Customer Reviews

Cream: Eric Clapton, Jack Gruce and Ginger Baker -- The Legendary 60's Supergroup (Book)

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Rock journalist Chris Welch, who helped spread the gospel according to Cream in the pages of that wonderful British rock journal Melody Maker, gives us a wonderful overview of one of the most influential bands of the sixties. Each member is profiled in a personal interview section (including Pete Brown, the poet and semi-official "fourth member" of Cream who cowrote many of the bands hits with bassist Jack Bruce.) These reminiscences are candid and straightforward (Ginger Baker's especially so) and show both dizzying highs (the Fillmore West and Winterland concerts) and profound lows (Eric Clapton's angst over the famous Rolling Stone article which proclaimed him "master of the blues cliches.")The book also shows how even a great record company like Atlantic can fail to capitalize on the band's unique genius. (According to Jack Bruce, they were more interested in the Bee Gees.)It's a great read, with one or two minor quibbles. Even though there is some detail about the band member's post-Cream activities, more would be welcome, especially concerning Ginger Baker's alleged financial difficulties. Also, in the otherwise excellent diary section (a great idea, by the way), concert dates and recording sessions are chronicled thoroughly, yet there is no mention of the supporting act at the famous August 2, 1966 gig at Klook's Kleek. This was truly an historic occasion, as that supporting act was none other than Savoy Brown, and the concert not only helped break both bands, but also got Savoy Brown their first recording contract and began a musical legacy that is still going strong today. Other than these minor flaws, the book is very well written and deserves a place on your shelf, next to your Eric Claption biographies.

A very good overview of the band - more like a Cream scrapbook than anything else, with lots of pictures of the band, their singles, albums, and all things Cream. My only gripe with the book is that it offers no new interviews with Clapton - all of his quotes are taken from long-ago interviews or existing videos ("Cream: Strange Brew" etc.) and a modern-day interview that had Clapton looking back on the band in retrospect would have given the book more clout. Ginger Baker and particularly Jack Bruce do contribute new interviews and info, though, and the discography and session date charts at the back of the book will be a boon to any fan. If you want to know about what happened within Cream in its heyday, this is the book for you.

The new book on the Cream entitled "Cream: The Legendary Sixties Supergroup" is an essential read for all fans of the late, great power trio. Penned by former Melody Maker Chief reporter (and Cream confidant) Chris Welch, this book provides a detailed and accurate account of the supergroups short lived career. Other writers contribute profiles of each member and apparently had the cooperation of each member of the group. The book is also lavishly illustrated with tons of great photos, memorabilia, record sleeves, etc. and is attractively laid out. Another vital feature of the book is the gig list annotated with contemporaneous reviews. Highly Recommended.

Chris Welch, a first-rate journalist and a musician himself, with the help of Tony Bacon, has produced one of the most well-informed and beautifully produced rock books that I have ever read. Those who remember Chris' writing from the old Melody Maker days will immediately recognise his lucid and impartial style.
The meteoric rise of Cream in the late sixties started a lot of balls rolling, unless you're one of those who reckon that the Jeff Beck Group got there first. As Chris points out, what is remarkable about the band is that they managed to stay together even for the short time that they did. Bruce and Baker were never the best of friends and they seemed to come from disparate backgrounds. Clapton was in his "Clapton is God" phase, besotted by Robert Johnson, Otis Rush and other great blues players, and in truth, Bruce and Baker were not so well known, despite their Graham Bond/Manfred Mann pedigrees - more from the world of jazz. But somehow they managed to create a sound that is unique. Welch manages to recapture those heady days when, from day one, Cream conquered the world, and includes a mass of quite wonderful memorabilia and photos lovingly reproduced. The narrative sparkles and Tony Bacon has sorted out a complete gig list, including one "lost" gig at London University. This is a marvellous read and anybody who saw the band will remember the frightening power and sheer ability of these three remarkable musicians. It sent me straight back to the Live "Crossroads" from the Filmore and yes, gang, they were that good. Never bettered, in fact, and even Zep did not have a musical combination like this. Chris gets behind the mass of influences and for the first time, manages to rationalise how a band of this sheer power could record Toad one minute and Wrapping Paper the next. This a fantastic book, lovely production values, about a band that showed everybody else the way - and the door.

I was very pleased to contribute to this book - you will find my recollection of my encounter with Ginger opposite the "Salisbury City Hall" gig in the gig list, plus photos of the "Sundays at the Saville" programme and the newspaper cutting of the "lost" gig at University College, London. But I had no hand at all in the editorial, which is just excellent.

Tom Thatcher, Salisbury.

Postscript: Two years ago year Cream reformed at the Albert Hall after 37 years. I was there. Chris is right. They were and are unique. Buy this book even if your first love is grouting.

My wife met Eric C at a shoot on the downs (hills) behind our house in Wiltshire. Eric signed Cream programmes 37 years apart and also a mug for my daughter - "To Izzie, Love Eric". What a gent. What a musician.

Lots of good, in depth information of the days leading up to the bands creation, Jack Ginger and Eric's musical influences and important happenings. Thumbs up

i found this book to be very good. however it didn't go as i depth on the equipment as i would have liked. i would have also liked hearing about recording tricks that they used, or things to that extent. nonetheless, it was a very good book which i read in just about three evenings. it's a very informative book and exciting too!

Finally, the book this great band deserves. I once saw an instant book on Cream, around the time of their early 90s reunion. This book is much superior to that one, and seems to be the only extant history of the band.

There are well-written and -illustrated "before they were Cream" chapters on each musician. The chapter on Clapton tells the familiar tale of his career from the Yardbirds to John Mayall to Cream. A most welcome part of this book are the portions devoted to songwriter Pete Brown, who teamed with Jack Bruce for some of Cream's best-known classics. Over the years in various interviews Eric Clapton has fostered the idea that he was the whole show, so this material is an appreciated corrective. Much of the material on Bruce's and Ginger Baker's days with the Graham Bond Organisation come from Brown.

The Cream material itself is a fan's dream come true. Jack Bruce and Pete Brown provide most of the reminisces. (Don't overlook the sidebar quotes in the concert log section at the end.) The illustrations are plentiful, including album covers, concert photos, publicity stills, magazine covers, etc. The only mild disappointment is that there are no pictures of Felix Pappalardi included. I'd love to see a picture of him in the studio, playing the piano on "Badge." More oddly, there are no pictures of their 1993 reunion. That's just as well, though. I am continuously grateful to Baker, Bruce, and Clapton for not cheapening Cream's achievement with endless reunions and farewells, as some well-known bands from their era have done. It'd be embarrassing to see Cream spending their golden years on the county fair concert circuit. Their career was cruelly short, but no one can say that they didn't leave a beautiful corpse. And now they finally have a worthy history of their achievements. Those were the days, indeed.

This book addresses exactly what I hoped for....... Specifically, what were the detailed backgrounds of each member of Cream and how did that influence their collective musical direction? Further, what internal and extraneous influences caused their rise to fame and break-up over such a short period of time? Influences of Pete Brown, Robert Stigwood, Felix Pappalardi and others are also part of the book's focus. Kudos to the author for not idolizing, nor ripping apart the main cast of characters. The writing style is more factual (but not dry) than anything else. In other words, there are no "good guys" or "bad guys" in this book, everyone is treated fairly. A good read for Cream fans and actually a pretty good book, even if you are not a Cream fan!

This is THE book on Cream. Any Cream, Clapton, Bruce or Baker fan gotta have this. New interviews with Bruce and Baker shed lights on the Cream era. Detailed tour dates and wonderful pictures of covers and labels (I love them!!)

Any Clapton fan should have a copy as reference.

If there was ever a book to get on the 1960's group CREAM, this is it! Very interesting; you won't put it down! Interesting backgrounds on all 3 of these legends. Must reading, no ifs, ands or buts! Buy it!