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273. Cream "Spoonful"
After the Yardbirds became too pop for his tastes, Eric Clapton left and hooked up with bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, who like him had served apprenticeships in various British blues agglomerations. The unit they formed (which gave birth to the term 'power trio') used the blues not so much as something to aped for authenticity, but as a bedrock launching pad for interstellar instrumental freakouts. And these were just the guys to do it. In the haze of distortion and rumble Cream unleashed lay the start of hard rock, acid rock and the beginnings of heavy metal and just about any other kind of hard music. It gave loud rock and roll a place to go in the age of marmalade skies.
This reworking of the old Willie Dixon chestnut 'Spoonful,' is the best example of the Cream in action. Baker's jazz background shows as his drums lumber along like a dancing brontosaurus, and Bruce's bass rumbles like a Sherman tank. Against this foundation, Clapton's guitar alternately grinds like a buzzsaw and shoots off into the air like howitzer fire. The harmonica fills it out just enough, but leaves enough space in the echoey mix to retain the ominous 'the eagle has landed' atmosphere. This band spawned plenty of subpar imitations, but the originals still stand tall at the top of the heap.
After the Yardbirds became too pop for his tastes, Eric Clapton left and hooked up with bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, who like him had served apprenticeships in various British blues agglomerations. The unit they formed (which gave birth to the term 'power trio') used the blues not so much as something to aped for authenticity, but as a bedrock launching pad for interstellar instrumental freakouts. And these were just the guys to do it. In the haze of distortion and rumble Cream unleashed lay the start of hard rock, acid rock and the beginnings of heavy metal and just about any other kind of hard music. It gave loud rock and roll a place to go in the age of marmalade skies.
This reworking of the old Willie Dixon chestnut 'Spoonful,' is the best example of the Cream in action. Baker's jazz background shows as his drums lumber along like a dancing brontosaurus, and Bruce's bass rumbles like a Sherman tank. Against this foundation, Clapton's guitar alternately grinds like a buzzsaw and shoots off into the air like howitzer fire. The harmonica fills it out just enough, but leaves enough space in the echoey mix to retain the ominous 'the eagle has landed' atmosphere. This band spawned plenty of subpar imitations, but the originals still stand tall at the top of the heap.
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