Cream to reform

Subject: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 07:27 AM

Eric Clapton has announced that Cream are to reform in the new year! The start rehearsals in January followed by a week residence ar The Royal Albert Hall sometime in early spring!

What do mudcatters think?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Splott Man
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 07:34 AM

Wow!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: woodsie
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 07:38 AM

There's quite a bit on the web e.g. see here But no dates yet! The tickets will probabley be sky high!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: MBSLynne
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 09:03 AM

Yeah..Wow!

Always a danger though, when super groups reform after many years break, that they won't be up to their former standard. Mind you with these three..... Look forward to it with interest.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Cluin
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 09:05 AM

Reform? You mean they're gonna give up drugs?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Bassic
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 10:10 AM

Woodsie..........if you get any tickets, can I come too? :-)

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: PoppaGator
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 10:15 AM

There's no way I could afford tickets, even without adding the cost of transatlantic travel.

But I think I could shell out for a CD and maybe even rent or buy a DVD. Think they'll be marketing anything like that?

;^)

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Mooh
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 10:28 AM

So, which one of them is short of cash?

Actually, I hope they can make the grade, I loved 'em the first time around.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 10:32 AM

Who? I'll have to ask my dad about this.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 11:00 AM

I'm excited about this one! I heard about it last week!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 11:03 AM

This is terrific. I don't care why they're doing it, if they're still as good as they were, I'll be tickled. Can't afford to go see them live, of course, but will certainly hear any CD they make.

Also must remember to get a new stash for the occasion.

;-D

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Dead Horse
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 12:25 PM

They must be *Cheese* by now!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Scooby Doo
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 12:34 PM

I was still in nappies when they folded.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: C-flat
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 12:48 PM

I'm amazed to hear this but I'd certainly go if I got the chance.
It will almost certainly be a money-spinner for them, wether any of them needs it is another matter, and I suspect that they'll do somewhat better than their fee as described on an old contract that I have on my wall dating back to 1966, between the Robert Stigwood organisation (for Cream) and the Kirklevington Country Club on Teesside.


BAND NOT TO ARRIVE LATER THAN 7pm

2X45 MINUTES SPOTS BETWEEN 8pm AND 11pm

BAND NOT TO PLAY A VENUE WITHIN A RADIUS OF 5 MILES FROM 4 WEEKS PRIOR TO BOOKING AND 3 WEEKS AFTER.

FEE £75 TO BE PAID IN CASH TO THE BAND


Assuming that they were on equal money that's £25 quid EACH!!!!

That wouldn't sting Erics' guitars for one night at the Albert Hall today!


C-flat.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: C-flat
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 12:50 PM

.........or string ..

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: el_punkoid_nouveau
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 02:35 PM

Shame they're only doing a residency at the RAH - a few nights at NEC and/or G-Mex would go down well, for those of who would not find it easy to get to London...

After EC's last couple of albums, he should be playing really well - I saw a documentary many years ago where he and Jack Bruce got together at his home in Guildford and jammed - brilliant.

epn

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: fiddler
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 02:39 PM

Praps if it all goes well and they all keep their cool offstage - who knows we can all hope!

Grand one

Andy

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: grumpy al
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 02:45 PM

I hope Clapton and Bruce are still fighting for supremacy on stage, as that is what made them so exciting first time around.

I know... I was there

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 02:49 PM

*sigh*

pass...

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Wesley S
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 03:11 PM

My guess is the Jack Bruce or Ginger Baker put the deal together down at the crossroads.....

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 03:22 PM

£75? I don't think they got paid that much as residents at the Railway, West Hampstead. I think it cost 5/- (that's 25p) to get in. I still have my membership card. Wonder if that gets me a concession at the Albert Hall?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 05:14 PM

Why do I feel that I am about to be milked as a punter, to line someone's pockets, who needs it less than I do? Cream were great in their day, till they bottomed out. They developed individually a lot since then - EC certainly has. Why backtrack down memory lane? For what purpose other than money and getting some blue rinses hot in their bloomers?

As for the £75, 40 years on and I can have a great night listening to live music by up and coming artists who get paid that or less in some of the UK clubs. I won't mention names, as I don't want to embarass them or somehow inadvertedly downplay their value (which is well over the £75).

Tickets for the Cream concert won't be less than £50, I bet. Equivalent to at least 10 good nights out in some club. I know to whom I'd rather give my money.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 11:46 PM

Ya-HOOOO!
It would be great if there were some new tunes out of this.
As for not needing the money, I'd say two of them could use a few bucks. Eric doesn't need this, so I think he's doing it for the right reasons.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 12:05 AM

None of them need the money. I just hope Jack & Ginger don't come to blows backstage!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: eltham man
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 03:14 AM

Poppagator don't worry about forking out for a transatlantic trip they are supposed to be doing some US dates as well!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 03:17 AM

Hmmm, wonder how much THOSE are gonna go for?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 03:40 AM

Ginger Baker; the ORIGINAL 'Wild Man of Rock', what a character. I do hope he's not all clean pressed and sanitised now, can't see him in an Armani suit somehow.
Giok

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 03:41 AM

Ginger? I don't think so... he wouldn't be himself.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 04:59 AM

The album "Fresh Cream" epitomized the whole Hippy Scene for me. I do believe it's the first album I ever heard while smoking weed.

It's like a sense memory for me now. I will aways have flashes back to those days of lightheaded, but deepest and often darkest adolescence made better via some of the most fantastic musicians who ever formed a band.

It wasn't until "Dark Side of the Moon" and Pink Floyd that I felt that utter pleasure of being immersed in a "sound" again, and this time my first time high on hallucinogens.

I am NOT a druggie, don't get me wrong, and I have loved lots of music straight as a proverbial arrow, but there IS something about those times and those groups which will stay firmly and happily embedded in my psyche forever (except for the now-missing brain cells, of course.)

;-)

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 08:49 AM

...these 'comeback' gigs never meet up to the standards set by the original formation. Everybody's older, less frenetic, more staid, and the playing will be lackluster (Clapton hasn't 'played' since Blind Faith)....this is just three past-their-prime musicians cashing in on a memory, making a quick buck off what people remember (or don't)...these guys don't have the energy to pull it off. The days of jamming in E 14+ minutes on 'Spoonful' are long gone. Clapton has tried this already with the disappointing 'From The Cradle.' To do it right, everybody would have to time travel forty years back to the sixties, start doing hard drugs again, and play very, very hard and loud for a long time. Can you see that happening? I don't. At best it will wind up sounding like warmed over Derek & The Dominoes or, if we are really lucky, Delaney & Bonnie. Save yourself some money/disappointment and dust off or repurchase any of the old Cream recordings.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 11:11 AM

OUCH!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Les from Hull
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 12:54 PM

Well I think it's only fair to wait an listen to what they sound like. They were great first time round - who knows what they'll be like this time round. If they're expensive and/or jaded THEN we can slag them off. They may be even better (but that would take some doing).

Any real fan will have no need to buy Cream recordings as they will already have the boxed CDset.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 12:55 PM

Ooohh the Boxed CD set! Maybe for Christmas??

;-D

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 01:36 PM

I bought all the Cream albums the first time around, although I was only 12 when they broke up, so I never got to see them live. Sure, they were great, in their way and for their time. But I can't really see this reunion being much more than a nostalgia trip.

The psychedelic stuff was good, and I'm sure they can still play it as well as (or better than) they ever did. But the freshness of the concept is gone, so it will just be rehash for nostalgia's sake. As for the blues? The fact is, we've all learned a lot about what makes for a good blues performance since Cream was ripping it up back in the late '60s. If you take the rosy nostalgic glow off, those old 20-minute blues jams really don't amount to much (Clapton himself has said this, many times). Part of what made their stuff special at the time was that the audience was discovering it for the first time, and it was being played by young white guys ("just like us!") who had only themselves discovered it a few years before. So the guys who sounded like cutting-edge musicians back then sound more like self-indulgent young pups now.

Still, there's money to be made. Count on the shows giving rise to a DVD and multi-CD package, which is undoubtedly a big part of the motivation for this.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 04:52 PM

The best concert that I have heard in 40 years was Jack Bruce, Dick Heckstall-Smith and The Norman Beaker Band playing at the Old Vic in Nottingham in December 1987. Jack had not lost his fire then and he was pretty hot battling against a lousy sound system in Nottingham about three years ago. However he has had a liver transplant just over a year ago and Ginger is reported not to be able to keep up a sustained drumming action due to a polo accident damaging his arm a number of years ago so I have mixed feelings about the re-union. All things being equal however I don't think we'll see any namby pamby nostalgia trip from these three.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Steve Latimer
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 05:17 PM

They are one of the few bands from that era who have the luxury of being able to reform. Not many others where all the original members are alive.

I was a big Cream fan. Let's hope that they still have the vitality they did.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: BanjoRay
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 06:06 PM

If they're as good as the Incredible String Band were at Sidmouth when they reformed they'll get strung up from the nearest lamppost.
Ray

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 06:15 PM

They'll be older and mellower, just like all of us. Two out of three of them have seen one of their children die in the intervening period. They can't be carbon copies of themselves back then and we shouldn't really expect them to be.

But they are still here and I hope everyone enjoys the moment. It would be a shame if they are setting themselves up for a slating. But I suspect more of us will revel in the nostalgia than condemn them for giving us the opportunity to do so?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: number 6
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 07:42 PM

I'm a fan of Jack Bruce who is a musician of great respect. BTW, has anyone any info on a collaboration he did with Carla Bley on music based on the novel Under the Volcanoe.

Anyway in regard to reforming Cream, interesting, though not looking forward to it (myself) with great anticipation.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 09:18 PM

During the heyday of Cream, Clapton was known for how many notes he could cram into a solo. Since then, he has learned that the spaces between the notes are as important as the notes themselves. In fact, if Clapton is the master of anything on guitar, it's knowing when not to play. It'll be interesting to see how he applies what he's learned about not playing to a context where playing as hard and fast as possible was always the object.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 10:26 AM

....don't see how he can apply what he learned about not playing in a three-piece band BWL....Clapton will have lots of holes to fill. It will be interesting to see if he can play like he used to........

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Brakn
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 11:21 AM

"During the heyday of Cream, Clapton was known for how many notes he could cram into a solo."

I don't think so. There were many other guitarists you could hang that one on but not Clapton. (IMHO)

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: C-flat
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 12:20 PM

Agreed Brakn, I never regarded Clapton as a "shredder", but it will be interesting to hear him work in a three piece again. Much more work involved carrying all the guitar work himself but I personally like that stripped-down sound and reckon Clapton will do the business again.

C-flat.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Terry K
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 12:32 PM

Kirklevington was great in the 60's. We used to go there & drink loads of beer, which we all thought made us much more attractive to the women. Then when we didn't pull we could listen to the music. Clapton used to be there in his John Mayall days.

cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 02:54 PM

I wouldn't count on Cream being a three-piece this time around. My guess is that, like a lot of other bands these days, there will be three "official" members augmented by assorted backing musicians.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 03:59 PM

...then that wouldn't officially be Cream, my opinion...that would be the three original members of Cream and some other musicians...using the Cream moniker in that case would be misleading....

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 08:54 PM

Then again the whole focus for me has been what Clapton is going to do......but I wonder if Jack Bruce still has those serious bluesharp chops like he did on "Traintime?"

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 09:17 PM

I can't imagine the Cream reunion involving any extra backup players. Would be neither necessary nor desireable, regardless of how much any of the members might have slowed down.

I saw these guys on their first American tour, when they were not yet widely known and were being worked like dogs, with one-nighters every night in some of the tiniest out-of-the-way venues. They played long and hard every night, too. Clapton was a big name, of course, but really known only to hard core blues enthusiasts and stone hippies, not a very large demographic. The other two memebrs were complete unknowns in the US until the band was formed, so they only drew an audience of the tragically hip -- not a stadium-size crowd by any means.

I saw them at the South Bend (Indiana) Civic Auditorium, a fair-sized venue in a sleepy college town. The gig was fairly well-attended, but NOT sold out.

The interesting fact is that, on the previous night, they had played the weekly barn dance at Plymouth, Indiana, a tiny crossroads in the farmland 20-30 miles south of town. That promoter or tour manager or whoever was working those boys to death!

Friends of mine had the contract to do the light show, and they managed to get after-the-show backstage passes for a whole group of us. I remember Jack holding forth, trying to be polite while dealing with the fans, while Eric and Ginger sat alone and silent on stools in opposite corners of the big empty room (I think it was actually a White Room, if memory serves), each hiding his face behind a newspaper that was audibly rattling because they had such bad cases of the amphetamine jitters. Not all that glamourous a lifestyle when you look back at it.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 09:31 AM

Can anyone can name me a "60's supergroup" that plays these days without other musicians augmenting their on-stage sound? The Rolling Stones? Nope. The Who? Nope. Anyone else?

I think it's especially unlikely for a trio to come out alone. If Cream plays without any other supporting musicians, I'll be amazed.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 02:05 PM

The link posted towards the top of the thread says the band is "eager to treat fans to a series of nostalgic performances." If they augment the original sound with backup guitars and keyboards, accordion or whatever, it won't be very nostalgic.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 02:09 PM

Their sound never called for any backup singers or musicians. I highly doubt they'll add any now...

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 02:45 PM

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I don't interpret their quest for nostalgia to preclude the use of backing musicians.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: alanabit
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 02:48 PM

I think the point of bringing in additional musicians is to try to achieve the sound of the studio onstage. I don't think that was really the point of Cream. I think we can expect to see the trio. We will have to wait until the actual gigs to find out whether they are any good or not. Let's comment then!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 02:59 PM

; )

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Big Mick
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 03:02 PM

I'm with you on that, Alan. It is still there live albums that I love the most, with the possible exception of Disraeli Gears. It will be interesting to see if the music will have matured, and if so, what is the effect. I am prepared to be open to their take on it almost 40 years later.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 03:17 PM

Lot of nice Blues stuff on Fresh Cream, but they were definitely more of a live band than a studio band... like some of the studio cuts from Wheels of Fire.
Maybe I'll pull my old vinyl out of that later!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 03:38 PM

....got nostalgic meself last night, inspired by this thread. Clicked on the old stereo, cranked the volume and shook the pictures off the walls with "Crossroads." I was dancing around like an idiot. I hope Clapton goes retro and lays down that Strat and picks up an SG loaded with original P-90 pickups. He'll have to plug into some vintage Marshall equipment to do it right, to get that creamy, velvety, balls-to-the-wall tone he had back in the day....

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,ty canol
Date: 03 Dec 04 - 03:53 PM

Youre so right Ellenpoly, The sound of those early albums brings back the druggie memories. Why don't the sound so good today? Bad move to reform now they will probably all have heart attacks and and expire to the feed back.... some show

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 03:34 PM

IIIIIIII FEEEEELLLL FFRRREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!


;-D

I live in hope...ain't no one gonna kill my buzz for these guys.

..xx..e

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 03:55 PM

Long ago it must be, I have a photograph.
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you........

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 04:06 PM

I told you 'bout the swans, that they live in the Park
I told you not to wander around in the dark
Then I told you 'bout our kid, now he's married to Mable

And you think drugs were a factor?:>)

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: PoppaGator
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 04:37 PM

Rumor has it that the song title "Badge" came from a misreading of co-writer George Harrison's handwritten note indicating the "Bridge" of the song. (Yes, it took more than one person to write the immortal lines quoted above by Lonesome EJ. Drugs may indeed have been involved.)

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 04 - 05:48 PM

Lonesome EJ posted the lines to that verse of "Badge" out of order.

Rumor has it that the lyricist(s) (George? Eric? both?) were mulling around the studio during the writing of "Badge," trying to come up with the second line to complement the first, "I told you not to wander around in the dark."

Someone sung it out loud just as Ringo Starr entered, somewhat inebriated. Ringo sung back, "I told you 'bout the swans, that they live in the park" .... and so it was written.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 04:13 AM

About the only good to come of the reunion is to resurrect the joke:"What's the difference between Ginger Baker and Dr Scholl".

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 11:21 AM

...and the answer is ...???

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: John C.
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 11:28 AM

What the f..ck has this got to do with folk music? If I want to know about Cream I'll consult an ageing rockers website (not!)!!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 12:30 PM

Back in the beginning, Mudcat cafe was dedicated to folk and blues. In fact, if memory serves, the Mudcat's founder leaned more towards blues than folk. The folk faction is the majority, it seems...but this thread hearkens to the blues roots of a venerated 60's rock band. Perhaps you could exercise your ability to ignore things in which you have no interest; that would seem to be the best solution for everyone all round.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 05 Dec 04 - 12:32 PM

They were a blues band first and foremost. Like Peter green's band before they let that sheep Stevie Nicks join... baaa... baaa...

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 11:02 AM

Lyrics credit for White Room goes to Peter Brown, though the Ringo story rings true.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 12:07 PM

hmmm...things are getting kind of confusing. Yes, "White Room" song credits go to Jack Bruce and Peter Brown. "Badge" song credits according to this source go to Eric Clapton and George Harrison

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: PoppaGator
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 12:52 PM

Fleetwood Mac was a (British) blues band with several different lead guitar players including, but not only, Peter Green.

They became more of a "pop" band (and became much more rich and famous) only after several different blues-band incarnations, when they added two Californians, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: alanabit
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 03:04 PM

That's true, but it's not the whole story. Peter Green formed the band with John McVie (the first dates actually featured Bob Brunning) and Mick Fleetwood. Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan followed them into the line up. Apart from giving them most of their distinctive guitar sound, Peter Green wrote most of the early hits. The one exception was Little Willie John's "Need Your Love So Bad". Within the space of about three years, all three guitarists started behaving very oddly and then left. (Drink, drugs and religion are the rumoured culprits).
For a time, the Californinan songwriter Bob Welch was in the band. There were also one or two fake line ups, put together by agents and managers who claimed they had the rights to the band name.
The modern Fleetwood Mac is, as Poppogator says, essentially a Californian pop group with the rhythm section of the original blues band.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Juan C.
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 03:55 PM

What the eff has Fleetwood Mac got to do with a Cream thread? If I want to know about Fleetwood Mac I'll consult an ageing popsters website (not!)!!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 06 Dec 04 - 10:50 PM

wooops. Yep I got White Room and Badge mixed up, Guest. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: eltham man
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 08:22 AM

Fleetwood Mac have a lot in common with Cream. Both Band's lead guitarists were previously in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. In fact Green replaced Clapton. Clapton had played with McVie on The legendary "Bluesbreakers" album. Both bands atarted out as blues outfits, but soon moved to a more psychedelic sound. Both bands were burnt out by the end of the 1960s. The later Fleetwood Mac had nought to do with the original incarnation apart from the name (bass & drums hardly make for a band's core identity!)

The original line up for Fleetwood Mac was:

Peter Green lead guitar vocals
Jeremy Spencer 2nd lead guitar, slide guitar, piano & vocals
Bob Browning bass
Mick Fleetwood Drums

The name was taken from an earlier session that Green had done with Fleetwood & McVie whilst still in The Bluesbreakers. As a 21st birthday present John Mayall gave Peter a free paid for studio session to record anything he wanted. The resulting, mainly instrumental tape had "Green/Fleetwood/Mac scrawelled on the side by a sound engineer. When Green formed his new band Mike Vernon of Blue Horizon christened them Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac after the original instrumental session.

Wouldn't it be great to get that original line up to appear alongside Cream at the RAH!

Yes I'm sure that this was originally a BLUES site - I mean the name Mudcat certainly rings with a bluesy sound to me.

I love all types of music, as I'm sure most catters do.

Ellie

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Den
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 08:51 AM

Anyone remember BBM when Gary Moore joined Bruce and Baker, I think for two albums. That was a rockin' line-up Gary has the bluesyness of Clapton but I think his rock stuff is better. I'd like to have seen more of this line-up. I must admit I realy liked the early Cream too. Sunshine of your love, Badge, White Room. I remember playing them all when I was about 15 in a three piece. D

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: chris nightbird childs
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 08:57 AM

The ORIGINAL Mac was as good if not better than Cream...

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: alanabit
Date: 07 Dec 04 - 12:04 PM

Hardly worth comparing Chris. Although I agree with your assessment of their quality, the comparison is pointless. Fleetwood Mac used two or three guitars over a minimalistic rhythm section to achieve their sound. No one can accuse Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce of being minimalists!
The bands had completely different musical ambitions and focus. I'd say that about all they had in common musically, was that they were British blues bands of the sixties. Can you imagine Cream doing "Albatross" or "Man of the World"?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: eltham man
Date: 08 Dec 04 - 05:48 AM

Sunshine Of Your Love was really the same riff as "good Morning Little Schoolgirl" same notes in the same order, just different numbers and timing.

Jack Bruce was geat at Canterbury 2002. Not too sure about Ginger & Eric though!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From:
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 02:52 AM

E.C. is God and I'm not even a guitar player.
It will indeed be interesting to see how this genuine "super group"
sound so very many years later. Methinks it will sound
fabulous, otherwise they wouldn't bother doing it.
Certainly Eric wouldn't at least.

Sam McNally (keyboard-player, Australia)

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: eltham man
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 03:52 AM

Pity they ain't doin' any gigs down under!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Elaurence
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 07:20 AM

For anyone ignorant of Cream's music - checkout the DVD of their farewell concert at the Albert Hall - its hard work visually but then all you need do is, close your eyes and wind the up volume!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Les from Hull
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 10:07 AM

Oh yes I remember that film - some of the worst direction and camera work ever employed in rock music. Who wants to see Clapton's fingers when you can see some bloke shaking his head?

I should mention Jack Bruce's wotk after Cream split up. Songs for a Tailor was a great album, very clever musically (I was mainly a bass guitarist at the time). None of your 4/4, 12 bar about it.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Gedpipes
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 10:40 AM

...always were tight ******** in Teesside

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: C-flat
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 01:23 PM

You think that's bad, Gedpipes?
I've another contract from the same club dating a year later, 1967, which has The Jimi Hendrix Experience booked to play through the Harold Davison Agency Ltd. for the princely sum of £50!!

Us Teessiders aren't tight, we just appreciate the value of our hard-earned cash!
Honest!


C-flat.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: ceadmileuk
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 08:19 PM

Or Peter Green doing Strange Brew for that matter.
Thanks for putting it so succinctly. Couldn't agree more. Chalk & Cheeeeeeze. I wonder why Clap never tried Love that Burns?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 17 Dec 04 - 11:40 PM

although I wouldn't half mind hearing EC do Green Manilishi

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: alanabit
Date: 18 Dec 04 - 05:22 AM

There was a version, or rather perversion of it by the silly British heavy rock band Judas Priest. I don't think I need to hear that one again...

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,An old british musician
Date: 27 Dec 04 - 07:47 PM

Christ some of you lot don't half talk a lot of crap. speculate all you will about older musicians not having what they used to but you obviously don't know much about experience.

Experience teaches you what not to do...

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: night-bird
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 01:50 AM

Can you picture Eric Clapton playing slide-guitar as good as Jeremy Spencer?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 31 Dec 04 - 10:06 PM

your'e all talking shite they're the best 3 peice band ever so lets see what they are still capable of . i for one are pleased they are giving it a go , and if they are shite ,so what just go back and listen to the albums. f***ing great,

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: woodsie
Date: 30 Jan 05 - 10:17 AM

Tickets go on sale Monday 31st Jan 9.00am. They will not say how much, but I've seen quotes on the internet of £170 (standing) to £350 (sitting). Do these three need the money? I think they are taking the piss. Why couldn't they have done a free concert in Hyde Park? then the mere mortals like myself could have got to see them. The Albert Hall hold 5,222 people - not really an adequate place - the acoustics are crap as well. I guess we'll have to wait unti the release of the DVD!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: woodsie
Date: 30 Jan 05 - 06:40 PM

Don't forget!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Dave K
Date: 30 Jan 05 - 06:52 PM

Must admit some months ago thought the idea of cream at the Albert Hall would be a good idea. Real shame it has been priced out.(Although I can guess who will be sitting in the front row seats).

Having been to Hyde Park in the free concert days - why did they not want to give something back to those who have supported them over the years and do the same. Real shame.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: just john
Date: 31 Jan 05 - 02:16 PM

I love Ginger Baker's instrumental album "Unseen Rain," from 1992. Just three guys playing, and it sounded superb.

A Cream reunion I'd look forward to more for Baker than for Clapton, and I'm sure they could do just fine as a 3-piece.

(But I thought Bruce and Baker loathed each other something fierce!?!)

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: woodsie
Date: 31 Jan 05 - 08:04 PM

It was a complete CON tickets were available for between £300 & £900 on the internet 5 days before they went on sale on the official site. When I went to the official site at 9.00am Monday 31st Jan they said that they were sold out! Fucking crooks!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,woodeneye
Date: 31 Jan 05 - 08:12 PM

I've just done a search on google -cream tickets- they are available for circa £500 from loads of agencies, but not the official one - it stinks!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: woodsie
Date: 31 Jan 05 - 08:16 PM

Surely these rip off "agencies" should be prosecuted as ticket touts?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Folk Form # 1
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 08:30 AM

Never liked Cream but anything that stops Clapton being bland has got to be good. Take some rotton fruit with you in case Clapton plays "Tears In Heaven" or "Wonderful Tonight," two of the great atrocities in modern music.

I would prefer a Derek & the Dominoes reunion who were one of my favourite all time bands-check out "Layla and other assorted love songs" and "In Concert" - Clapton actually living up to his reputation. Ofcourse, Jim Gordon would have to get a prison release and Duane Allman would have to be resurected.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Rain Dog
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 10:27 AM

A lot of these so called agencies are advertising tickets which they do not have. Someone agrees to pay their costs of £ 300 , £ 400 or £ 500 and they then go out to find the tickets

One of the drawbacks to the internet is that a number of people buy tickets for events like these and then put them up for sale on e-bay. They have no intention of going to the gig themselves.

I speak from experience.Tom Waits played the Hammersmith Apollo in London last November. Over 3000 capacity. Tickets sold out within 30 minutes and then appeared on e-bay within the hour.

My ticket bought from one of the official outlets, cost me £ 70 ( including agency handling ). I thought it was money well spent. I would have preferred it to have been cheaper. I would have preferred if he had not waited 17 years since his last appearance in the UK. But you don't always get what you want.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Quote from AOL
Date: 02 Feb 05 - 09:48 AM

Cream tickets are proving 'costly'


Tickets for the long-awaited reunion of Sixties group Cream are being offered for more than £1,000.

The event was sold out just two hours after tickets went on sale at 9am on Monday - 36 years after the band disintegrated.

Eric Clapton, drummer Ginger Baker and bass player Jack Bruce are playing at the Royal Albert Hall for four nights in May.

Clapton, 59, is said to have agreed to the reunion because of the failing health of the other two members.

Cream last played together in 1968, although they also made an appearance in 1993 for the group's induction into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame.

Tickets for the event at the Royal Albert Hall were priced at £50, £75 and £125.

Now websites are selling seats on the arena floor for £625 each, while tickets in the stalls are going for £525. One is even offering tickets for more than £1,300.

A pair of tickets which would normally fetch £250 have also appeared on the website eBay for £650.

Despite the 2005 get-together, the long-running battle between Baker and Bruce appears not to have cooled.

Baker, 65, reportedly said: "Cream split up in November 1968 because I couldn't stand being in his presence. At the reunion, we'll play music together but we don't have to talk to each other."

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Folk Form # 1
Date: 02 Feb 05 - 05:23 PM

Cream - over-rated or what? Zeppelin wipe the floor with them.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: mindblaster
Date: 16 Mar 05 - 05:39 AM

Did anybody actually get a ticket?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: JJ
Date: 29 Apr 05 - 09:20 AM

From the New York Times, 28 Apr 05:

As we were talking to [Ron] Delsner backstage, KEN DASHOW, the D.J. at Q104 , came into the room.

Mr. Delsner told him that he was going to London to see CREAM, which is having a reunion concert in May at the Royal Albert Hall.

"There's no shot they're coming to Madison Square Garden?" Mr. Dashow asked.

"I had them," Mr. Delsner said. "I had them, man. Then GINGER BAKER got cold feet because he had to get through an embassy in Toronto or Ottawa."

Two marijuana offenses in the early 70's had complicated Mr. Baker's attempts to enter the United States from South Africa, where he lives. "Nothing about heroin or overstaying his visas," Mr. Delsner said.

"I was negotiating. I even had posters made. They'll be a collector's item."

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: van lingle
Date: 04 Dec 05 - 08:38 AM

Just saw the Reunion concert on PBS and was surprisingly blown away. The thunder and lightning was still there. Bruce was singing and playing great, Ginger Baker was better and a tad more subtle,IMO,than in the early days and Clapton was really on. The rapport was still there as evidenced by the final jam after Sunshine of Your Love. I agree with the correspondent above about Clapton's tone on "Crossroads" I missed the old Gibson/Marshall sound but even with the modern strat it was was pretty damn good.
Did anyone from across the Atlantic make it to the show? vl

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 08:15 AM

I just caught a piece of the concert on PBS the other night, too. They came out as a trio, and I assume they played the rest of the show that way, so I stand corrected regarding my prediction that they would add musicians.

However, I turned it off after the first two songs (I'm So Glad and Spoonful). If it had been nameless musicians, I wouldn't have lasted even that long. Unless they got much better as the show went on, I continue to feel that this was about nostalgia (for the audience) and money (for the band). The music didn't do much for me.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Eric
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 08:57 AM

nostalgia? a bit like folk music then!

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 04:54 PM

I thought the recording of the ealry part of the show was atrocious. You couldn't hear Bruce's bass AT ALL. It got a little better later. There's no doubt they are still fine musicians and if you couldn't see that well, there's not much point in arguing the merits. That's what made the poor profile of the bass all the more tragic. Nice to hear Baker's magical and inimitable drumming patterns again.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Dead Horse
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 05:02 PM

Cream to reform!
Will that make them Curds or Whey?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Dead Horse
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 08:54 AM

Clotted?

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Steve-o
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 01:29 PM

Although they are all still great players, it seemed to me that the material just hadn't stood the test of time. With the exception of a few like "Crossroads", it was all basically boring. Good idea, great musicians, but no cigar.

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,Norval
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 12:32 PM

Cream re-formed but did they reform?

Below is an excerpt from a letter to the editor of our largest daily newspaper
the Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada) 2005-12-06. It was submitted by a concert attendee
of long ago who watched the Cream reunion concert on PBS.


"There are a few old dinosaurs like me who remember the storm of controversy Cream
caused when they played the old Edmonton Gardens in about 1968.
Baker drummed so hard that his hands started to bleed and, apparently, he used a
Canadian flag to wipe himself. This caused a major scandal, which I remember well.
I would like very much to read the original story from the Edmonton Journal archives."

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 01:09 AM

I hope they work up "Pressed Rat and Warthog"...
ttr

Subject: RE: Cream to reform
From: GUEST,claptonfan11
Date: 14 May 08 - 12:19 AM

Poppagator
I am preparing a history of Cream's 1968 USA tours and I saw your comments on the South Bend concert and the one the night before which I do not think has ever been documented.Do you have any other recollections or a ticket stub? Does your friend have any ticket stubs or memories.Thanks.