Review Summary: Cream reformed in 2005 for a few nights at England’s own, Royal Albert Hall. Clapton joked, ‘we’re going to do every song we know.’
Cream is one of those bands that saw its end before they ever really got started. Like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and The Doors to some extent—all of these artists gave us some truly great music, but untimely deaths saw their projects fizzle out before the flame really got cooking. Death, the real final frontier, always leaves us wondering what might have been had the circumstances been different, adding to their mystique, and leaving a question mark next to the their names in the Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame.
But in Cream’s case, no one died except for one truly amazing, and special band. Cream was dubbed the first ‘Supergroup,’ and rightly so. Comprised of Eric ‘Slowhand’ Clapton, the legendary guitarist; Jack Bruce, the bass virtuoso; and wild-man, drum extraordinaire Ginger Baker. Over a three year period, the band put out some of the best rock ’n roll ever heard, before or since. It was bluesy, it was jazzy, and it rocked hard. Cream’s output gave us all a glimpse of what rock ’n roll could be if left in the hands of properly magnificent musicians with as much imagination as genuine talent and chops.
In 1970 the band called it quits. But it turned out to be a only a thirty-five year hiatus; they reformed in 2005 for a few nights at England’s own, Royal Albert Hall. Clapton joked, ‘we’re going to do every song we know.’ And did they ever. The tracks include, I'm So Glad, Spoonful, Outside Woman Blues, Pressed Rat & Warthog, Sleepy Time Time, N.S.U., Badge, Politician, Sweet Wine, Rollin' & Tumblin', Stormy Monday, Deserted Cities of the Heart, Born Under a Bad Sign, We're Going Wrong, Crossroads, Sitting on Top of the World, White Room, Toad, Sunshine of Your Love, and Spoonful, showcasing the entirety of the band’s output during their brief existence in the late 1960’s.
Though the boys had put on a few pounds, and required corrective lenses, and had hair that seemed more grey than whatever color it originally was, the members of Cream all seemed to have the same old chops they had back in 1969. For four nights, they reminded Royal Albert Hall, and the rest of us, what it was that made them the ‘best band in the world’ in the late 1960’s.
They seemed to draw out some of the jams on many of the tracks; they seemed to ‘push the sun back into the sky,’ on careers that had long since been over; they seemed to reach deep down inside, coercing some of their youth out onto the stage and screaming through their instruments. They reminded us of what proper rock ’n roll sounds like, even if ‘the sex and the drugs’ were all but an afterthought for the geriatrics that took the stage on those May nights in 2005.
It is a record that must be heard by everyone; from your avid music fan, to your aging hippie and beatnik. To anyone that wants to hear the sounds that defined a generation, a reminder of a time in History that would ultimately change the course of it as it trickled through the years. A time when rock ’n roll was blues based, bell-bottoms were worn with with long hair, LSD was literally (and figuratively) on everyone’s lips, and Peace and Love were the order of the day.
It may remind us all of the great catalogue the band comprised in such short period of time; it may act as a starting point for someone who has never heard Cream. But it is a fantastic display for anyone who wants to be reminded of what true talent looks like, at any age.
