond and Mayall are probably the most significant bands in the early development of British blues.

prodigalson · « **Reply #12 on:** April 18, 2006, 11:26:43 PM »

Cool,good to know!...Hey Dave i checked out your website and the grooves..very nice!!

David Houck · « **Reply #13 on:** April 19, 2006, 05:37:23 AM »

Thanks!

chuckc · « **Reply #14 on:** April 19, 2006, 07:24:07 AM »

I seem to remember seeing the Graham Bond Organization on an early R&R TV show, maybe Shindig and Ginger Baker was playing drums but I seem to remember it more for Graham playing 2 saxaphones at one time. Pretty neat trick.

As for the Cream reunion, I have held off commenting on this for a while now but I just can't resist. I caught the PBS broadcast and thought most of the music was fairly pathetic. I originally saw Cream and Vanilla Fudge (WoW, Tim Bogart was a monster bass player) in 68 on their way to the West Coast. It was on this tour that they were doing the material that would eventually end up on the Wheels of Fire album. At the time no one had heard any of these extended jam arrangements and it was both overwhelming and awe inspiring. There was some real passion and on-stage communication taking place. You could feel the electricity in the music and the musicians but now almost 40 years later these songs, or possibly more so, the musicians sound tired and completely uninspired. Now I have heard how these concerts were really more about helping Jack out of his financial problems associated with his transplant but I never got a sense that except for Jack, who seemed just happy to be alive and on stage, that Ginger or Eric seemed much interested in what was going on at all. C'mon, Ginger having to read off a laptop the words to Pressed Rat and Warthog or the lazy guitar work Clapton did on Rollin and Tumblin??? I realize I will take a beating on these observations but just because it was Clapton or anybody else who has been worshipped for years and are still out playing and making huge money for doing so, then there should have been more effort in to, at least, acting like they wanted to be there, which I felt was completly lacking from the performance.