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Cream

Cream

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"Nobody can replace Cream" — Ginger Baker

Interview by Steve Turner, Beat Instrumental, April 1972

It seems that it’s not only the record-buying public that consider Ginger Baker to be the world’s top drummer. "I haven’t ever heard anybody who’d ...

Ginger Baker

Retrospective by Chris Welch, The History of Rock, 1982

PETER 'GINGER' BAKER had an enormous and profound effect on the course of rock drumming when his playing and personality first began to make an ...

Audio interviews

Cream's Jack Bruce (2001)

Interview by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages audio, September 2001

From Manchester's Twisted Wheel to the Royal Albert Hall: Jack Bruce talks to Johnny Black about the beginning and ending of the first supergroup, Cream

File format: mp3 File size: 23.9mb Interview length: 26 minutes 8 seconds Sound quality: ****

Pete Brown on Cream (2001)

Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages audio, Spring 2001

The redoubtable Battered Ornament talks about his long writing partnership with Cream's Jack Bruce, getting into blues and poetry, and the Brit Blues boom.

File format: mp3; file size: 27mb, interview length: 29' 28" sound quality: * (phoner)

List of articles in the library

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Cream: Sweet 'N Sour Rock 'N Roll

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 30 July 1966

A THUNDER of blues in a church hall complete with Brownies and caretakers was the bizarre setting for the first tentative creations of the Cream ...

Cream: "I'm not a great guitarist," insists Eric Clapton

Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, August 1966

I CAME face-to-face with the guy who is acknowledged to be the god of British blues guitar in his own small heaven — the top ...

The Who, Cream et al: National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor

Live Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 5 August 1966

Who 'wreck' festival ...

Sixth National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor: Jazz on a Summer's Weekend

Live Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 6 August 1966

A washout, but still swinging ...

Eric Clapton: 'I'd Say George Harrison Was Good But I Feel It's Paul Telling Him What To Do'

Interview by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 13 August 1966

ERIC CLAPTON was walking down the Charing Cross Road, carrying a copy of Revolver and heading for a restaurant used as a hangout for musicians ...

Stirring — The Cream

Interview by Dawn James, Rave, October 1966

A guitarist, a drummer and a singer — three musicians we know well, but who never made it alone. Now they're The Cream. Dawn James ...

Cream: Clapton Revs Into A New Gear

Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 15 October 1966

NICK JONES talks to the loner who came in from the cold. ...

Cream Are The Very End!

Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 October 1966

"THE First is last and the last is first but the first, the second and the last are the Cream," so reads the perplexing handout ...

Jack Bruce explains Cream policy

Interview by Kevin Swift, Beat Instrumental, November 1966

IF THE three members of the Cream are the leaders in the field of group instrumentalists, then Jack Bruce their quiet-spoken bassman is the leader ...

Bruce Finds Himself via the Cream

Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 5 November 1966

WELL THEY finally made it. The much publicised, talked-about, raved about, and listened to group — the Cream — are in the chart. ...

If You're Puzzled Why The Cream Did 'Wrapping Paper' Read This >

Interview by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 5 November 1966

"WE DID IT because we didn't want people to put us into a category straight away. We play soft numbers on stage, maybe we'll change ...

Paul Butterfield Blues Band: Blaises, London; Cream: Marquee, London

Live Review by Hugh Nolan, Disc and Music Echo, 19 November 1966

CAN YOU TELL CREAM FROM BUTTERFIELD? ...

Cream: Klooks Kleek, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 26 November 1966

ANY DOUBTS ABOUT the Cream's ability to perform as a group and not just three star soloists were dispelled by their sensational set at London's ...

New singles from the Who, Cream, Tim Hardin, the Walker Brothers et al

Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 10 December 1966

WHO AND THE HAPPY WORLD OF PETE TOWNSHEND 'Happy Jack' (Reaction) — Happy Who, happy us, happy world of Pete Townshend! ...

Cream, Tim Hardin et al Album Reviews

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 24 December 1966

Cream working to produce a great album ...

Cream: Fresh Cream (Reaction)

Review by uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 24 December 1966

CREAM HAVE everything in their favour. A fever of interest from everyone to see what they can do and how they'll achieve it, three of ...

Cream: Fresh Cream

Profile and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 7 January 1967

CHRIS WELCH ANALYSES THE WORK OF BAKER, BRUCE AND CLAPTON ...

Cream: Pop Think-In with Ginger Baker

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 7 January 1967

MODERN ART: I still paint occasionally, and I've got a big sculpture I've been working on for 18 months. It's got a steel frame with ...

Cream Cut Loose

Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 February 1967

THIS IS THE Cream interview which got loose in London – ran wild over their publicists' office – finally plunging from the depths of Mao ...

Cream, Edwin Starr: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 11 February 1967

GINGER BAKER played one of the finest solos in his career at London's Saville Theatre on Sunday night. ...

Cream, Edwin Starr: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 11 February 1967

AFTER LAST week's unfortunate non-happening at the Saville, almost everything that happened this Sunday seemed to be in contrast. ...

This Is Where It's At

Column by Mike Grant, Rave, March 1967

RAVE man Mike Grant is here again with more gossip on your favourite stars! ...

Loraine Alterman On Records: England's Exciting New Flavor: Fresh Cream

Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 23 April 1967

TO REACH Mecca in pop music means finding your own sound. Very few make it. Most groups fall down somewhere along the way. ...

The Beach Boys, Small Faces, Dusty Springfield et al: NME Poll Winners Concert, Empire Pool, Wembley, London

Live Review by Keith Altham, Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 May 1967

POLL SHOW THRILLS ALL THE WAY ...

Cream, Jeff Beck Group, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 8 July 1967

IT'S THE CREAM ALL THE WAY AT THE SAVILLE ...

Cream, Jeff Beck: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 July 1967

Cream — just beautiful! ...

Cream Crackers

Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 15 July 1967

THE CREAM are all things bright and beautiful. They have suddenly arisen from the depths of a mediocre music scene, like a splendid awakening Kraken. ...

Various Artists: Seventh National Jazz And Blues Festival, Windsor

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 19 August 1967

I've got those Seventh National Jazz And Blues Festival blues ...

Cream: Speakeasy Club, London

Live Review by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 26 August 1967

LONDON'S SPEAKEASY CLUB has been, as the fashionable columns would say, "in" for some time now. ...

Cream/Donovan: The Cream Set Records in Detroit

Report and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, October 1967

LAST WEEKEND about 4,500 kids proved that Detroit knows good contemporary music. ...

Cream: They Play Blues, Not Superstar

Report and Interview by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 5 October 1967

IT'S SATURDAY night at the Village Theatre, New York's sad-eyed answer to the Fillmore-Avalon scene. Under the marquee, Slavs gape and Ratner's rejects mourn the ...

Cream: Grande Ballroom; Donovan, Janis Ian: Masonic Auditorium, Detroit

Live Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 17 October 1967

Reviews of Detroit's Big Pop Weekend ...

Extra! The English Scene

Report by Miranda Ward, Hit Parader, November 1967

...from Our Gal In London... Miranda Ward ...

Cream, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band: Saville Theatre, London

Live Review by Nick Jones, Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 November 1967

IT WAS A night of great music and brilliant comedy, approaching genius in both departments, when the Cream and Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band starred ...

Taking the Saville By Storm: Cream

Review by Nick Logan, New Musical Express, 4 November 1967

THE soaring, singing guitar, the elegant artistry of Eric Clapton... a tortured Jack Bruce jerking out the blues like a puppet stitched by machine ...

Cream: Disraeli Gears (Reaction)

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 11 November 1967

THE CREATION OF PURE ENERGY FROM THE CREAM ...

The Cream: Disraeli Gears (Reaction S93003)

Review by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, December 1967

BRITAIN'S PRIDE and joy, the Cream, return to these shores, and give us this fine "glad to be home" present, Disraeli Gears. Progressive is a ...

Cream: In The Kingdom of Freakdom

Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 30 December 1967

THEY ARE THE Cream. Baker, Bruce and Clapton and there's not many desperados who would hitch up their breeches and roll down the dusty main ...

Cream: An Interview with Eric Clapton

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, March 1968

WE KNOW very little about Eric Clapton, the human being. We do know that he has a good heart, he loves being alive he's very ...

Felix Pappalardi: Solving Modern Recording Problems

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, March 1968

FELIX PAPPALARDI is a producer, but mainly a musician in the same sense that Steve Cropper is a producer-musician (see Steve Cropper HP Sept.). Before ...

Cream, Big Black: Winterland, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 1 March 1968

Cream Whips Up a Storm ...

Cream: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 2 March 1968

THE CREAM met great success here. when they played before 300 people a night at the Whisky-a-Go-Go last year. This trip they got equal acclaim ...

Cream, The Electric Prunes, Steppenwolf: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Tony Leigh, KRLA Beat, 23 March 1968

SANTA MONICA — The audience was a show in themselves. Long satin dresses, ringlet curls, rahja jackets and brightly colored blouses dominated the scene. For ...

Platter Chatter: Albums from The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Cream and Kaleidoscope

Review by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, April 1968

BEACON FROM MARS/THE KALEIDOSCOPE — Here is the most versatile band we have ever heard. You want ragtime? Listen to 'Baldheaded End OfA Broom' which ...

Eric Clapton: Back To The Blues

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 4 May 1968

CHRIS WELCH picks his way through the chicken feathers in darkest Chelsea to chat up the guitar star of the Cream ...

Your Guide to the Week's New Singles: The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Cream et al

Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 25 May 1968

THE ROLLING STONES: 'Jumpin' Jack Flash'; 'Child Of The Moon' (Decca F 12 782). Back to their famous rhythm and blues oriented sound here from the ...

Cream: Wheels of Fire (Atco SD 2-700)

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 1968

Cream Rises to Top ...

Albums from Cream, David Ackles and Aretha Franklin

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 1968

Second Thoughts on Cream Album ...

Cream: Background to a Break-Up

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 13 July 1968

CREAM ARE breaking up. The world-famous trio that features Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce are to go separate ways in the autumn. Said ...

Cream: Wheels Of Fire

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 10 August 1968

'White Room', 'Sitting on Top of the World', 'Passing the Time', 'As You Said', 'Pressed Rat and Warthog', 'Politician', 'Those Were The Days', 'Born Under ...

Cream: A Split in the Offing

Report by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 16 August 1968

THINGS JUST WONT BE THE SAME ...

Ginger Baker: The Ginger Man

Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 17 August 1968

PETER "GINGER" BAKER will be 29 soon, and after 13 years of beating drum kits into submission, he is at last able to relax and ...

The Groove: Albums from Joni Mitchell, Cream, the Band and more

Review by uncredited writer, TeenSet, September 1968

AT ONE point almost every creative songwriter in this country has been labeled a poet by one critic or zealous reviewer, and students of English ...

Pop LP of the Month — Cream: Wheels of Fire (Polydor)

Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 7 September 1968

AN EXCITING AND REWARDING SET ...

Albums from the Band, Cream, Country Joe & the Fish, Donovan, Randy Newman, the Incredible String Band, Phil Ochs, and the Doors

Review by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, October 1968

HERE WE are, talking to ourselves again, still waiting for the new releases by the Rolling Stones, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Doors, the Byrds, ...

Jack & Ginger Make The Cream Work

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, October 1968

Ginger: I was born August 19, 1939. I was schooled in Southeast London. I got involved with music as soon as I left school. I've been ...

Cream, It's a Beautiful Day, the Collectors: Coliseum Arena, Oakland CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 5 October 1968

Cream's Farewell Had Beautiful Support ...

Cream Guitarist a Reluctant Idol

Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 13 October 1968

ERIC CLAPTON is a guitarist who has had the misfortune of being nearly deified by rock 'n' roll fans at the age of 23. Clapton ...

Making The Cream Work, part 2

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, November 1968

IN A BRITISH interview recently, Clapton denied the Cream breakup but added that the group can't last forever and each member had personal ambitions. Eric ...

Cream: Farewell To The Cream

Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 7 December 1968

A FANTASTIC and highly emotional send-off for the Cream almost gave the group second thoughts about breaking up after their brilliant final performance at London's ...

Goodbye To The Cream

Live Review by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 7 December 1968

THE CREAM delivered all that was expected of them, and a little more, at their final, farewell-type Albert Hall concert last week. Of course, the ...

Otis Redding: Otis Redding in Person at the Whisky A Go Go; Cream: Live At The Fillmore

Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 14 December 1968

'LIVE' LPs FROM CREAM & OTIS. ...

Cream: Goodbye (Atco)

Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 28 January 1969

Cream, Separated, Releases 4th and Last Album, Goodbye ...

Cream: Goodbye... (Polydor)

Review by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 8 March 1969

'I'm So Glad'; 'Politician'; 'Sitting On Top Of The World'; 'Badge'; 'Doing That Scrapyard Thing'; 'What A Bringdown' – Polydor Stereo 583 053. ...

The Kinks: The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (Reprise); Cream: Goodbye Cream (Atco)

Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 9 April 1969

YEARS AGO, during what someone told me was the height of it all, Ray Davies was best known for the dozens of songs he wrote ...

Hey, Mr. Bassman

Overview by Lenny Kaye, Fusion, 19 September 1969

THE ELECTRIC revolution that helped to spawn rock and roll also helped to popularize a whole new set of instruments to take along on its ...

Union Jack Blues

Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 October 1969

MEETING JANIS Joplin a few months ago, before her Albert Hall concert, I was staggered to feel how nervous she was. Then she explained. She ...

Jack Bruce: I Want To Be A Musician, Not A Pop Star

Interview by Tony Norman, Top Pops, 25 October 1969

JACK BRUCE has had a fascinating career. I first saw him in the days when he played with Graham Bond. What a band the Organisation ...

George And Eric Inspire Each Other

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 December 1969

Friendship and a mutual love of music brought George Harrison and Eric Clapton together for the recent Delaney and Bonnie tour. At a stopover In ...

The Ascent Of Mountain

Interview by Vicki Wickham, Melody Maker, 15 May 1971

MOUNTAIN ARE Felix Pappalardi on bass, Leslie West on guitar, Steve Knight, keyboard, and Corky Laing on drums. ...

Cream: Live Cream Volume II

Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, 27 April 1972

IN THEIR GLORY DAYS of 1967-8, Cream singlehandedly spawned the whole genre of aloof heavy rock egomania, not to mention a whole school of insufferably ...

Jack Bruce

Profile by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973

CREATOR OF one of rock's two most distinctive bass styles (the other being Paul McCartney's), Jack Bruce has, during the course of a long and ...

Jack Bruce: Jack Through The Looking Glass

Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 November 1974

THE DARK clouds were playing hide and seek with the sky, ominously threatening rain all the way to Colchester. The wind rustled through the trees ...

Ginger Baker: New Skins For The Old Ceremony

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 June 1976

PHIL SUTCLIFFE takes a walk down memory lane with GINGER BAKER, drummer, sportsman and fellow piles sufferer. ...

Will Cream Stand the Test of Time?

Retrospective and Interview by Wesley Strick, Circus, 28 April 1977

MAYBE YOU'VE seen the recent full-page spreads, and maybe you've wondered. In January, RSO Records reissued nine landmark rock 'n roll albums. "Collector's Editions," the ...

Pappalardi blazed new rock trail

Obituary by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 21 April 1983

FELIX PAPPALARDI, 43-year-old rock producer and musician, died from a gunshot wound in the neck early Sunday morning. He was allegedly shot by his wife, ...

The Ginger Baker Challenge

Interview by Richard Gehr, Spin, January 1986

WHAT THE HELL is drummer dinger Baker doing in New York? Hanging out with the Celluloid Records central committee, of course, and laying down tracks for ...

What's In A Name?

Essay by John Mendelssohn, Musician, April 1992

Band names have mirrored the aspirations and excesses of the times. A definitive field guide to the epic trends and gonzo greats of rock nomenclature. ...

Jimi Hendrix And Cream

Report and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, October 1996

Eric Clapton, arms hanging limp at his side, stared in disbelief at the outlandishly garbed guitarslinger who had just joined the Cream for an impromptu ...

Rock 100: Cream

Book Excerpt by Lenny Kaye, David Dalton, Cooper Square Books (reissue), 1999

CREAM WAS THE FIRST OF A NEW SPECIES – the high-voltage superblues group. By channeling their "amplified heat" through traditional blues, they created a clean, ...

Cream's Jack Bruce (2001) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages transcripts, September 2001

This is a transcript of Johnny's interview with Jack. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Cream: Royal Albert Hall, London, 5 May 2005

Live Review by Richard English, Rock's Backpages, May 2005

THIRTY SEVEN YEARS ago my Mum wouldn't let me go to the Cream Farewell Concert. She didn't want me to mix with all those ...

Cream: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, July 2005

Cleaned-up rock aristos reward jewellery-rattling crowd with first show in 37 years. ...

Cream: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Rob Chapman, Uncut, July 2005

ONE OF THE most fascinating spectator sports these past few years has been watching rock music finally coming to terms with its sense of legacy. ...

Cream: Sunshine Supermen

Retrospective by Dave Thompson, MOJO, Summer 2007

IT'S PROBABLY heresy to say it aloud and there's several hundred Best Psychedelic Album In The World... Ever type compilations that can shoot the thought ...

School of Rock: Monterey to Altamont

Guide by Barney Hoskyns, iTunes, 2008

BETWEEN 1966 and 1970, there was a seismic change in British and American pop. Within a few short years "pop" became "rock", and teenagers who'd ...

In The Mood: The Favourite Albums Of Rush's Geddy Lee

Guide by Mick Middles, The Quietus, 29 June 2012

Mick Middles speaks to Rush bassist and singer Geddy Lee about his favourite albums of all times... and finds surprises amidst the classic of the ...

Pete Brown: Superstar poet and Cream of the crop

Obituary by Simon Warner, Rock and the Beat Generation, 20 May 2023

BACK IN 2010, in the heart of the most bitter January I can recall, I visited the home of Pete Brown with a BBC radio ...

see also Ginger Baker

see also Jack Bruce

see also Eric Clapton

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