CREAM - SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Cream were formed in London in 1966 and consisted of Eric Clapton (guitar), Jack Bruce (bass) and Ginger Baker (drums). Recognised as the first rock supergroup they earned a reputation based on the instrumental proficiency of the three members.

Clapton had gained a reputation as the premier blues guitarist in the UK through his time with The Yardbirds and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Finding the Bluesbreakers confining his style he was keen to start a new band and expand his playing. In 1966 he met Ginger Baker, drummer in the Graham Bond Organisation, who was growing tired due to Bond's drug addictions and mental instability. Impressed with each others musical abilities it resulted in Baker asking Clapton to join his new band, which at that point had no name. Clapton agreed on the condition that they hire Jack Bruce as the bands bass player. After considering the name Sweet 'n' Sour Rock 'n' Roll they settled on the name Cream.

Their music spanned many genres including blues, psychodelia, hard rock and among their classic recordings were Strange Brew, White Room, Crossroads, Sunshine Of Your Love, Tales Of Brave Ulysses and Born Under A Bad Sign.

They only had a three -year career and during that time released four albums, Fresh Cream (1966), Disraeli Gears (1967), Wheels Of Fire (1968) and Goodbye (1969).

Released in 1966 Fresh Cream was a mix of blues covers (Four Until Late, Spoonful, I'm So Glad) and self-penned originals (I Feel Free, Toad, Dreaming, N.S.U.) and reached #6 in the UK and #9 in the USA.

Their second album, Disraeli Gears, was recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York over a few days in May 1967 and was released in November 1967. A top five album in both the UK and USA it reached #1 in Australia, Finland and Sweden. Considered by critics as their defining effort it combined American blues with British psychedelic rock and included mainly band compositions including Strange Brew, Take It Back, Blue Condition, Tales Of Brave Ulysses and the song that would become the groups unofficial anthem and best known song, Sunshine Of Your Love.

Originally scheduled for release in the summer of 1967 it was delayed when the record company decided to scrap the original cover artwork and replace it with a psychedelic design created by artist Martin Sharp.

Recorded during a series of sessions in 1967 and 1968 the bands third album, Wheels Of Fire, released in June (USA) and August (UK), was a double-album with a mix of studio and live recordings. The studio recordings found the band moving from blues towards a progressive rock style and included White Room, Passing The Time, Politician and Those Were The Days. However, blues was not forgotten and the album included Albert King's Born Under A Bad Sign and Howlin' Wolf's Sitting On Top Of The World.

During the bands 1968 US Tour a number of shows were recorded at The Fillmore and Winterland, both in San Francisco. The album featured just four tracks, Crossroads, Spoonful, Traintime and Toad.

Due to the band growing tired of the hectic touring schedule and tensions between Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker the decision was made in May 1968 to break-up, although they were persuaded to record one final album.

Released in February 1969, several months after the band split, Goodbye comprised three live recordings from an October 1968 show at The Forum in Los Angeles (I'm So Glad, Politician and Sitting On Top Of The World) along with three studio recordings (Badge, Doing That Scrapyard Thing and What A Bringdown). The original plan was to release another two-record set like Wheels On Fire but lack of decent material meant the idea was scrapped in favour of a single album. Despite being panned by the critics at the time the album reached #1 in the UK and #2 in the US.

Cream also undertook a farewell tour which would see them play 22 shows at 19 different venues across the USA between 4 October and 4 November 1968. The tour closed with two sold-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 25th and 26th November 1968. The shows were filmed, shown in theatres and eventually released on video as Farewell Concert.

Two live compilations were released after the band split up. Live Cream, released in 1970, included four live recordings, N. S. U., Sleepy Time Time, Sweet Wine and Rollin' And Tumblin', all taken from shows at The Fillmore and Winterland in March 1968. Although a live album it did include one studio recording, Lawdy Miss Clawdy (listed as Lawdy Mama) recorded at Atlantic Studios in May 1967 during sessions for  Disraeli Gears. The album peaked at #4 on the UK album charts.

Released in 1972, Live Cream Volume II featured six live recordings, including Deserted Cities Of The Heart, White Room and Sunshine Of Your Love, from March and October 1968 at Winterland and the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Whilst not repeating the success of the previous album it still managed to reach #15 in the UK.

Cream were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 and reformed to play at the induction ceremony, performing Sunshine Of Your Love, Crossroads and Born Under A Bad Sign. It was the first time they had played together in twenty-five years and it sparked rumours of a reunion tour, which, due to their own solo projects, would not happen any time soon.

However, at the request of Clapton, they did reunite for four shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London in May 2005, the same venue at which they performed their farewell concerts in 1968.

The aforementioned live recordings at The Fillmore and Winterland are covered in a new book, Cream: Clapton, Bruce, Baker - Sitting On Top Of The World, written by Edoardo Genzolini and published by Schiffer Publishing.

Besides the detailed text on the recordings made, the book also gives a brief history of Cream, Bill Graham, The Fillmore and Winterland and even Clapton's decorated 1964 Gibson SG Standard guitar.

The bulk of the book takes a detailed look at the shows filmed and recorded in February and March at The Fillmore and Winterland and those tracks that made it to album.

Detailed information about what was recorded, where, when and where released was far from complete, accurate or available. A devastating fire at the Atlantic Records archive back in 1978 destroyed much of the archive material along with many session tapes.

Thanks to the hard work of author Genzolini, and the discovery of recent archival information, we can now understand more about these recordings with full details of what happened on and off The Fillmore and Winterland stages. 

Details of the sets performed at both venues, which songs were recorded by Atlantic Records and filmed by British documentary maker Tony Palmer for his film All My Loving sit alongside precise information as to where certain songs appeared on Wheels Of Fire, Live Cream, Live Cream Volume II and which songs remain unreleased.

Accompanying the text are more than one hundred and twenty amazing photos, in both colour and black and white, which cover the shows at The Filmore and Winterland. While many are on the dark side and suffer from being slightly out of focus, obviously due to the conditions under which they were taken, they capture those few weeks when Cream were sitting on top of the world. There are also a few images from Palmer's film, along with tape boxes and other related material which I found very interesting.

I read this book in just one day, found it a fascinating read and can't praise Genzolini enough. I have no hesitation in recommending this book, not only to fans of Cream but anyone interested in 1960s music and the San Francisco music scene of the sixties.

With thanks to Victoria Hansen at Schiffer Publishing Ltd for providing a review copy of the book.