Cream

[bballny]

played last week at Royal Albert Hall. Jimmy Page was in attendance. There is a recording floating around the internet. I have heard 3 songs and it is truly wonderful. I saw them at MSG in'68. Most interesting piece on Music I have heard in awhile. Clapton's leads were inspirational

[babylonsister]

1. If you find a link, please post. I used to love Cream!

Oh, and welcome to DU!

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. Bunch of boring old farts.

Now SWERVEDRIVER! There's a BAND!

FSC

[bballny]

3. yeah yeah yeah

I was glad I grew up in the sixties and got to see all the legendary bands.

[Bluzmann57]

4. From a boring old fart

Cream was a helluva band and it would be cool to see them. But as I said, I'm a boring old fart too.

[XNASA]

5. Clapton? Leads? Inspirational?

I'll admit that the best chance that EC has of playing an inspirational lead is by rehashing something he did 35 years ago.

God knows it was all downhill from that point.

[bballny]

7. Layla

really sucked. Worst album ever. People are so harsh. Sometimes just enjoy

[XNASA]

8. Duane Allman.

Duane played most of the leads from Layla that people recognize.

EC is, and has always been, a better than average blues mimic.

[bballny]

11. I saw Duane

4 times including the final weekend at the Fillmore East. I also saw the next to last concert Duane ever played at Stonybrook. It is now released on the Hittin the Note website. Listen before you criticize. I saw them all.

[XNASA]

16. You lost me.

:shrug:

[bballny]

19. Even though

Duane played on Layla it is still Clapton's album. I was and am a big Duane fan. I was trying to say I am very familiar with Duane and saw him many times.

[XNASA]

35. Clapton wrote 1 song by himself on 'Layla'.

And it wasn't the title track.

So I'm not sure how "Layla" qualifies as being 'his' album. From all the stories I've read about the sessions, Clapton spent most of the time nodding off while Tom Dowd and company kept things going by bringing in people like Duane Allman.

And for all the brilliance that EC attained during Cream and parts of 'Layla', it's more than been offset by his work on 'Pilgrim' and 'From the Cradle'.

EC is a very devisive talent. Especially among guitarists. Seems like most people either love him, or else they don't care for him much.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Dunno About That

Duane plays no lead at all on Key To The Highway. He wasn't even there and most Layla fans have that song in their top 5. The solo on Little Wing (the first one) is Eric too! That solo is every bit as good a Duane's. Also, the solo on Let It Rain (i know, a different album) is a classic. It's a song within a song. Lots of the best rock solos ever were just that, weren't they.

I admit i don't get the anti-Clapton sentiment. I think he did some terrific work in melding the edge of rock to the flow of blues. I know it's all taste, but i just can't understand how anybody can say he sucks. Might not be their cup of tea, but i sure don't think he sucks, technically, musically, or tonally.
The Professor

[bballny]

39. Little Wing

is a great version. I think better than Hendrix's. Layla is just a flatout great album

[progmom]

6. not much of a clapton fan myself

:shrug:

[Zuni]

10. Clapton's early work and the stuff he has done in the last few years

is exceptional.

His work with John Mayall and Cream is unbelievable. But his replacement in Mayall's band, Peter Green (who later started the band Fleetwood Mac as a blues band) is without a doubt one of the finest guitarists who ever picked up a guitar, and possibly the Greatest white man ever to play the blues.

[bballny]

12. There

is a rerelesed Fleetwod Mac CD live with Peter Green that is great

[Zuni]

15. I have a bunch of them

I just got the re-release of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album "A hard Road" featuring Peter Green, along with a second disk of unreleased tracks, singles and other recordings. It is WELL worth the price. I would tell any blues/rock/guitar fan to get a copy.

[bballny]

17. The sixties

were the height of rock. It was an inspirational time with the bands having control of the genre vs. the record producers. This was truly an underground movement. Rock was but 10 years old and things were being done for the first time. Once the seventies came on(1973) the music and inspiration was gone and the producers took over and they started producing "hits" like the late fifties and early sixties(Beach Boys and Dion and the Belmonts).

[kwassa]

9. Cream was the best and most innovative rock group, ever, bar none

The live recording of "Crossroads" still stands up as the best live rock recording ever, IMHO.

This was Clapton's artistic zenith, and I was sadly disappointed with his subsequent career, and wouldn't listen to him for many years. He finally won me over with later blues things.

"Disraeli Gears" was recorded in two days at the end of a tour and is a great, classic album.

They really brought improvisation, great technical skills instrumentally, and experimentation into the rock genre, making it much more musically ambitious.

The concept of "guitar god" came from Cream, and Eric's prowess in the band.

[Zuni]

13. actually, the first guitar hero

is little remembered today. Mike Bloomfield, one of the guitarists in Paul Butterfield Blues band was a huge hit in the mid 60s. It is hard to find a more amazing guitarist. His solos are wilder than Jimi Hendrix's. He also played guitar for Bob Dylan when he went electric at Newport in 1964, and played Lead Guitar on the Highway 61 album. He is also well know for his "Super Session" album, recorded with Al kooper and Stephen Stills. It is bad ass.

[bballny]

18. Bloomfield

was great as was The Paul Butterfield band. Season of the Witch

[Zuni]

24. Before that

Bloomfield only played on the 1st 2 albums---self titled and East-West

[kwassa]

20. I have an Eddie Cochran recording that can put either to shame

it is a French record that includes outtakes of Eddie jamming in the studio around 1960???? Absolutely stunning electric blues.

No one beats Cream for impact and influence, possibly rivaled by Hendrix.

And yes, I know all about Mike Bloomfield. The first blues record I ever had was "East-West" by the Butterfield Blues Band, and I've seen the '64 Newport film.

I almost drove off the road last week when I heard it on the radio,

"I've a mind to give up living, and go shopping instead ....."

[bballny]

21. I also

have a copy of East West on vinyl. What else.

[bballny]

23. Electric Flag

Another hot band. I also have that album

[kwassa]

34. I liked "Killing Floor"

though I love Howling Wolf's version, too.

[Zuni]

40. you can't beat Wolf's booming vocals

and Wolf also had one of my all time favorite guitar players in his band, Hubert Sumlin

[Zuni]

25. Their take on Cannonball Adderly's ' Work Song'

from east-West, is one of the finest recordings I have ever heard

[bballny]

30. Paul Butterfield

could really play the Chicago Blues

[Kat45]

26. Yeah, "Supersession" is a great album!

We listened to it all the time in college.

[bballny]

14. The Crossrods I

have heard from these shows is very good with Eric's vocals having the confidence that the original lacked.

[asthmaticeog]

22. "Crossrods?" Is that like a "swordfight?"

I've heard guitar virtuosity attributed to small-wang overcompensation before, but that's just blatant.

[Kat45]

28. I'd love to hear that. I always loved Cream.

Got "Disraeli Gears" when I was in seventh grade.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

29. Clapton eh? Nah - gimme Frank Zappa any day

[ProfessorGAC]

31. Apples & Oranges, Chavez

Don't think that's a reasonable comparison. Those guys weren't even trying to do similar things.
The Professor

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

33. Ok - I'd rather hear early Jimmy Page then

[kwassa]

36. Page is a poseur

not half the player that Eric is

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

37. not by my scales - early page was raw and powerful - Clapton too precise

and predictable. Late Page, however was sloppy and sometimes unlistenable.

Frankly I'd take Muddy Waters over both of em.

[bballny]

38. White Summer

I believe there is a song called White summer that Page recoreded with the Yardbirds which is superior to Black Mountain side with Led zep. I saw led zep's second tour of the U.S.

[bballny]

32. Peaches En Regalia

Hot Rats loved Zappa and saw him a couple of times. He unfortunately is not coming back

[SmileyBoy]

41. I thought this was gonna be a sex thread.

:evilgrin: