Cream (band)
From Freepedia
- For other uses, see Cream (disambiguation).
Cream was a seminal 1960s rock band which featured the guitarist Eric Clapton, the bassist Jack Bruce, and the drummer Ginger Baker.
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History
Celebrated as the first of the great power trios 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-addled 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 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 "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room."
Along with The Grateful Dead, Cream are considered the first jam band. The group improvised constantly in concert, with songs regularly surpassing the 20 minute mark. The band is also considered a pioneer of heavy metal music.
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. British poet Pete Brown wrote the lyrics to many of the band's songs and was another important contributor.
Cream broke up in November 1968 due to clashing egos and musical visions—Clapton famously related how he once suddenly stopped playing in concert and neither of the other two even noticed. Inspired by more song-based acts like The Band, he went on to perform much different, less improvisational material with Delaney and Bonnie, Blind Faith, his own Derek and the Dominos, and in a long and varied solo career.
Eric Clapton once attempted to recruit Steve Winwood into the band (hoping Winwood would act as a buffer between Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, who did not get along) but the group broke up before Winwood could accept the offer. On the night that Cream split, Jimi Hendrix was performing live on the Lulu show and stopped playing his own track, instead beginning an instrumental version of "Sunshine of Your Love" (which had, perhaps unknown to him, apparently been originally inspired by a Hendrix concert).
The three members of Cream didn't play together 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 played their final concerts in 1968. (The 1968 concerts were documented on the album Goodbye.) The band is booked to play at Madison Square Garden on October 24, 25, and 26, 2005. These shows are similar to the reunion shows the band held in May of 2005 at the Royal Albert Hall.
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.
Discography
- 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 Filmore". (The tracks on this album were actually recorded live at "Winterland" in San Francisco)
- Goodbye - 1969
- Live Cream
- Live Cream Volume 2
- Royal Albert Hall, London, May 2-3, 5-6, 2005
Selected Compilations Albums
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; Baker and Eric Clapton played together with the brief supergroup Blind Faith; and Clapton and Bruce played together briefly with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
- Some believe that Cream played "Tales of Brave Ulysses" for the first time ever live, at Madison Square Garden during their reunion tour on 10/24/05, based on the fact that, during the concert, Jack Bruce exclaimed that that was the first time that song was ever played live. However, he was mistaken, as a review of the list of songs on Cream's "Live Cream Volume 2" album, released in 1972, will reveal. During their reunion at the Royal Albert Hall, the band did play "Badge" live for the first time.
- The late George Harrison, former Beatles guitarist, wrote a guitar riff for the song, Badge.
- Ginger Baker currently resides in South Africa.
See also
External links
Categories: Rock music groups | British musical groups | 1960s music groups | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees | Supergroups
