Cream - BBC Sessions
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Music CD Cover
Artist: CreamEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Extra tracks
Published: 2003-03-26
CD Release Date: 2003-03-25
Music Label: Polydor / Umgd
Soundtracks:
- Sweet Wine
- Eric Clapton Interview
- Wrapping Paper
- Rollin' And Tumblin'
- Steppin' Out
- Crossroads
- Cat's Squirrel
- Traintime
- I'm So Glad
- Lawdy Mama
- Eric Clapton Interview 2
- I Feel Free
- N.S.U.
- Four Until Late
- Strange Brew
- Eric Clapton Interview 3
- Tales Of Brave Ulysses
- We're Going Wrong
- Eric Clapton Interview 4
- Born Under A Bad Sign
- Outside Woman Blues
- Take It Back
- Sunshine Of Your Love
- Politician
- Swlabr
- Steppin' Out
Free Music Notes for BBC Sessions
Free Music Review: Heads Up!
Hit: 5 Stars
I grew up in a suburb north of Detroit, near the city of Mount Clemens, famous for its mineral baths which made the entire area smell of sulfer all of the time. As a teen in the late 1960's and early 1970's, I was also aware that Mount Clemens featured a 'head shop' called 'Head's Up'. Remarkably, 4 decades later, that same boutique still thrives in its original location. How many 1960's head shops can lay down a claim like that??? Anyway, the phrase 'head's up', then a nebulous calling card for dope heads in the sixties, probably carries a differnt meaning to most people today. But many of those I'm calling out to probably frequented similar head shops in the 1960's. So here's a 'heads up' for you that I don't see other reviewers, even Amazon's own Jerry McCulley mentioning: These recordings are in MONO. For the most part they're fine recordings, but they certainly can't compete with their stereo counterparts, especially when you get to Cream's more psychedelic offerings.
But that doesn't mean Cream's 'BBC Sessions' are without merit (after all, I did rate this disc with five stars). The disc is presented along with all the radio narration that would have accompanied them (sans commercials) on BBC radio in the 1960's. It's as though you've been transported 40 years into the past via a time portal and tuned your transistor to the local UK broadcaster. Cream, an emerging band in 1966, was interested in gleaning all the air time for their music that they could. BBC radio was able to avoid paying royalties to record companies by having artists record versions of their new music in BBC studios for airing across the UK on programs such as 'Saturday Club', 'Rhythm and Blues', and 'Top Gear'. Since the broadcasts were monophonic, however, the studio also recorded in mono. Nevertheless, we are listening to live Cream tracks, many of which were recorded before the official vinyl versions were recorded or released. The band of course wanted to put their best foot forward, so the performances reek of freshness and vitality. They're also quite short, with only 'I'm So Glad' and 'Sunshine of Your Love' topping out at over four minutes, since BBC radio broadcasts were promoting a Top 40 format. The Eric Clapton interviews aren't especially revealing, and I could see where someone would, after first listen, want to skip over the redundancy of hearing Eric's comments being repeated, and hearing host Brian Matthews introducing most of the numbers. If you're just looking for a one-time experience, however, the inclusion of Matthew's voiceovers and Clapton's comments put the music in a historical, as well as an artistic context.
Aside from the heads up on the recording format, it is also important to note that the version of 'Crossroads' offered here is, for whatever reason, of much poorer quality than the surrounding tracks. It is the only track taken from the BBC program titled 'Guitar Club', which may for some reason account for the diminished fidelity. It's inclusion is certainly warranted due to its historic value, but the performance itself is very similar to the live version that appears on 'Wheels Of Fire', so there is little new insight to be gained. Of course the most variation on these live performances occurs on those tracks that benefitted most from studio sound effects, such as 'SWLABR', 'Tales of Brave Ulysses' and 'Strange Brew'.
This disc comes rightly packaged with an informative booklet, chock full of information of the tracks included, background on the performances, and numerous photographs of band members from the era. While the officially released studio versions of nearly all these tracks are superior, this quite affordable set of alternate takes is essential for any serious Cream fan. Others interested in hearing some of the best of 1960's blues and psychedelic rock could do a lot worse than to pick up this collection of much of Cream's better compositions and covers. Indeed, if the tracks were in stereo, it would even serve as a fine compilation disc of the best of Cream. To a degree, it's rather remarkable that these recordings were not issued on vinyl in the early 1970's when producers were scouring for unpublished material from the Cream archives. Buy and enjoy, for sure the most important Heads Up!
BBC Sessions Poster
Another gem from the BBC archives! And this might just be the 'cream' of the crop-22 live-in-the-studio performances by Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, only two of which have been released before! Includes renditions of then-current singles like 'I Feel Free' and 'Strange Brew' previews of upcoming album tracks like 'Tales of Brave Ulysses', 'We're Going Wrong', 'Born Under A Bad Sign', 'Politician', and 'Sunshine of Your Love', and versions of concert favorites like 'Traintime', 'Steppin' Out', and 'Crossroads', all recorded between November 1966 and January 1968. Also here are four short interview segments, as well as rare photos, session info and notes. A major find! Polydor. 2003.Betwixt journeyman stints with the Yardbirds and John Mayall and decades of laurel-resting, guitar god Eric Clapton was but one competitive third of what remains rock's most compelling power trios. Cream's penchant for incendiary live excess was legendary, a fact that makes the release of these 22 live-in-studio recordings for the BBC (which span just over a year of the band's early, brief career) all the more interesting. Powered by Ginger Baker's complex rhythms and the kinetic bass lines and burnished vocals of Jack Bruce, Clapton's playing is focused and intense, with the trio bringing a pop-smart economy to its slate of over-amped blues ("Rollin' and Tumblin'," "Cat's Squirrel") and originals that veered from nascent pop-psychedelia ("Strange Brew," "Sunshine of Your Love") to music-hall kitsch ("Wrapping Paper," "Take It Back"). The tracks here--fully 20 of them previously unreleased--offer extensive contemporary live previews of Disraeli Gears and even more compelling early workouts of material that would appear on Wheels of Fire. Though the collection's four Clapton interview excerpts come at the expense of Baker and Bruce, their musical accomplishments here can't be denied. It's as taut and focused a primer on the oft-overblown world of '60s blues rock as one is likely to find. Cream, indeed. --Jerry McCulley
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