Anyone like 'Live Cream'?

[wntbtw]

Their final performance as a band in 1968:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyu38q_C7xg&feature=related

[Fireball XL5]

Love Cream's live stuff. Lot's of great live Cream performances here:

http://tela.sugarmegs.org/

[MRW55]

Thanks for the original link. Great stuff.

Oh, and in before the "Clapton was better with Gibsons, I wish he'd go back" post!

[Beat Up G]

IMO rivals Leeds as a live masterpiece.

[skhan007]

Their live stuff smoked any of their studio albums, IMHO, YMMV, FWIW, LOL.

[fierce_carrot]

Clapton gets all the press and accolades, but lord, listen to jack bruce destroying his bass guitar! He plays as many notes as Eric does.

[Bluedano1]

Clapton gets all the press and accolades, but lord, listen to jack bruce destroying his bass guitar! He plays as many notes as Eric does.


I'm with you!, just like the Experience or The Who- its the sound of the whole band - not just the guitar that made this music great!

[Neer]

Perhaps the question should read, "Anyone NOT like "Live Cream?" But then again, you may not get many responses.

[axuality.com]

Clapton gets all the press and accolades, but lord, listen to jack bruce destroying his bass guitar! He plays as many notes as Eric does.

I'd say no one of them was the best. All 3 were phenomenal in my opinion. Clapton's my fave, because I play guitar, but even Bruce's singing and playing and Baker- he smiled the whole time and what a drummer!

Watch a youtube of them doing oh.....Tales of Brave Ulysses or White Room.

By the way,'Tales of Brave Ulysses' on Live Cream II.- I think it is probably the best played version of any song ever recorded. The power of it is beyond beyond. Unfortunately, they remastered it and ruined it!!!! I can't believe it. I think they removed the overwhelming presence of Clapton. I'm not sure, but it's very different. Some power is still there, but oh not like before.

Re-mastering is a sin. It should be punishable. :)

[axuality.com]

Cream is Clapton at his best. He is not the same as Hendrix. He doesn't have the casualness, the sensuality, the feel, the snake rhythm of Hendrix, but Clapton has the cleanness, the sophistication, the correctness, the confidence, the structure, dignity, the command and authority in his playing, oh my!

When it started dawning on me that Clapton was replacing his guitarring with vocals, I almost felt like puking.

[Dave2512]

IMO Cream was at their live peak in late 66 early 67. By 68 it got too busy, at times sounding like a musical battle. It didn't always lead to great performances.

This is freakin' brutal.

tmx5lGIJIa4

[JTM100]

Live CREAM Vol 1 and 2 are my favorite CREAM records!!

[WheelchairBandit]

Oh man, that was killer Dave. Thanks for sharing that.

Brian.

[duckbunny]

For me, Live Cream Vol. 2 is right up there with Fillmore East. BOG, and Live At the Regal in the pantheon of live performances of the Last 50 years. There may not be 4 more perfect minutes of blues-rock than Crossroads.



-db

[rwe333]

Clapton gets all the press and accolades, but lord, listen to jack bruce destroying his bass guitar! He plays as many notes as Eric does.

Jack Bruce is a brilliant musician. Read this if you haven't:

http://www.di-arezzo.co.uk/multimedia/images/jawbonepress/couv/9781906002268.jpg

[Tonekat]

Bought the vinyl as soon as it came out, and still have it. Definitely captures that 'falling down the stairs' quality of Clapton's that EVH raved about in early interviews.

[Baxtercat]

IMO Cream was at their live peak in late 66 early 67. By 68 it got too busy, at times sounding like a musical battle. It didn't always lead to great performances.

This is freakin' brutal.

tmx5lGIJIa4
There it is, what started the whole thing.

[gillman royce]

Love Cream's live stuff. Lot's of great live performances here:

http://tela.sugarmegs.org/

How can you not ? What's great are those who don't like it and then rave about Bonamassa !

[lhallam]

IMO Cream was at their live peak in late 66 early 67. By 68 it got too busy, at times sounding like a musical battle. It didn't always lead to great performances.

This is freakin' brutal.

Actually it is the musical battle that I like. Almost as much as a physical competition as it is a musical one. The latter Cream concerts sound much more refined and subdued since the boys have mellowed with age. The young bucks fighting was more exciting.

[reverendfrankie]

I bought both 'Albums' in the early 70's and played them to death. To this day when I listen to the CD's I can still hear the 'pop' that was scratched onto the 5 minute mark of 'Sweet Wine' from Volume 1.

I think Sweet Wine is the highlite for me - amazing dynamics and developing 'storyline' as it were'.
Rev.

[gtraddict]

I love all of their work, ginger was great and so was bruce in voice and bass.
I wish a lot of drummers would learn to take lesson on how to play the basic set and snare off of this

[frank62]

I wore out several of them back in the day. Wheels of Fire was the background of my teenage years.

[bek]

Some of the best live music of all time, and you know it.

[lhallam]

I think Sweet Wine is the highlite for me - amazing dynamics and developing 'storyline' as it were'.
Rev.

The feedback overdub on the studio lp is amazing and another example of the experiments and innovation of the times.

[Tonal Comfort]

In my top five live albums!

[ropiyas]

Agree!!!
There was also Those Were The Days with the different version of N.S.U.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l2FFgW8KVL0/SwkFZoPNL4I/AAAAAAAABWg/zyDKrm72vzU/s1600/coverwe4.jpg

[Nielsnielsniels]

After having heard about every Cream bootleg there is, I still think Live at the RAH is their best, despite the awful audio and video quality. Live at Klook's Kleek is a very close second. It's very hit and miss with some Cream bootlegs though, without structure and direction it just sounds like three people playing to themselves, Clapton is the largest variable in that chain, they all directly influence each other's playing.

Their playing at RAH had direction and structure, Clapton's playing had melody, and Bruce and Baker were simply fantastic.
I personally think that the version of Spoonful at the RAH is one of the best live recordings in history. It resembles a great classical composition, but with modern instruments. Just amazing how dynamic their playing is - the way they build up momentum, and how they keep changing the speed and direction of the song. And how that barrage of sound slowly phases out to a quiet ending, just brilliant.

[billyguitar]

I didn't really start gigging until about 1971, just little school gigs. Why I bought Fender amps instead of a Marshall 1/2 stack I'll never know. Cream like Hendrix or the Beatles, are a snapshot in time that can't be repeated.

[Kiwi]

Clapton gets all the press and accolades, but lord, listen to jack bruce destroying his bass guitar! He plays as many notes as Eric does.

I'd take it further and argue that Cream was really Jack's band.

- He and Pete Brown wrote most of the classic Cream songs.
- He sang lead vocals on most of them - and a fine singer he was.
- His bass lines are complex, but not for the sake of overplaying.

To ward off the attacks: I'm a huge Clapton fan, and a major Cream fan. Just trying to ensure that Jack Bruce gets the attention he deserves.

Jack Bruce was the first bassist in the rock era who made me go listen closely to other 'lead' bassists: first, Paul McCartney, who was playing quiet symphonies with the Beatles, and later, Chris Squire of Yes.

Just one example: I was privileged to play in a classic rock cover band where our bassist could perfectly execute Jack's exquisite, tricky descending bass run in "Badge" - just before the third line in each verse. Such a great run, in a perfect little pop gem.

Heck, Badge's offbeat bass intro is over-familiar now - but it's pretty wonderful by itself, and how it carries the verse with a bounce. One of many bits of Jack Bruce's originality.

=K