Cream is a legendary rock band from Britain. The band's name is often associated with the pioneers of rock music. The musicians were not afraid of bold experiments with the weighting of the music and the compaction of the blues-rock sound.
Cream is a band that is unimaginable without guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker.
Cream is a band that was one of the first to play the so-called "early metal". Interestingly, the group lasted only two years, despite this, the musicians managed to influence the formation of heavy music in the 1960s and 1970s.
Musical compositions Sunshine of Your Love, White Room and a cover of Robert Johnson's blues Crossroads were included in the list of the best songs, according to the prestigious Rolling Stone magazine, taking 65th, 367th and 409th places.
The history of the creation of the team Cream
The history of the legendary rock band began in 1968. It was on one of the evenings that the talented drummer Ginger Baker took part in John Mayall's concert in Oxford.
After the performance, Baker invited Eric Clapton to form his own band. Clapton accepted the musician's offer, despite the fact that at that time leaving the group was considered not a very decent act.
However, the guitarist had been thinking about running away for a long time, because he wanted freedom, and in the John Mayall group, little, or rather nothing, was known about "creative flights".
The role of the main vocalist and bass player in the new band was entrusted to Jack Bruce.
At the time of the creation of the group, each of the musicians had their own experience of working in groups and on stage. For example, Eric Clapton began his career as a musician with The Yardbirds.
True, Eric never gained great popularity in this team. The team took the top of the musical Olympus much later.
Jack Bruce was once part of the Graham Bond Organization and briefly tested his strength with the Bluesbreakers. Baker, who has worked with almost all English jazzmen.
Back in 1962, he became part of the popular rhythm and blues group Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated.
The Blues Incorporated group "blazed a path" for almost all members of The Rolling Stones, for the Graham Bond Organization, where he, in fact, met Bruce.
Bruce and Baker conflict
Interestingly, there has always been a very tense relationship between Bruce and Baker. At one of the rehearsals, Bruce asked Baker to play a little quieter.
Baker reacted negatively by throwing drumsticks at the musician. The conflict escalated into a fight, and later into outright hatred for each other.
Baker tried in every possible way to force Bruce to leave the band - when Graham Bond (the leader of the group) temporarily disappeared (drug problems), Baker hastened to inform Bruce that he was no longer needed as a musician.
He refused to leave the band and accused Baker of having "hooked" Graham on hard drugs. Soon Bruce left the group, but soon Baker had nothing to do here either.
Clapton did not know about the conflict between the musicians when he proposed Bruce's candidacy to the team. After he learned about the scandal and the relationship between the musicians, he did not change his mind, putting forward this requirement as the only condition for his stay in the Cream group.
Baker agreed to all the conditions, and even did the impossible - he decided to make peace with Bruce. However, this pretense did not lead to anything good.
The reason for the breakup of the group
It was this conflict that became one of the reasons for the collapse of the legendary team. The reason for the further collapse of the team was also the fact that all three musicians had complex characters.
They did not hear each other and wanted to break out of the boundaries of rhythm and blues by creating their own unique project that would give them considerable musical freedom.
By the way, Cream's performances had a powerful charge of energy. In one of his interviews, Clapton said that during the performances between Bruce and Baker, literally "sparks flew."
The musicians competed to see who was the best. They wanted to prove their superiority over each other.
The highlight of the British band was Eric Clapton's guitar solos (music experts said that Clapton's guitar "sings with a female voice").
But one cannot ignore the fact that the sound of Cream was formed by Jack Bruce, who had powerful vocal abilities. It was Jack Bruce who wrote most of the work for the team.
Debut of Cream
The British team performed for the general public in 1966. This significant event took place at the Windsor Jazz Festival. The performance of the new team caused a real sensation among the public.
In the same 1966, the musicians presented their first single, which was called Wrapping Paper / Cat's Squirrel. The title track peaked at number 34 on the English chart. A huge surprise for fans was that the song was classified as popular music.
At their debut performance, the musicians played in the style of rhythm and blues, so the audience expected something similar from the singles. These songs can not be attributed to hard rhythm and blues. This is most likely slow and lyrical jazz.
Soon the musicians presented the single I Feel Free / NSU, and a little later they expanded the band's discography with the debut album Fresh Cream.
The debut collection hit the top ten. The songs that were collected in the album sounded like concert ones. The compositions were energetic, promising and dynamic.
Significant attention should be focused on the songs NSU, I Feel Free and the innovative track Toad. These compositions can not be attributed to a number of blues. But in this case, it's good.
This suggests that the musicians are ready to experiment and improve the sound. This fact was confirmed by the next compilation Disraeli Gears.
Cream's influence on the development of rock
It cannot be denied that the band's first album served as a good start for the development of rock music. It was Cream who popularized the blues as a musical style.
The musicians did the impossible. They erased the stereotype that the blues is music for intellectuals. Thus, the blues appealed to the masses.
In addition, the soloists of the band managed to mix rock and blues in their tracks. The way the musicians play has become an example to follow.
Second album release
In 1967, Cream's second album was released in the United States of America at the Atlantic recording studio.
In the songs included in the collection, the sound of psychedelia is clearly audible, which is skillfully "seasoned" with vocal harmonies and melody.
The following tracks became the hallmarks of the collection: Strange Brew, Dance the Night Away, Tales of Brave Ulysses and SWLABR Around the same period of time, the single Sunshine of Your Love was released. It is noteworthy that his riff entered the golden classics of hard rock.
By the time the second compilation was released, Cream had already firmly established the status of a legend. One of the musicians recalls how at a concert that took place on the territory of San Francisco, a lively audience demanded to play something for an encore.
The musicians were confused. But then for about 20 minutes they delighted the fans with improvisations.
This creative idea was appreciated by the audience, and the band got a new zest, which later became one of the components of the hard rock style. And finally, the fact that the guys are No. 1 was confirmed by the fact that they took part in the filming of the film Savage Seven.
The popularity of the second album of the group Krim
The second album in 1968 topped the music charts in the United States of America. The band's latest hit was the track White Room. For a long time, the composition did not want to leave the 1st position of the US charts.
Cream's concerts were held on a significant scale. There was nowhere for an apple to fall in the stadiums. Despite recognition and popularity, passions began to heat up in the team.
There were more and more conflicts between Bruce and Clapton. The situation was further complicated by the constant quarrels between Baker and Bruce.
Most likely, Clapton is tired of the constant conflicts between colleagues. He did not think about the development of the team, from now on he was engaged in the affairs of his longtime friend George Harrison.
The fact that things were heading for disintegration became clear when the colleagues, during the performances, specially dispersed to different hotels, not wanting to live under the same roof.
In 1968, it became known that the team was disintegrating. The fans were shocked. They had no idea what passions were raging within the group.
Dissolution of Cream
Before announcing the dissolution of the band, the musicians had a farewell tour of the United States of America.
A year later, the band released a "posthumous" album Goodbye, which included live and studio tracks. The Badge song remains relevant to this day.
Clapton and Baker did not immediately break up. The guys even managed to create a new team Blind Faith, after which Eric founded the Derek and the Dominos project.
These projects did not repeat the popularity of Cream. Clapton soon pursued a solo career. Jack Bruce also continued to engage in creativity.
He was a member of many foreign bands, and even managed to write a hit for the band Mountain Theme From An Imaginary Western.
A huge surprise was the news that the musicians will get together again to play a concert in the prestigious Albert Hall.
In 2005, the musicians kept their promise - they played almost all the top songs of the legendary band Cream.
The band's concert was held to thunderous applause from music lovers and music critics. The musicians released a double live album based on the material of the performance.
In an April 2010 interview with BBC 6 Music, Jack Bruce revealed that Cream would never reunite.
Four years later, the musician died. Clapton was the last living member of the legendary rock band.
