OPO: Cream

I have one more Syd Straw to round out this meager offering.

So my friend called me from LA last winter shortly after he met Syd Straw and had this discussion because ”I was the only one he knew who would know who she was”

After he moved back to LA decades ago another friend moved into the same apartment he had been living in in Brooklyn. This friend met Syd Straw one evening and got her phone number.

After he called her and left a message she called back and left him a message.

“[James Redd’s friend] this is Syd Straw. I’m in I’m out, I’m up I’m down, without the time for making any plans, however so casual.”

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.”

Yeah, Ron Miles is great. His 2017 album I Am A Man (with Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, Thomas Morgan and Brian Blade) is fantastic.

great Ginger piece in the NYT by one Weingarten

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."

Pressed Rat and Warthog was my introduction to twee before twee was a thing.

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

2. did "As You Said" invent Led Zeppelin's "Friends"?

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 Paper
The Coffee Song
I Feel Free
Pressed Rat and Warthog
Anyone for Tennis

N.S.U.
Sleepy Time Time
As You Said
Blue Condition
World of Pain
Take It Back

Haha, literal BURN

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

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.