RIP :(
― Thus We Frustrate Kid Charlemagne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 October 2014 15:18 (nine years ago) link
― Welcome To (Turrican), Saturday, 25 October 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
woof. sad.
― Dokken played here for a Ribfest and people were total assholes (Sparkle Motion), Saturday, 25 October 2014 16:49 (nine years ago) link
RIP
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Saturday, 25 October 2014 16:50 (nine years ago) link
Songs For A Tailor, man, Songs For A Tailor.
― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 25 October 2014 17:00 (nine years ago) link
tbh used to be a little down on his signature fuzzyfart tone, but man he had some much going on musically, great time, great ideas, great singing and playing at the same time. Even grew to love that tone, although one should handle with care when emulating. There were a couple of projects he appeared on isolated tracks amongst other guests- thinking of some Golden Palominos records and the recordings that accompanied the James Jamerson book, Standing in the Shadows of Motown- and in those contexts he towered liked a giant, you could feel the needle jump into the red when he showed up.
― Zings for a Tailor (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 October 2014 17:04 (nine years ago) link
(xpost with my new screenname)
otm. I kind of liked his tone, though, as the fuzziness managed to avoid the slick braahk-braahk of most fretless electric players.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 25 October 2014 17:11 (nine years ago) link
― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, October 25, 2014 1:00 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this. When every band in Britain was trying to do their version of Music From Big Pink and living in communal thatched-roof cottages and swearing off LSD, Bruce topped them all with "Theme From An Imaginary Western."
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 25 October 2014 17:14 (nine years ago) link
RIP. I'm glad Cream got to get back together
― kornrulez6969, Saturday, 25 October 2014 17:34 (nine years ago) link
The West, Bruce & Laing albums are pretty great, especially Live 'n' Kickin'. Only the debut, Why Doncha, is on Spotify, though.
― Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 25 October 2014 19:03 (nine years ago) link
I never really checked all the songwriting credits, but I always suspected it was Bruce who was key to the side of Cream I most loved--the sometimes sinister, sometimes pretty psychedelic side, "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and the two big hits and "Passing the Time" and other things. I know he wrote the former. I didn't get much out of Songs for a Tailor when I downloaded it a couple of years ago, but I'll give it another try.
― clemenza, Sunday, 26 October 2014 00:07 (nine years ago) link
I rescreened listened to Songs For A Tailor earlier tonight. In the liner notes, Bruce talks about wanting to work beyond Cream, using both more subtle guitar and drums alongside strings, horns, and keyboards. To me that's the key to the album, because the songs are able to shine without being subject to the three-way duels between Clapton, Bruce & Baker that basically so many Cream songs really are.
― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 26 October 2014 03:37 (nine years ago) link
Right. There is a kind of Money Jungle quality to most of their output.
― Zings for a Tailor (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 26 October 2014 04:06 (nine years ago) link
I'm pretty far from being a 'rockist' and don't wanna come off as one of these stodgy "is nothing sacred??!" cats but it sorta bugged me that the announcement of Bruce's Death on Pfork is printed in regular 10pt font beneath the top headline about Drake "dropping three new tracks."
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Sunday, 26 October 2014 10:09 (nine years ago) link
Man, RIP. Disraeli Gears is such a fantastically weird album, and he was such a great, melodic bassist. Always thought he was sort of an underrated lyricist as well, not amazing or anything but capable of memorable imagery, even if the words didn't make any sense.
― voodoo chili, Sunday, 26 October 2014 13:56 (nine years ago) link
I love "Tales of Brave Ulysses" but it was written by Clapton and Martin Sharp.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 26 October 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
Oops...proving I really don't check. So much for my theory on What I Love About Cream.
― clemenza, Sunday, 26 October 2014 16:15 (nine years ago) link
Also, didn't Pete Brown write a lot of those Cream lyrics?
― Zings for a Tailor (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 26 October 2014 16:34 (nine years ago) link
Yes, including "White Room"
― calstars, Sunday, 26 October 2014 17:32 (nine years ago) link
I wonder who the weakest link was in Cream. All 3 have their pros and cons.
― calstars, Sunday, 26 October 2014 17:33 (nine years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol, Sunday, 26 October 2014 18:19 (nine years ago) link
Clapton's the weak link for me, and I actually like his playing on those records (even/especially the live stuff). But I can't help but wonder what Cream would've been like with Richard Thompson in Clapton's place.
xp
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 26 October 2014 18:38 (nine years ago) link
She Walks Like Bearded Richard (Thompson)
― Don A Henley And Get Over It (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 26 October 2014 19:55 (nine years ago) link
Looked over the songwriting credits on Wikipedia, and these are my favourite Bruce (and usually Brown) songs: "N.S.U.," "Sunshine of Your Love," "White Room," "Deserted Cities of the Heart," and "Doin' That Scrapyard Thing." They all sound really gloomy and druid-like, far away from their blues covers (Clapton's influence, I'm guessing...maybe they're not so far away), except for "Scrapyard," which is really sprightly and in the running for my favourite Cream song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzcPVCzfZMM
― clemenza, Sunday, 26 October 2014 21:19 (nine years ago) link
The two Live Cream LPs bang.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 19 August 2017 21:49 (six years ago) link
BADGE.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Saturday, 19 August 2017 22:25 (six years ago) link
she cried away her life since she fell out the cradle
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 23 April 2018 21:16 (six years ago) link
we move like the sea
― brimstead, Monday, 23 April 2018 21:19 (six years ago) link
i'll stay with you till my sea's all dried up
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 23 April 2018 21:22 (six years ago) link
strange brew. Nicely captures all the things they were good at and doesn't overstay its welcome.
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 23 April 2018 22:33 (six years ago) link
Driving in my car, smoking my cigar, The only time I'm happy's when I play my guitar.
― calstars, Monday, 23 April 2018 22:33 (six years ago) link
― calstars, Monday, 23 April 2018 22:35 (six years ago) link
This "Live from Detroit '67/ Live at the Grande Ballroom" radio broadcast recording by Cream from October of '67 is really, really good. They play with a really total madcap abandon and it is probably the most intense Clapton playing. Sound quality is pretty decent for the time too, pretty comparable with say a Dick's Pick collection.
MC5 was one of the opening acts at this gig.
― earlnash, Friday, 19 October 2018 01:06 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDSugBduE4k&list=PLYCCW7ubODkJZf1FkCtOzkQhDhd1IzeSm&index=4&t=0s
― earlnash, Thursday, 25 October 2018 01:17 (five years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/26/cream-ginger-baker-critically-ill
― Let them eat Pfifferlinge an Schneckensauce (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 September 2019 12:41 (four years ago) link
Ginger Baker has died. Wild and brilliant are two of the kinder adjectives they might have used.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/06/ginger-baker-wild-and-brilliant-cream-drummer-dies-aged-80
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Sunday, 6 October 2019 11:22 (four years ago) link
Wild anyway.
― Let them eat Pfifferlinge an Schneckensauce (Tom D.), Sunday, 6 October 2019 11:25 (four years ago) link
disraeli gears is still a great album, and baker gurvitz army remains underrated.
― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Sunday, 6 October 2019 16:21 (four years ago) link
his lasting legacy is probably 'beware of mr baker,' tho.
― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Sunday, 6 October 2019 16:22 (four years ago) link
Kind of agree with this. Who else would start combination Jazz & Polo club so he would have a place to play?
― Three Borads and the HOOS (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 6 October 2019 16:24 (four years ago) link
Double Bass Drums too, although Keith Moon beat him to 'em.
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 6 October 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
I guess too he was the first Rock band player to do drum solos?
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 6 October 2019 16:26 (four years ago) link
His album with Fela is superb but agree everything is overshadowed by Beware of Mr Baker. Sure, the filmmaker got a broken nose but he also baked into celluloid (if it needed proving) that Ginger was a sociopath.
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Sunday, 6 October 2019 16:31 (four years ago) link
first Baker Gurvitz Army record is great!
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 6 October 2019 17:14 (four years ago) link
The documentary is on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7h8CqYXEx0
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Sunday, 6 October 2019 17:22 (four years ago) link
over and over, he said "I can throw down with Tony Williams, Elvin Jones et al, no other rock guys can swing, but I can!" Yet, while he used patterns that drummers would use to swing, he never really did, that I heard. I liked listening to him for his overpowering tastelessness…
The live Cream albums are fun to listen to for the absolute, heedless lack of sensitivity and interest each guy has in the other two. Jack Bruce famously was turned up so loud that when the other guys stopped playing, he kept going; maybe he couldn't hear anyone else, or maybe he didn't care…those albums also have examples where he is way way way the fuck out of tune for long streches… friend of mine said today, "now Ginger and Jack can not listen to each other in suckass blues jam heaven."
― veronica moser, Sunday, 6 October 2019 17:42 (four years ago) link
Why did Baker leave Lagos? Documentary materials hype his journey down there to set up the recording studio, but they never explain what caused him to leave Nigeria. One obituary posted today says he eventually lost control of the studio. Was it money or political issues?
― Melomane, Sunday, 6 October 2019 17:58 (four years ago) link
In the documentary it seems like the record industry (largely British-controlled at that point) got the government to shut him down.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Sunday, 6 October 2019 18:14 (four years ago) link
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 6 October 2019 18:23 (four years ago) link
Now back to Ginger. I really like this trumpet player from Denver who is in the documentary talking about the Jazz & Polo Club and Ginger, Ron Miles. Been meaning to catch him live, never have, does an awesome version of Lennon’s “Julia.”
― Beware of Mr. Blecch, er...what? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 8 October 2019 16:23 (four years ago) link
Yeah, Ron Miles is great. His 2017 album I Am A Man (with Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Thomas Morgan and Brian Blade) is fantastic.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Tuesday, 8 October 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link
great Ginger piece in the NYT by one Weingarten
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 12 October 2019 02:19 (four years ago) link
Haha, literal BURN
Bass player Jack Bruce later said that the opening song "N.S.U." was written for the band's first rehearsal. "It was like an early punk song... the title meant "non-specific urethritis. It didn't mean an NSU Quickly - which was one of those little 1960s mopeds. I used to say it was about a member of the band who had this venereal disease. I can't tell you which one... except he played guitar."
― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 7 July 2020 18:07 (three years ago) link
Pressed Rat and Warthog was my introduction to twee before twee was a thing.
― Julius Caesar Memento Hoodie (bendy), Tuesday, 7 July 2020 18:10 (three years ago) link
1. i didn't know that the music for "strange brew" was originally recorded for a more-or-less straight blues arrangement titled "lawdy mama" -- what felix pappalardi and gail collins were able to do with that track, transforming it into what it is, is sort of amazing
― budo jeru, Thursday, 14 September 2023 04:33 (seven months ago) link
2. did "As You Said" invent Led Zeppelin's "Friends"?
― budo jeru, Thursday, 14 September 2023 04:37 (seven months ago) link
3. if i were to put together a little mix with non-album singles and pop psych odds N ends from various records, it might look like this. tbh i don't need much else from this band. even if i like tunes like "sunshine" and "strange brew", i don't need to ever hear them again.
Wrapping PaperThe Coffee SongI Feel FreePressed Rat and WarthogAnyone for Tennis
N.S.U.Sleepy Time TimeAs You SaidBlue ConditionWorld of PainTake It Back
― budo jeru, Thursday, 14 September 2023 04:41 (seven months ago) link
ever since i read this, now when I hear the 'Ahhhh's in the chorus of "NSU" I imagine Eric Clapton screaming while he pees
― budo jeru, Thursday, 14 September 2023 04:57 (seven months ago) link
did "As You Said" invent Led Zeppelin's "Friends"?
I'm sure Page would say he had been listening to Indian music for years before Cream, but it's obviously a forerunner of Zeppelin. As is "Deserted Cities of the Heart", my Pick Only One. It really allows all three musicians to do what they're best at, and the strings give it a scope and a wide vista that most of their other songs lack.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 14 September 2023 15:35 (seven months ago) link