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For You Cream Fans


Delta

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A "Music of Cream" tour will be hitting the eastern part of the U.S. this spring, including The Peabody in Daytona, which is about 10 miles south of me. I plan on going. The group consists of Will Johns (Eric Clapton's nephew), Malcom Bruce (Jack's son) and Kofi Baker (Ginger's son). The few reviews I've seen have been good. They did some warm up tours last year. Here's a set list from one of the shows they did at the Garde Arts Center in Connecticut.

 

Set 1:

 

NSU

Outside Woman Blues

Politician

Badge

Sleepy Time Time

Deserted Bities

Strange Brew

Pressed Rat and Warthog

SCLABR

 

Set 2:

 

I'm So Glad

Crossroads

Born Under a Bad Sign

White Room

Sitting On Top of the World

Sweet Wine

Toad

We're Going Wrong

Sunshine of Your Love

 

Encore:

 

Spoonful

"Let me stand next to your fire!", Jimi Hendrix
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For me it was Hendix, The Beatles, and The Cream. They were my very favorites among the 60's rock bands. So I would love to see a video or DVD or whatever of that band just to see how well they do. I won't attend a concert of them in a big venue, but I would surely enjoy some You Tube clips or whatever.
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Hmmmm...no "Anyone For Tennis?" ?

I'd take that over "Wart Hog".

 

As a young teen I liked Cream immensely at the time.

In retrospect that's been tempered---but not negated--- by the recognition of what they really were.

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vif0_wwQq2o

 

Kinda like a sometimes OK bar band :idk

(That's a ref to this outfit, not the orig )

d=halfnote
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I think it adorable the the only guy( that I can EVER recall) who puts the word "the" in front of the band name is DBM.

 

Most of us( and the BAND too...) simply called them "Cream". ;)

 

I once had a band that was named simply MAGIC LAMP. Easy 'nuff one might think, but our keys player's cousin( bitch!) insisted on callin' us THE Magic LAMPS! With an "S"! :mad: I suppose since so many bands DO have "The" as part of their names( with another exception of HERMAN'S HERMITS ;) ) it's easy to place it in front of all of them...

 

Anyway.....

 

I'm just surprised( considering what the '60's were like, and for musicians in particular) that any of those guys had ANY progeny they're willing to admit to( :facepalm: ) so their output might be pretty interesting.

 

And BTW too....

 

I wouldn't mind seeing "Take It Back" in that playlist too. ;)

Whitefang

 

 

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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I think it adorable the the only guy( that I can EVER recall) who puts the word "the" in front of the band name is DBM.

Most of us( and the BAND too...) simply called them "Cream".

I suppose since so many bands DO have "The" as part of their names it's easy to place it in front of all of them...

In the case of this band, I think the "The" was an intentional reference to their individual status as some of the leading instrumentalists at the time of their formation, hence my re-adoption of it here.

 

Yep they are not The Cream but kudos to them for the descendants to keep The Cream spirit/music alive...

I think the recs of the orig band does that, esp w/the phenomenal success Clapton's maintained.

I think that these cats intend to do so...but in the worst way, i.e., as a money machine.

 

The Cream were talented players who made some truly great music (though I find that more in their less celebrated tracks/ see below).

They achieved that despite their internal disagreements & lack of cohesion.

They were also one of pop music's most blatant attempts to get over on image rather than substance, sadly ironic when contrasted w/Clapton's alleged reason for leaving the Yardbirds.

 

1966 music vid / can you spell"Monkees" ?

[video:youtube]

 

concurrent TV clip

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxZjPaFMI9E

 

2 sadly ignored Clapton tracks

True to his original inspirations *

[video:youtube]

 

Great gtr & vox (gotta love how he sometimes says "womens")

[video:youtube]

 

A later version, to compare his development

[video:youtube]

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

* Cat Squirrel / The original, early 1950s

[video:youtube]

 

1961 version which is prolly the 1 EC heard

[video:youtube]

d=halfnote
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I think it adorable the the only guy (that I can EVER recall) who puts the word "the" in front of the band name is DBM.
"The" Beatles, "The" Jimi Hendrix Experience" "The" Buffalo Springfield.

 

It is because they were "The" Cream of the crop, they just dropped "of the crop". I was a big fan back in the day I read everything I could about them and when we and others talked about them we used "The" Cream....

 

Thanks for the "Adorable" comment. In actuality I am a homely old Geezer.......

 

:cheers:

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I think it adorable the the only guy (that I can EVER recall) who puts the word "the" in front of the band name is DBM.
"The" Beatles, "The" Jimi Hendrix Experience" "The" Buffalo Springfield.

 

It is because they were "The" Cream of the crop, they just dropped "of the crop". I was a big fan back in the day I read everything I could about them and when we and others talked about them we used "The" Cream....

 

Thanks for the "Adorable" comment. In actuality I am a homely old Geezer.......

 

:cheers:

 

You are not the only guy according to Wiki DBM:

 

"Baker and Bruce put aside their differences for the good of Baker's new trio, which he envisioned as collaborative, with each of the members contributing to music and lyrics. The band was named "Cream", as Clapton, Bruce, and Baker were already considered the "cream of the crop" amongst blues and jazz musicians in the exploding British music scene. Initially, the group were referred to and billed as "The Cream",

 

 

:cool:

Take care, Larryz
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They were also one of pop music's most blatant attempts to get over on image rather than substance, sadly ironic when contrasted w/Clapton's alleged reason for leaving the Yardbirds.

 

What? What?

Yep.

Note I really liked them as a young person & still like much of their catalog.

For a while I even fell under the sway of the "noble, dedicated blues aficionado" aura that Clapton picked up when he left the YBirds. [More on that later]

As I grew, however, & came to realize more abt how the music bidniz actually worked & works, I gradually came to understand Ahmet Ertegun's evaluation of much The Cream's music as "psychedelic hogwash".

 

I think that Clapton, who even before the band formed was the focal point, was under the sway of Robert Stigwood & saw an opportunity to bank big on the band.

That also applied to the mktg dept of Atlantic/Atco & their young producer Pappalardi, who had a significant hand in shaping their breakthrough album DISRAELI GEARS.

Clapton had no apparent compunction, for example, in copping Albert King licks (hey everybody swipes licks) or even letting such material be turned into a "new" composition as in "Strange Brew".

 

Note that when a magazine review popped the bubble of their fanbase, Clapton (who says he actually fainted when he read said review) packed the band in immediately & joined "down homers" Delaney & Bonnie.

 

He also has been quoted as pointing out that during what many consider his single greatest solo ("Crossroads" on the WOF alb, the band was playing so loudly & w/such little interplay that he actually lost the timing of the song & played an entire chorus on the wrong beat !

 

Anyhow, while I still respect EC, in particular, as well as Jack Bruce (Baker maybe less), throughout his career Clapton's actually made several decisions based on commercial choices that he could've gone differently on.

One example is the work that he did in the 1980s/90s era w/ Phil Collins was sent back by his then current label as "too experimental" & promptly redone.

 

As for his famous quitting the YBirds over the commerciality of "For Yer Love", when one reads bios of EC, it kinda looks like he, as a young cat, already beclouded w/ fame, simply wanted to take a holiday.

 

He's a great player but a real traditionalist in outlook who seldom has stretched himself in the way of Hendrix or Beck.

I'd love to post a wonderful example of him doing something diff, playing w/Anoushka Shankar at a Geo Harrison tribute (I once posted it here, some may recall) but I've been unable to relocate that clip om You Tube.

 

I know some won't agree but I wonder if they can't accept that heroes are like the rest of us & sometimes they're just human, too.

d=halfnote
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I think it adorable the the only guy (that I can EVER recall) who puts the word "the" in front of the band name is DBM.
"The" Beatles, "The" Jimi Hendrix Experience" "The" Buffalo Springfield.

 

It is because they were "The" Cream of the crop, they just dropped "of the crop". I was a big fan back in the day I read everything I could about them and when we and others talked about them we used "The" Cream....

 

Thanks for the "Adorable" comment. In actuality I am a homely old Geezer.......

 

:cheers:

On this topic, note the The Beatles, as a corporate entity, always spell it w/ a capital "T"...The Beatles.

d=halfnote
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Summarily( and a bit of :deadhorse: ) None of their LPs noted them as "The" Cream.

 

And I never claimed all those other bands you brought up LARRY, as NOT requiring "The" be included in their names. Just that CREAM, as well as several other bands( Like MY band that I mentioned) DIDN'T necessarily contain "The" as part of the band's name. Like---

They WEREN'T known as "The" Frost; "The" Guess Who; "The" Fleetwood Mac; "The" Grand Funk Railroad, "The" Canned Heat or "The" Ten Years After. ;)

 

In fact, I don't recall ANY band I was in as having "the" as part of the name( Tempus Fugit; Electric Heat; Skidmark, Post-Natal Drip, etc.) ;)

Whitefang

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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You have me confused with someone else Fang...I didn't bring up any other bands. You should go back and see who you are wishing to direct your comments to. I only brought up "The Cream" as DBM is not the only one who referred to them that way. Again, according to the Wiki article "Initially, the group were referred to and billed as "The Cream",

. While you are spanking your donkey, you should know that I got your point as my buds always referred to them without the "The". I still refer to The Beatles with the The and The Ventures with the The and the Doors with the The...It's not that big of a deal IMHO. :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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For me it was Hendix, The Beatles, and The Cream. They were my very favorites among the 60's rock bands. So I would love to see a video or DVD or whatever of that band just to see how well they do. I won't attend a concert of them in a big venue, but I would surely enjoy some You Tube clips or whatever.

 

Here, here. The cool kids would write +1 but that's understated.

 

My older brother [who is 78] and I attended Cream and Frank Zappa concert in Chicago. 1968.

 

50 years ago. We still talk about that concert.

 

Great times. Good pot. $5.50 concert ticket.

 

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

My Soundcloud with many originals:

[70's Songwriter]

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On the advice of my attorney (& in an effort to get away from the question of To "The" or Not To The), lemme expand the premise of my earlier take on (The) Cream as a commercial enterprise.

 

Clapton supposedly left the YBirds b/c they were going commercial.

Played w/ John Mayall for a while but Mayall was both a domineering bandleader & even more of a traditionalist than Clapton, so he quit that band too.

Meanwhile the YBirds started making a lotta money (at least for their record company) & garnered considerable fame & critical kudus for their expansion of pop song formula & the playing of Jeff Beck.

 

Over in the USA, bands like Paul Butterfield's w/Mike Bloomfield & the band The BluesProject were starting to cause a stir mixing jazz & stretched-out blues.

What to do ? :idk

 

How abt form a band built on that same idea but smaller & using some English cats w/ heavy reputations as jazzers !

& if they wanna throw in some hip poetics or psychedelic stuff, OK, I'll just play gtr & reap the benefits of where the market's going.

 

As said before, I was a big fan as a kid & over time EC gradually got better & better but in retrospect Cream was as commercial an idea as "Oh, My Michelob, You Look Wonderful Tonight".

 

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

 

d=halfnote
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t

As said before, I was a big fan as a kid & over time EC gradually got better & better but in retrospect Cream was as commercial an idea as "Oh, My Michelob, You Look Wonderful Tonight".

 

 

 

humor ? [above].

 

Here is what EC said about the commercial :

"I was a practicing alcoholic when I made that commercial," Clapton told Rolling Stone in 1988. "I was actually in treatment in Minnesota when that came on the TV. I was in a room full of recovering alcoholics, myself being one of them, and everybody went, 'Is that you?' I said, 'Yep.' What was I going to say? It was me when I was drinking."

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

My Soundcloud with many originals:

[70's Songwriter]

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Summarily( and a bit of :deadhorse: ) None of their LPs noted them as "The" Cream.

 

And I never claimed all those other bands you brought up LARRY, as NOT requiring "The" be included in their names. Just that CREAM, as well as several other bands( Like MY band that I mentioned) DIDN'T necessarily contain "The" as part of the band's name. Like---

They WEREN'T known as "The" Frost; "The" Guess Who; "The" Fleetwood Mac; "The" Grand Funk Railroad, "The" Canned Heat or "The" Ten Years After. ;)

 

In fact, I don't recall ANY band I was in as having "the" as part of the name( Tempus Fugit; Electric Heat; Skidmark, Post-Natal Drip, etc.) ;)

Whitefang

 

You're accurate on all but one Fang. It was The Guess Who. I know, I'm Canadian. 🇨🇦😎🎸

"Let me stand next to your fire!", Jimi Hendrix
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Sometimes "The" prefacing a band name is more important than others just imagine saying to a non fan, I am going to go see "Guess Who" tonight and the response from that non fan would be "I give up. Who?" So prefacing the band name with "The" is common sense truthfully.

 

Besides this is the USA we have freedom of speech here Fangster.

 

The first amendment below.

 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"

 

Therefore Fangster "The" Cream. Well protected by the first amendment.

 

:2thu:

 

 

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Yeah. I was just speaking from a position of one who had to personally deal with that crap( I told that earlier). Not only did that BE-YOTCH add "The" to our band's name, but too, put an "S" at the end! :o

Changing the simple MAGIC LAMP to "THE" MAGIC "LAMPS"!

 

And then you had to go "facebook" everything up with the "freedom of speech" tripe. and cry about all your "rights" and stuff. But too, that IS purely "American"(assuming we have the "right" to do as we wish concerning anything and anywhere), so let's let it go. I do suppose that so MANY band names DO start with "the" that to slap it onto EVERY band name is hard to resist. ;)

 

and BTW: That cousin of our keys player then suggested we change our band name to something like "The" TRUE TONES, or, "The" SWEET SOUNDS or some such crap. I said, "We can't do that until someone invents a TIME MACHINE to send us back to 1955!" THAT was a long walk home! ;)

Whitefang

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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I once was in a band (which I) named See Weed. Prefacing that band name with "The" would have been pretty weird as well. Some band names don't lend themselves to the addition of "The" in the beginning, some do.
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They were also one of pop music's most blatant attempts to get over on image rather than substance, sadly ironic when contrasted w/Clapton's alleged reason for leaving the Yardbirds.

 

What? What?

Yep.

Note I really liked them as a young person & still like much of their catalog.

For a while I even fell under the sway of the "noble, dedicated blues aficionado" aura that Clapton picked up when he left the YBirds. [More on that later]

As I grew, however, & came to realize more abt how the music bidniz actually worked & works, I gradually came to understand Ahmet Ertegun's evaluation of much The Cream's music as "psychedelic hogwash".

 

I think that Clapton, who even before the band formed was the focal point, was under the sway of Robert Stigwood & saw an opportunity to bank big on the band.

That also applied to the mktg dept of Atlantic/Atco & their young producer Pappalardi, who had a significant hand in shaping their breakthrough album DISRAELI GEARS.

Clapton had no apparent compunction, for example, in copping Albert King licks (hey everybody swipes licks) or even letting such material be turned into a "new" composition as in "Strange Brew".

 

Note that when a magazine review popped the bubble of their fanbase, Clapton (who says he actually fainted when he read said review) packed the band in immediately & joined "down homers" Delaney & Bonnie.

 

He also has been quoted as pointing out that during what many consider his single greatest solo ("Crossroads" on the WOF alb, the band was playing so loudly & w/such little interplay that he actually lost the timing of the song & played an entire chorus on the wrong beat !

 

Anyhow, while I still respect EC, in particular, as well as Jack Bruce (Baker maybe less), throughout his career Clapton's actually made several decisions based on commercial choices that he could've gone differently on.

One example is the work that he did in the 1980s/90s era w/ Phil Collins was sent back by his then current label as "too experimental" & promptly redone.

 

As for his famous quitting the YBirds over the commerciality of "For Yer Love", when one reads bios of EC, it kinda looks like he, as a young cat, already beclouded w/ fame, simply wanted to take a holiday.

 

He's a great player but a real traditionalist in outlook who seldom has stretched himself in the way of Hendrix or Beck.

I'd love to post a wonderful example of him doing something diff, playing w/Anoushka Shankar at a Geo Harrison tribute (I once posted it here, some may recall) but I've been unable to relocate that clip om You Tube.

 

I know some won't agree but I wonder if they can't accept that heroes are like the rest of us & sometimes they're just human, too.

 

Yes, music business is in fact a business, & everybody in it wants to make some dough, but in an industry riddled with manufactured & carefully manicured acts, to refer to Cream as one of the most blatant attempts to get over on image rather than substance is to completely overlook Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, The Monkees, etc etc etc. The substance was that they wrote & played every note of it & significantly changed popular music, at least for awhile. The image part, I don't know what one could point to that supports this. They were never groomed to be the cute, cuddly, boy band every teen girl wants to swoon over. Maybe I'm not getting what you mean by substance & image in the context of pop music.

Scott Fraser
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t

As said before, I was a big fan as a kid & over time EC gradually got better & better but in retrospect Cream was as commercial an idea as "Oh, My Michelob, You Look Wonderful Tonight".

 

 

 

humor ? [above].

 

Here is what EC said about the commercial :

"I was a practicing alcoholic when I made that commercial," Clapton told Rolling Stone in 1988. "I was actually in treatment in Minnesota when that came on the TV. I was in a room full of recovering alcoholics, myself being one of them, and everybody went, 'Is that you?' I said, 'Yep.' What was I going to say? It was me when I was drinking."

 

Yeah I was mashing them up (as they exist in my memory ) but I don't think EC's proclivities matter here.

He did thos as commercial tie-ins to tours, etc. ---&-at least in one case, maybe to make some money for his buddy JJ Cale.

They're just illustrations of Clapton's willingness to make money from music in ways that many of us might not think, given his long-term image as a dedicated, "pure" musician.

 

There's nothing wrong w/ commercial music or music being used in commercials (although I was taken aback a bit recently when I heard "blowing In The Wind" used in an ad during the Sooper Snooze Bowl).

That's really why most of us got into music---to make money !

 

I just think it's worth recognizing that that's what's often the case when we look back at our heroes & think there was something more there than really was (although at least sometimes there was /is pure artistic motive).

 

d=halfnote
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Yes, music business is in fact a business, & everybody in it wants to make some dough, but in an industry riddled with manufactured & carefully manicured acts, to refer to Cream as one of the most blatant attempts to get over on image rather than substance is to completely overlook Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, The Monkees, etc etc etc. The substance was that they wrote & played every note of it & significantly changed popular music, at least for awhile. The image part, I don't know what one could point to that supports this. They were never groomed to be the cute, cuddly, boy band every teen girl wants to swoon over. Maybe I'm not getting what you mean by substance & image in the context of pop music.

 

Maybe, SF, but in the air of those times ---& for many continuing since then--- (The) Cream are sorta sacrosanct w/ no one considering the marketing that I suspect went into that band....& I'll admit that this is a fairly new recognition for me, though one that's been building for a while.

 

If we recall there was, during the 1960s, a very real line many drew between entertainment & "art".

Hendrix often wound up on the wrong side b/c of his showmanship...although I think in the long run it's clear that his music & compositions were amoungst the best of that era.

[& I still can remember the sheer power of that 1-b5-1 in the intro to "P Haze" when I 1st heard it...as well as the (then not understood) #V chord change in "R U Xperienced"]

Similarly the Monkees still get short shrift even though a surprising amount of their music was actually creative (please see concurrent Peter Tork thread).

 

I have no disparaging arrows to throw at "commerciality", really---heck, let's not forget even Zappa did a lotta blatantly commercial stufF & the intertwining of art & commerce far predates modern pop music.

It might be argued that "All Ya Need Is Love" was the supreme case of the 2 being blurred beyond separation.

I just think it's best if ppl recognize that sometimes what they view through the haze of nostalgia is not what they think it is.

 

I've been thinking abt a new thread considering the continuing clamor over not just oldies acts but dead-in-their-grave-oldies act (I note that Experience Hendrix has a tour going on now) when most of the ppl that go to see such shows would never have gone to see a resurrection of extremely good 30 ~ 50 year old jazz back in the day when everything was all new & modern :rolleyes: despite much of it being not-that-at-all.

 

How's a young musician, today, supposed to get traction when alla the cash is being thrown at marketing gambits such as we're yakking abt here ?

 

BTW, a quick chk seems to show tix for the Cream Redux costing more than the Xperience Hendrix shows by as much as 30% in some venues--even w/ cats like Dweezil Z & Joe Satriani & Eric Johnson being part of the latter show !

 

d=halfnote
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In the Dylan song "Tombstone Blues" is the line---

"Stop all this weeping. Swallow your pride/You will not die, it's not poison."

 

It applies here a bit because we have to remember. Most of these recording "artists" struggled to get where they got in an effort to SELL RECORDS, and not to necessarily promote any kind of "art". Remember too, the phrase "Starving Artist" wasn't pulled out of anyone's ass. And too, although I can't recall just who said it, one guy from a '60's band when questioned about his band's( also forgotten) "lowering" itself to "commercial" levels said, "The aim wasn't to "lower" us to any "commercial" level, but to RAISE the level of what "commercial" IS." ;) I thought that was pretty good. Just wish I could recall WHO IT WAS! :cry:

Whitefang

I started out with NOTHING...and I still have most of it left!
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The fact that (The) Cream may've been started (or developed during DISRAELI GEARS & their touring) w/a focus on commercial success is not an inherent criticism nor a denial that much of their music was worthwhile.

It's merely a recognition that they weren't what they seemed at the time...or to many, still.

d=halfnote
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But the big difference between Cream & the industry manufactured commercial bands was that Cream had the actual substance, & that's where I disagree with you about image over substance statement regarding them. Bay City Rollers, yes, because they didn't bring the goods. Cream did. Also, as far as starting a band from scratch with the intent to gather the best talent available, that's exactly what Crosby, Stills & Nash was, and for that matter, Led Zeppelin, as well as Jeff Beck's first solo venture with Keith Moon & Rod Stewart.
Scott Fraser
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