Cream is a British rock supergroup made up of three members: Eric Clapton as guitarist and vocalist, Ginger Baker as the drummer, and Jack Bruce as bass guitarist and vocalist. They are credited with forming the first supergroup (Fielder). Ginger Baker was the drummer for Graham Bond, but was getting tired of the group, so he decided to start Cream. Eric Clapton was originally the guitarist for the Yardbirds, then John Mayall and the BluesBreakers. Clapton, who was still a member of the BluesBreakers at the time, was invited by Ginger Baker to help form Cream. Clapton would only agree to join the band if Jack Bruce, who had also been part of the BluesBreakers for a short while, could join and play bass guitar. Although Jack Bruce and Ginger …show more content…
Baker didn’t get along, and their fighting got Jack Bruce kicked out Graham Bond, Ginger Baker agreed. A little over two years after forming, Cream broke up due to Bruce and Baker’s fighting (Franklin). After the break-up, each band member continued to have successful music careers and form other supergroups. Cream’s first album, “Fresh Cream” was a blues style album, but their second and third albums, “Disraeli Gears” and “Wheels of Fire” are blues mixed with a little psychedelia. Cream’s musical style was influenced by blues artists such as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and Albert King. The rhythm of the single “Strange Brew” was inspired by Albert King’s “Lawdy Mamma”. (“The Making Of Cream”) Although Cream’s style was mainly blues and psychedelia, they influenced many progressive rock artists, including Rush and the Allman Brothers Band. (Franklin). “Disraeli Gears” was released November 1967, and is the album that helped Cream break out in America. Although their first album “Fresh Cream” was on the British Top Ten list, before “Disraeli Gears” release Cream hadn’t been well known in the U.S. However, the album reached top five album on the charts, and “Sunshine of Your Love” was a hit single (Unterberger). The name “Disraeli Gears” actually comes from a joke. In the article, “Cream Disraeli Gears Review” by Chris Jones, he explains that “Mick Turner, one of Cream’s roadies, was discussing with drummer Ginger Baker how he fancied one of those bikes with ‘Disraeli Gears’. He meant, of course, derailleur gears, but the band found the mistake hilarious and so the name of one of the UK’s premier psychedelic albums was born”. The album’s overall style is a mix between blues and psychedelia, but most of the songs on the album seem to lean heavily on the use of electric guitar, which gives the songs a more blues than psychedelic sound. The album does not seem to have a particular concept; each song’s lyrics focus on something different, such as depression, love, drugs, and break-ups. The album cover has a psychedelic design; It is bright pink and yellow, and features a collage of seemingly unrelated images: clocks, peacocks standing in between pillars, cards, and a drawing of a woman. At the top is the band's faces surrounded by a floral design, and below the band’s name “Cream” has wings. On the back of the pamphlet there is another collage, with more flowers and pictures of the band surrounding a large blue eye. Unfortunately, the pamphlet does not have any linear notes or lyrics; It only lists the tracks included on the album, and their length. Overall, the design of the album contributes little to the impact of the music besides announcing its’ psychedelic style. Four songs on the album were released as singles: “Strange Brew”, “Tales Of Brave Ulysses”, “Sunshine of Your Love”, and “SWLABR”.
Each single gives a fair representation of what the rest of the album is like. While the album is definitely more blues than psychedelic, many of the songs have a few psychedelic touches, like the sitar-like sound in “Dance The Night Away”. The most psychedelic songs on the album are the singles “SWLABR” and “Tales Of Brave Ulysses”; The lyrics to “SWLABR” make little sense, and discuss a woman who is like a bearded rainbow, “You’ve got that rainbow feel but the rainbow has a beard”. “The Tale Of Ulysses” lyrics don’t make much sense either; they just describe a fantastical land with mermaids and Aphrodite. While the instruments used aren’t specifically psychedelic, the wah-wah guitar, fuzz box, electric guitar, and drums work well together to give each song a rocky psychedelic …show more content…
sound. While the songs on this album all sound like they fit together for the most part, three songs on the album have completely different musical styles. The song “Take it Back” has a country blues style. It starts out with a guitar riff that sounds similar to Muddy Waters’ opening guitar riff in the song “I Feel Like Going Home”, and the rest of the song continues to have a country blues feel with a beat that sounds like a happier, faster version of Muddy Waters “Manish Boy”. A harmonica is featured throughout with an acoustic guitar in the background. “Blue Condition” is another song on the album that sounds more like country blues than psychedelic blues. Like “Take It Back” it has a country beat, features a piano, and possibly a fiddle in the background. The lyrics discuss depression and self-reflection. The third song “Mother’s Lament” is completely different from the other songs included on the album.
It is actually a Musical Hall song whose original writer is unknown. According to the article “Music Hall, its Song, Singers, and Influences” by James Paterson, Music Halls arose when bars used entertainment to compete for customers. As Patterson explains it, “Music Hall was a form of entertainment in Britain...It arose initially in the mid-1800’s from competition between public bars, who provided food and entertainment to attract and retain customers...The entertainment provided consisted mainly of singers and comedians, but included a wide range of variety acts and popular entertainment”. Cream includes this song as the last track on “Disraeli Gears”; the recording sounds very unpolished and casual, and begins with one of the singers asking “Are we rolling?”, and ends with him asking “Do you want to do it again?”. The song sounds happy and light-hearted, and is supposed to be funny. Unlike the rest of the albums heavy use of drums and electric guitar, the only instrument heard is a piano in the background. Overall, it is a fun addition, but does not match the style and tone of the rest of the
album. Cream’s “Disraeli Gears” is a psychedelic blues style album. While many of the songs seem to be more blues than psychedelic, and some are completely different styles altogether, the album comes together to make a great representation of why Cream, the first supergroup, is also considered one of the best.
...Control, and Tone Soul Evolution (1997) by the Apples In Stereo. The British group Spiritualized, with Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997), explored the merger of Pink Floyd-style interstellar overdrives with free jazz and gospel music. Gospel music, you ask? Yes, indeed. A final dimension of psychedelia, from the Greek etymology, is "soul-manifesting"--implying a spiritual dimension that is rarely voiced (though it is worth remembering that Brian Wilson spoke of writing "teenage symphonies to God"). By transcending the ordinary, psychedelic musicians and their listeners attempt to connect with something deeper, more profound, and more beautiful. As Jerry Garcia, guru of the Grateful Dead, once said, "Rock 'n' roll provides what the church provided for in other generations." And no form of rock music attempts to nourish more souls than psychedelia.
On the surface a discussion of the "blues" may seem a bit high-minded. How seriously can one take works entitled "Aggravatin Papa," "Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl," "Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer, "when placed next to a work of such literary boldness as Cane; a work that William Braithwhite gushingly refers to as "a book of gold and bronze, of dusk and flame, of ecstasy and pain, and Jean Toomer is a bright morning star of a new day of the race in literature" (Baker 16). A closer examination of both forms reveal startling similarities in theme, structure and content and that most important attribute - spirit.
The song though, is not very memorable. “What If I’m Right” reminds me strongly of their old sound. This song plays heavily off of a repeating chorus which is very catchy. It has the most memorable chorus out of all of the tracks, and is also a personal favorite. “Take a Bow” is the eighth song, and is a filler track. The only thing that makes it interesting is the violin chords. There is not much more to say about it, except that it is extremely forgettable, and is my least favorite song. “Relax, Relapse” is all about anger and failure. The bridge has Matthews sounding like as if he is going to mentally collapse. His desperate screams in the bridge adds to the strong emotion evoked in the song. Unfortunately, it is my second least favorite song, as it is not very memorable either. “Second Guessing” is the tenth track and is the softer, redeeming song on the album. After listening to such dark themes, it gives the listener a much needed reminder of hope and purpose. The piano and lead guitar makes the song stand out because it gives it more of a rock sound. Last, the closing track, “R.I.P.,” is a strong song to conclude the album. The group chants in the song are actually apart of the song rather than background. It gives it a unique sound compared to the rest of the album. It makes the band sound more
In both “Sonny’s Blues” and “The Weary Blues”, music serves as a form of catharsis; in “SB” Sonny is able to escape his troubled life, and in “WB” the Negro man expresses his sadness about his difficult life. The portrayal of music differs in that it’s more of a joyful presence in “SB” but a grim and depressing one in “WB”.
The first song, “Love for Sale” had a constant tempo. It also had a slow, funky, and earthy sound to it, which would make it fall under the blues category. The guitarist seemed to be improvising during his solo. The drummer was mostly using the crash cymbal and the high hat. He was also acting as the timekeeper in this piece. The second song entitled “Once I Loved” was a standard tune from Brazil. It had a similar sound as “Love for Sale,” however one of the differences was that the bassist was using the pizzicato technique instead of the arco technique as he did in the first piece, except during his solo.
At first glance, "Sonny's Blues" seems ambiguous about the relationship between music and drugs. After all, the worlds of jazz and drug addiction are historically intertwined; it could be possible that Sonny's passion for jazz is merely an excuse for his lifestyle and addiction, as the narrator believes for a time. Or perhaps the world that Sonny has entered by becoming involved in jazz is the danger- if he had not encountered jazz he wouldn't have encountered drugs either. But the clues given by the portrayals of music and what it does for other figures in the story demonstrate music's beneficial nature; music and drugs are not interdependent for Sonny. By studying the moments of music interwoven throughout the story, it can be determined that the author portrays music as a good thing, the preserver and sustainer of hope and life, and Sonny's only way out of the "deep and funky hole" of his life in Harlem, with its attendant peril of drugs (414).
as the old black mans song which was “Wheel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb’ry time I
Naturally when a song explores themes like these it seems explore depressing and dark themes, this is seen through the tone throughout the song. The first example of tone in the song is in the lines “The Smell , The Taste it’s all just fake, the truth is what I lack’ (19-20), these lines show that the writer is feeling like the whole account of addiction and the situation that he is in feel almost fake because of how surreal it all feels. The second example of tone is that found right before one of sets that portray imagery, “But it’s all so fake” (34) these line prove as a warning for the listener of the lies of the passage that follows, again showing that the writer is omitting his addiction as some that is fake and cannot not be real. A third and final example of tone in the Classic Crime’s God and Drugs is in the line “of the things I need to face” (52) this line tells the listener that the writer has the sense that he needs to face his problems and cannot escape them on a daily basis; this shows that the song has a regretful, self-apologetic tone and describes that the writer of the song feels almost like that his addiction is something that he has to face and cannot turn around from his old ways. These examples prove that the song has a depressing tone of regret and
The band was started by Tony Kennings on drums, Rick Savage playing bass, and Pete Willis on guitar. All three guys had gone to school together at Tapton School in their home town of Sheffield. A couple of day after they started there band a man named Joe Elliot auditioned to be the bands guitarist by playing all fourteen minutes of the full version of Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Mind-bending psychedelic rock, rainbow prisms, and the druggie culture of the seventies may be the first thing that comes to mind when people hear Pink Floyd. But look inside and there’s something deeper. Diving into the vault of Pink Floyd songs one could see a very common theme. Not only is Pink Floyd songwriter Roger Waters a skilled music composer, but he is able to write astounding and notable stories through his songs. The story he created through writing the album: The Wall is nothing but impressive. The second to last song on the album, “The Trial” is the epitome of a well written closer. The conclusion contains the dark, high, and intense sound listeners are used to as well as a meaningful narrative. The plot is emotional
The waves crashed against the sandy beach of Crusty. Crusty was an island on the northside of ireland that rested quietly in the Celtic Sea. Crusty was quite known by the surrounding masses of land that held tribes of people. All of the different villages knew about crusty, from every angle you could see the big beautiful island and the lush forest that blanketed it. You could ask anyone about it and they’d all tell different stories of the island, each of the stories made their way down bloodlines from great, great grandparents to children and grandchildren. The stories all have their own twist on them that keep them from being exactly alike. But they all have one very important detail in common, crusty the island used to be host to one of
The band was officially formed in 1962, having six original members. Mick Jagger was lead vocals and also played the harmonica. Jagger’s signature look has always been his lips, but they were often criticized. Keith Richards played the guitar and also sang. Charlie Watts was on drums, and Brian Jones played the guitar, harmonica, sitar, and sang. Two less popular members were I...
Slime is a special play material made up of tangled polymer. It is mostly made by mixing polyvinyl with the chemical compound known as borate ions, you can describe it as a liquid and mix it in a sizable container for mixing. In a more difficult explanation, slime is more commonly known amongst scientists as a Non-Newtonian fluid. These are thick liquids that have a numerous selection of viscosity.
The laughter filled the room as I ran through the house running away from my uncle who was close behind me. I thought that I finally escaped from him but as soon as I turned around I was blasted with shaving cream that placed a thick, fluffy layer onto my clothes. I knew from then on there was going to be a revenge fight with the famous barbasol shaving cream. Later on that day, he decided to take a nap and did not worry about anything that happened earlier that day. I knew this was the perfect time to get revenge and cover him in shaving cream like he did to me. I tiptoed into my grandparents bathroom and carefully opened their linen closet. There was five aerosol cans of barbasol shaving cream that were all different types. I decided to choose the extra moisturizing shaving cream to use on my uncle. After I made my decision, I closed the closet door as quietly as I could and then tiptoed back out to the living room where my uncle was curled up on the couch. I sprayed the shaving cream into my uncle’s hands and it foamed over onto his stomach. I grabbed one of my grandma’s cat’s toys that had feathers on the end of it and began slowly tickling his nose
One of the greatest bands of all time was The Grateful Dead. The dead “developed the most high tech sound in rock ‘n’ roll.”(Scaruffi) Psychedelic rock quickly became the “soundtrack of the wider cultural exploration of the hippie movement.” (O’Brien) Psychedelic rock could easily be the definition for The Grateful Dead as well as the other way around. “Their greatest invention was the lengthy, free-form, group jams, the rock equivalent of jazz improvisation.” (Scaruffi). When The Dead started this trend of the ‘lengthy acid jam’ psychedelic rock shifted a little and was also defined as “acid rock” with most of the same influences and purposes. Acid rock was now the “rock equivalent of abstract painting, free-jazz, and beat poetry” which “relied on loose infrastructure.” The author of the book, A history of rock and dance music says that because drugs came into the scene the music lost the country and blues roots and now leads towards a more jazzy sound. Scaraffi paints a picture of the music by saying “Each Piece became an orgy of amoebic sound: drums that beat obsessive tempos to reproduce the pulsations of an LSD trips; electronics painted nightmarish and ecstatic soundscapes; gloomy keyboards moaned mysteriously like ghosts imprisoned in catacombs; guitars pierced and released their dreams into the sky; voices floated serenely