Little Rock Ak Newspaper

Little Rock Ak Newspaper

Little Rock Ak Newspaper

Posted on: January 19, 2012 - 7:49 am
by Admin

Cream (not, careful readers will note, The Cream) was a British band, formed in 1996 and gaining worldwide popularity before its break-up in 1968, a mere two years later. The band’s members were Eric Clapton (formerly with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers) on lead guitar, Jack Bruce (with Manfred Mann) on bass guitar, and Ginger Baker (the Graham Bond Organisation) on drums. Alongside Jimi Hendrix, who came to prominence in the UK alongside Cream, they set the gold standard for the blues-based ‘power-trio’. They were the first band to be called a ‘supergroup’, a band whose members were acknowledged stars before they joined forces in the new group.

Their Music and Its Influences

The band drew on the blues, which Clapton (and for a short time Bruce) had honed to near perfection under the tutelage of Mayall, and also developed a full repertoire of songs written by Bruce, often in association with British poet Pete Brown. (Brown’s own band was called Piblokto.) Baker pioneered the long drum solo in rock, drawing on his background in jazz music where the drum solo had long been a staple of live performance. His most famous solo is titled ‘Toad’, during live performances of which, Clapton and Bruce would leave the stage to refresh themselves.

The band had a string of hits and best-selling albums. Their best known single success was ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, taken from their album ‘Disraeli Gears’ (1967). This album incorporated elements of blues and also the whimsy that characterised British psychedelia. Bruce has called the bass line in ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, the greatest ever written. Although immodest, many would agree with him.