Customer Reviews

Disraeli Gears

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album brought Cream to the top in 1967. While their debut was a great album on its own, this sophomore effort is in my opinion the band's finest hour. On this record, the trio of Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton approaches variety of genres like Psychodelia, Classic Blues, Rock and many more with perfection. Many songs from this album are longtime Cream classics and stand as a principle of the band's repertoire.

Disraeli Gears saw the trio growing as the musicans. The songwiritng has improved a lot since Fresh Cream and the songs sound a lot more sophisticated and inspired. Unlike on the band's debut, most of the songs are originals written by band's members and there are only two covers to be found (Outside Woman Blues, Mother's Lament)

The album opens with Strange Brew, straight-up blues with a recognizable guitar lick. A good opener. Sunshine Of Your Love, arguably Cream's biggest hit, follows next. This classic opens with a fierce guitar riff and features a legendary guitar solo. Every band member shines on this number. But even if it's the major hit, it's far from being the only one great song on here. World Of Pain and Dance The Night Away deliver some colorful psychedelia, and Blue Condition is a nice relaxing blues track. The giant Tales Of Brave Ulysess follows next. This track features a superb guitar riff and some psychodelic poetry written by Martin Sharp. The use of wah-wah is a great addition. Definately an inspired and amazing track, one of my personal favourites. SWLABR (She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow), an intense rocker, never fails to please. Catchy lyrics and guitar riff will get stuck in your head once You hear it. Outside Woman Blues delivers some more classic blues playing. Take It Back follows similar stylings, and some harmonica is to be found here as well. The closing Mother's Lament is more a joke song, and though most reviewers seem to dislike it, I think it's a nice closer. Cream is not only about being seriously, and they show it on this track.

Disraeli Gears is not only Cream's finest record, it's also one of the major classics of the 60s. It is as influental as Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced", The Doors' debut album or The Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's lonely Hearts Club Band". If You call Yourself a classic rock fan, this is a must have. And If You want to get into Cream, this is the best place to start. Highly Recommended.

What else can you say? Cream's "Disraeli Gears" LP is a definite must-have classic. A perfect musical amalgam of the late 1960's. The "Original Master Recording Gold CD" version of this disc contains both the Mono and Stereo mixes of every track (this LP was mixed specially for Mono as well as Stereo, and some tracks run a little longer, different balance, etc). If you can afford the "Gold" version of this, it's worth it. Regardless, you should be more than satisfied with either version of this classic gem.

Trends may come and trends may go in R&R but Creams Disraeli Gears will always remain a masterpiece. As true to the blues as their first effort but with more of a psychedelic flavor, this album should be required listening for any student of guitar, bass, and drums. Not just because of the stellar playing of Clapton, Bruce, and Baker but also their psychedelic interpretation of the blues jazz idiom.

Gears kicks off with Strange Brew which is actually a borrowed riff from an old blues standard Lawdy Mama. You can argue that the riff was borrowed or maybe even stolen but what you cant say is that Clapton cant make this riff his own. Clapton is electrifying on this one as Bruce & Baker anchor the song with a heavy bluesy rhythm that is all their own. Sunshine of Your Love is played with a ballsy acid rock attitude throughout as Claptons solo smokes & scorches. World of Pain is a melancholy number with some nice Wah-pedal by Clapton who harmonizes quite well with Bruce here. The next song Dance the Night Away is sung with such haunting passion by Bruce that it still gives me chills to this day. The instrumental break on this one jumps into an Eastern-raga style that comes out of nowhere and can only be described as brilliant. Blue Condition, a slow blues, is sung drearily by Baker whose flat delivery actually punctuates the sadness of the song to good advantage and is a good choice to pre-empt Tales of Brave Ulysses the song that follows. This song is sung by Bruce with divine majesty just before the whole band tear it up on the acid rock instrumental workout towards the middle and the end of the song. The other songs that remain: Swlabr, We're Going Wrong, Outside Woman Blues and Take It Back are all good examples of searing Blues Rock and are as stunning as the rest of the material on this timeless masterpiece.

Clapton, Bruce & Baker along with their producer, Felix Pappalardi (who would then go on to produce and play bass with Mountain) didnt just make a masterpiece here. They set the standard for which all heavy music would be measured. Outside Jimi Hendrix, their vision of where to take the blues is unprecedented and many rock guitarists past & present said at this point in time Clapton really was God. If youve been sleeping under a rock somewhere and havent heard this legendary recording then you owe it to yourself to purchase this remaster and hear what they were talking about. Essential.

To have the vinyl version of DISRAELI GEARS in hands is the same thing as go back in time and have the original lauching with you. The CD version is already great but the vinyl has more life than the CD, you listen to all the details of the song, it's a different sensation. If you are a Cream fan and already know this album don't miss the chance to have it in vinyl because you can hear songs as SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE, TALES OF BRAVE ULYSSES and STRANGE BREW with a great feeling, just listening personally to feel it! There's no MP3 quality that can be close of it, don't lose your time and grab yours before they disappear for 30 years again!

Cream/ Disraeli Gears (1992 Gold, UDCD562): Disraeli Gears is another true classic Rock album. If you don't have this one, you need to get it. Highly Recommended. The Ultradisc Gold edition I have contains the original album in Stereo in tracks 1 to 11, and the Mono version of the album in tracks 12 to 22. There are several versions of the CD (or CDs) available and it would be worth your time to find the one that best fits your collection. I have no idea if the specific CD edition I have described is available here.

ONE OF CREAM'S BEST ALBUMS, EVERY TRACK IS GREAT, ESPECIALLY WITH THE AWESOME SHM AUDIO FORMAT. MUST HAVE FOR ANY CD COLLECTION, BUT DON'T PAY THESE RIDICULOUS OVER-INFLATED PRICES, I BOUGHT MINE FROM THE MUSIC SPECIALIST ON E BAY, THEY ALSO HAVE A STORE IN GEMM, ANTEATERMUSIC. SAVE YOURSELF A TON OF CASH.
CHEERS!

After listening to the orignal and then making a comparsion,the
music really stands out over the 120gram version.I recomend this pressing to anyone who enjoys to high standards in vinyl as well as Cream.Well Done!

I gave this album as a gift and the lucky recipient loved it. Great to see they are still making vinyl!

Although there is nothing much to fault with this stereo pressing, you can't help noticing how poor the stereo imaging is for this record; a victim of the early days of stereo mixing. Although there was a sticker on the cover proclaiming "Back to Black", I think it would have been much better and faithful reproduction if the mono version was offered.

The best of their four records, Cream's "Disraeli Gears" is either the most bluesy piece of psychedelia ever released or the most psychedelic blues record ever recorded. Clapton and the boys never stray too far from their prodigious blues stylings; their boldest departures, the vaguely Britpopish "World of Pain" and the cluttered "Dance the Night Away," are successful because they maintain that grungy sound eminating from the stony drums and Zeus-ian guitar. It finishes on a decidedly strange note (the traditional "Mother's Lament" via "Monty Python"), but the album as a whole--led by the accelerated-blues ride "Sunshine of Your Love"--is gold.