Conference mr1pst::music

    I doubt they would but if they were to tour I'd sure be after tickets.
    
    Jim C.
    
    

    
    I presume you saw Cream on the Hall of Fame inductions.  Was there a
    television broadcast of the ceremony?
    
    I missed it, if there was, and I sure would like to have seen
    Cream play.
    
    If it was an MTV thing, will it be re-broadcast?
    
    Brian

    It was a clip on the news on CNN this morning.
    
    However, the awards were filmed for the first time for broadcast; I 
    don't know where or when.
    
    

    Well Rog, here's something we have in common.

    As long as they don't get back together just to play Sunshine of Your
    Love. That would be dissapointing as it's just been played to death and
    there were so many other good tunes from the early days of the group. I
    dare them to play I Feel Free. That would be way cool. Outstanding tune.
    Or Rollin' and a Tumbin'. Whoa. Hey, maybe they'll do something new.


    The first time I saw Cream was shortly after the US release of Fresh
    Cream. They started their US tour by playing a small club in Boston. I
    was immediately hooked on the album so my brother took me to see them. I
    sat front row (on the floor) about 6 feet in front of the recently
    permed Clapton. After their last set, I mustered up all of my fifteen
    year old courage and shook Clapton's hand and told him that I liked the
    show. I wasn't lying. It was a great night.

    --Ron

    
    So what did they play? How was it?
    
    John

    So, what does it mean...I have the "Live Cream" album [I traded
    a 'Monkees' album for it in the early 70s].  Is it considered a heirloom?
    

    I saw a clip during the news last night. Low and behold, they were
    playing "Sunshine of Your Love". I guess it is their signature tune. I
    also got the impression that their reunion plans didn't go beyond that
    performance. But I'm just guessing on that.

    --Ron

    Clapton is having a great year on his own, obviously, with the Unplugged
    album doing so well; he doesn't need them, but it would be nice, as
    it was by far the most adventurous music he ever made.
    
    Me, I passed up some tickets to a Cream concert, they broke up about a
    month later, and I was very, very sorry.
    
    Oh well, I saw Janis Joplin three times...
    
    

    re: .4
    
    Really, Ron, tell us more.  I'm a big Cream fan and never saw them
    live.  What were they like?  How loud?  How were they received?  That
    sort of thing.  Inquiring minds and all that...
    
    Dave

    OK, Dave. It was certainly no disappointment to a Fresh Cream fan. They
    were very much like that album. They did a lot of it's material like
    Cat's Squirrel, Sleepy Time, Rollin' and Tumblin', Sweet Wine, I'm So
    Glad, Toad and Spoonful. They opened, however, with Sunshine Of Your
    Love. That was the first time I had heard it as Disraeli Gears was a
    long way from release (as in unrecorded).

    Anyway, small club. The Psychodelic Supermarket at Kenmore Square.
    Seated maybe 250 (on the cement floor). Stage was about 30" high. No
    fancy lighting.

    He had his psychdelic painted Gibson SG (his Les Paul was stolen after
    recording Fresh Cream) and 2 Marshall Super Leads. To the best of my
    recollection I don't think he had a Wah-Wah pedal. There were certainly
    no other pedals. It was straight in and cranked up. Yeah, they were
    loud. Jack Bruce had his pair of Marshall stacks and Baker had his
    double kick Ludwig set. No mics on the drums. Everything was pretty
    basic.

    Being a guitar player, I sat right in front of Clapton. They had a PA
    system that consisted of two 4x12 Marshall vocal columns, one on each
    side. During Toad, Clapton put his guitar against one of his amps
    (guitar stands? not back then), lit a cigarette and sat down against the
    PA column just to my right. It started tipping over towards me. He jumps
    up, steadies it and looks at me as if to say "Oops. Almost killed ya,
    huh?" I looked back as if to say "heh heh. It's OK. After all, you're
    GOD!"

    If only I could get hypnotized and go back to that night. Think so?

    --Ron

    Gee, ron, how did you turn into such a redneck after such an
    auspiscious beginning ?  %^).
    
    I heard a bio of the group on the radio once; the group recorded
    "Disraeli Gears" in about 36 hours, the only time remaining on their
    visas in the U.S. after coming off tour, and the guy who produced the
    record had never heard them before and was completely blown away by
    their musicianship. It was done on a week-end, and remains a classic
    album, IMHO.
    
    -roger
    

    And, I think the live "Crossroads" cut the finest rock 'n roll cut
    ever made...
    
    

>    Gee, ron, how did you turn into such a redneck after such an
>    auspiscious beginning ?  %^).

    Gee, Roger, I'm not a redneck. You must be mistaking me for someone
    else. Oh, I did grow significantly more conservative after becoming a
    father.

    Yes, Crossraods from Wheels of Fire is nothing short of stunning.

    --Ron

    re .10
    
    >> recollection I don't think he had a Wah-Wah pedal. There were
    
    That would certainly jibe with the Clapton lore I heard.  The story
    goes that he picked up a Wah-Wah for the first time in NYC, spent a
    whole weekend playing around with it and ended up recording
    "Tales of Brave Ulysses" for the second album.

    Thanks, Ron.  Lemme get hypnotized with you and we'll go back together.
    I can smell the incense now...
    
    re: Crossroads
    
    I certainly agree: it's one of the premier rock performances of all
    time, IMO.  However, wasn't the version we hear all the time actually
    edited from one or more performances?  I heard that somewhere, that
    they didn't play it live just like that - there were other (less well
    done?) verses that were edited out, and edited very well.  This would
    explain the apparent discontinuity when Clapton comes out of the second
    solo and goes back into singing.
    
    Just wondering.
    
    Dave

    Dave,

    About a year after I saw them the first time, I went to a Cream show at
    the BackBay Theater in Boston. At that show they did more Disreali Gears
    stuff and not much from Fresh Cream.

    They did Crossroads though and it was pretty much exactly as the version
    on Wheels of Fire. In an interview I remember Clapton talking about how
    they got lost during that extended improv. He was of a mind to not use
    that take on the album because of that but otherwise it was a very good
    take, so they went with it.

    --Ron

    Re: .15
    
    An article on Clapton a few years back in Guitar Player magazine talked
    with Tom Dowd (recording engineer) about the "Wheels of Fire" live
    recordings.  "Crossroads" is a splice job, the original recording was
    about ten minutes long.  
    
    Re: .16
    
    However, it is true that the well known section where Clapton turns the
    time around is not a splice but an error on EC's part that sounds way
    cool, a great example of mistakes being better than the original idea!
    
    							Brian

    And as long as we're stuck in the past here, I also think the live 
    version (on "Live Cream", I think) of Sleepy Time Time is a jewel.
    
    Dave

    
    Re:  -< Give Eric back his Gibsons >-
    
    Anyone know how Todd Rundgren got a hold of EC's SG with the rainbow
    and angel painted on it? Did he give it to him or something?
    
    -Ed (another EC!)
    

    Re: .19
    
    There's a picture of Todd with this SG in an old GP issue on
    Clapton...Supposedly Eric gave it to George Harrison who gave it to
    Jackie Lomax who gave it to Todd.  When Todd got it, it was mostly in
    pieces and the finish banged up.  He had the finish restored and the
    guitar reassembled with the original stop tailpiece (when Clapton used
    it, he had a trapeze tailpiece on it!).
    
    						Brian

>
>    There's a picture of Todd with this SG in an old GP issue on

    Would you happen to know the issue or date of GP this was in?


>    Clapton...Supposedly Eric gave it to George Harrison who gave it to
>    Jackie Lomax who gave it to Todd.  When Todd got it, it was mostly in

    I don't know about Jackie Lomax, at any rate here's what I've heard
    (courtesy my friend Rod Griffith):


Subj:	RE: Todd/George/Eric/Gibson-SG


Well, I believe the guitar was given to George as a present from Eric Clapton
in '68 when Clapton was invited to work on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and
George was working with Clapton (and Cream) on the song "Badge".  In '72 or so,
George was working with Badfinger on their STRAIGHT UP album. George was 
producing it for them. In the middle of the sessions, George got a call from
Ravi Shankar asking him to help raise attention and money for the starving
people of Bangladesh. George immediately agreed to help him, but that meant
not being able to finish with Badfinger's sessions. George felt badly about
having to leave Badfinger halfway thru their album sessions, so he promised to
get them someone else to produce the album - a certain hot young musician/
producer named Todd Rundgren. So Todd was brought in to complete the Badfinger
sessions. And George gave Todd the guitar as a gift for agreeing to fly in to
London and complete the Badfinger sessions for him. 

THe STRAIGHT UP album, by the way, turned out to be Badfinger's best and most
critically aclaimed album - with a couple of hit singles: "Day After Day", and
"Baby Blue". 

Think that's how it goes.

R-

    Re: .21
    
    >Would you happen to know the issue or date of GP this was in?
    
    Yes, but I won't tell you.
    
    8^)  8^)  8^)
    
    I'll look it up tonight (if I remember to).  That's where they had the
    tale of how Todd got it, BTW.
    
    Oh yeah, I would have thought that the Bangladesh thing would have
    interrupted the Badfinger sessions anyway, seeing as how they also
    worked on the concert!  But what do I know next to Rod, keeper of the
    Beatle scrolls  8^)  8^)  (Actually Rod has probably forgotten more
    Beatle trivia than I will ever know).
    
    							Brian
    
    P.S. Geez, anyone wanna discuss how Frank Zappa got the Strat that Jimi
    burned at Monterey?

>    P.S. Geez, anyone wanna discuss how Frank Zappa got the Strat that Jimi
>    burned at Monterey?
    
    Not in this note, but I would like to know why Clapton (or anyone)
    would replace an SG's original stop tailpiece with a trapeze.  Any
    theories?
    
    Dave

    re: .22
    
    >P.S. Geez, anyone wanna discuss how Frank Zappa got the Strat that
    >Jimi burned at Monterey?
    
    The Strat that Zappa was holding on the cover of GP was not Jimi's, but
    instead one that FZ had sacrificed. Apparently, Frank had access to
    Jimi's stash of lighter fluid :-)
    
    Danny W.

    Boy, the misinformation is flyin today.
    
    Well, the way *I* heard it, Frank's burned out Strat is a genuine Jimi,
    but not from Monterey.  I think it was burned at a show in Miami.  This
    from the old GP issue where Uncle Frank is holding said Toastcaster on
    the cover (I'll check if I think of it).
    
    In related news, Stevie Vai did intentionally burn up one of his Ibanez
    GEM guitars for the cover of a recent Guitar World mag, sort of in the
    pattern of Frank's by using it as a template for where to apply lighter
    fluid.
    
    /rick

    FZ did claim that said Strat was Jimi's Miami Pop sacrifice, but the
    veracity of his claim is in question. In any case, he never claimed it
    to be from Monterey.
    
    Danny W.

    Just heard that Cream are getting back together in the studio this year
    to make an album.  Could a tour be that far off??????  
                                              

    >>Just heard that Cream are getting back together in the studio this year
    >>to make an album.  Could a tour be that far off??????
      
    Could you verify the source?  Is this hype?
    
    Steve (who believed the Eagles were going to tour last year)               
                                                                  

    Welp, I just can't resist this one... I was there at that same concert,
    & I can add that I distinctly remember the absence of a wah-wah because
    when I stood on tip toes to see it during one of those (Tales of brave
    ???) "wah" type solo's, all there was between Clapton's SG & the
    Marshall stack was a wire drooping slightly & not even touching the
    floor !! I assume he had some kind of non-standard or "active" tone
    pot. I was (only) a bass player at the time (there with my older
    brother) so I was on the stage right side about thirty feet from the
    stage. I also recall Ginger Baker's "interesting" cymbal stands with
    one cymbal about half way up & a second one at the top. If I were a
    drummer, I'd definitely want some of those ! The overwhelming
    impression I got was that any one of the three by himself would have
    been sufficient to achieve musical nirvana. This also took place during
    the height of the "Ginger Baker is dead" rumors, which allowed me to
    have more than a few laughs at the expense of the rumor mongers. The
    "Live" album really doesn't do them justice. It's tough to capture that
    kind of juice on acetate. My brother had informed me that Jack Bruce
    had blown a preamp tube in one of his Marshalls at the sound check. (He
    subsequently met Jack Bruce in one of Boston's use record
    stores.) -Later

    BTW, Ginger Baker is now in Masters of Reality and on their latest album
    which has had some positive reviews.
    
    							Brian

    OOPS, 348.29 is in response to 348.10  -Sorry

    
    re. Masters of Reality:
    
    Well, being the *ultimate* Masters' fan, I can safely say, with no bias
    whatsoever :^),  say that "Sunrise on the Sufferbus" (MOR's new CD) will 
    be the BEST of 1993.  Ginger even cranks.  Its actually kind of ironic
    that a band is probably going to finally hit the big time due to the
    acquisition of a drummer, when for the 4 years I followed 'em in
    Syracuse they didn't even have one (used a beat box).
    
    - Sean_anxiously_awaiting_the_tour_and_hoping_they_open_for_Black_Sabbath

    Jack Bruce live at the Paridise in Boston March 25th. I saw him the
    last time he played in Boston at the Paridise. Ginger Baker was on 
    drums for the second set. Great show. He also had this kid (Blues) on
    guitar that was real hot!

Not sure if this would deserve it's own note but I heard a cut on
WZLX this morning by BBM .....  Baker, Bruce and Moore ....

As in Ginger Baker, Jackie Bruce and Gary Moore(lead guitar)...

They have a new album out the title of which eludes me ....

They have a classic Cream sound and Moore plays a mean guitar !

Good tune !

Randy_whos_off_to_see_Aerosmith_tomorrow !

	I bought it, and I hate it. The old Ginger Baker is over the
	hill, and Gary Moore overplays everything - he just hasn't
	anything to *tell* with his solos - they are just wild repe-
	titions of standard guitar frases - and he can't even sing.

	Sorry to say it, but this mess has nothing to do with the
	good old Cream...

	Poul

    
    	I haven't heard the new BBM album, but I'm big fan of 2 Gary Moore
    albums, "Run For Cover" and "Over The Hills". Great guitar playing on
    those 2 records, good songs, and yes, he does sing well on them.
    
    	When Gary went "blues" on his last couple albums, I actually lost a 
    little interest in his work.... I'm a big-time blues fan, but it's not
    what Gary does best. 
    
    
    
    Brad