Cream (band)
Cream was a seminal 1960s rock band which featured the guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker.
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".
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.
After breaking up in November 1968 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. These were documented on the album Goodbye. At the present, the band has not announced further concert dates and has not discussed the reasons for the decision to reunite at this time.
Discography
- Fresh Cream
- Disraeli Gears
- Wheels of Fire – In the Studio
- Wheels of Fire – Live at the Fillmore (the tracks on this album were actually recorded live at "Winterland" in San Francisco) (essentially a completely different album to In the Studio, but with the cover differing only in the title, the colour, and the details of the tracks)
- Goodbye
- Live Cream
- Live Cream Volume 2
External links
Categories: Rock music groups | British musical groups