Cream/London,UK 1967 Upgrade & more

Cream’s legendary club gig sound source is now available on second generation reel! A ridiculous master has arrived from Taper, a heavyweight in the UK who is well known for Clapton’s treasured sound source! It is said to be a second generation reel master recorded on the original 7-inch tape of a gig at the legendary club Marquee in London on May 23, 1967. In addition to the bootleg, there is also a half-official version called “LONDON GEARS” (probably dropped from the bootleg), but the master this time is an astonishing second generation master, and the freshness of the sound is completely different. It is a wide mono recording, and even though it is an audience recording, it is amazing that a recording with this sound quality like a sound board was made in this era. It is a raging sound image that makes you feel like you are experiencing Cream in the center of the front row of the club. And above all, the freshness of the legendary trio Cream’s performance! Their popularity at the time was still limited to the UK, and this is a very rare gig where they were already debuting a number that they had just recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York that month (Clapton talks about this in his MC). Finally, this album “DISRAELI GEARS” contains a fresh yet powerful performance, full of ambition and motivation to take over America. The appearance of this reel master can be called an “incident”. This is a must-listen for rock fans who love British rock in the 1960s. A super rare recording of Cream on the eve of their US domination Now, let’s explain what kind of timing this “May 23, 1967” was for Cream. Cream made a shocking debut at the 6th National Jazz and Blues Festival (the origin of the current Reading Festival) held in Windsor in July 1966, while the Liverpool sound (Merseybeat) was still alive. They were the world’s first “super trio” formed by Jack Bruce (bass) and Ginger Baker (drums) of the Graham Bond Organization, which was the top jazz rock band in the club scene at the time, and Eric Clapton (guitar) of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, which was also the top blues band. Their performance was very aggressive, backed by the three members’ advanced techniques, and their music was innovative and unrelated to any genre, something that no one could have done at the time. It was so good that Jimi Hendrix, who had come to England, saw Cream’s performance and was inspired to form a trio band like them. However, in the UK at that time, there were still few large halls, so the bands mainly toured around the clubs (what we would call live houses today) scattered throughout the country, steadily building up their reputations through live performances, and then using that to sell singles and albums. That’s why, even though Cream was formed with much fanfare, it was a time when they were only doing club tours (club tours were called “club circuits” at the time). At the same time, appearing on BBC Radio’s studio live show was one of the important promotional activities for bands at the time. While appearing on that show, Cream also went to local clubs such as Liverpool and Portsmouth, but their main focus was still on the clubs scattered around London, the capital of culture. They released their debut album “FRESH CREAM” in December 1966, and by 1967 they were being booked for gigs in Germany and Scandinavia, and Cream’s activities were expanding. Meanwhile, the manager got them a job to tour New York from March 25th to April 3rd, 1967. This was not Cream’s solo gig, but an appearance with The Who at the “5th Dimension Show” hosted by Murray the K, a DJ who was popular in New York at the time (the local performers included Wilson Pickett, Lovin’ Spoonful, Mitch Ryder, and others). Cream was inspired by their first experience in America, the home of blues and jazz, but the local music world was also inspired by Cream. Ahmet Ertegun, the president of Atlantic Records, who heard Clapton play live at this show, persuaded his manager and half-forced Cream to come to his company’s studio in New York. With their visa to stay in the United States expiring in two days, Cream recorded several songs here. This later became the stepping stone to the classic album “DISRAELI GEARS”. The producer was Felix Pappalardi and the engineer was Tom Dowd. On May 9, Cream returned to New York and continued recording under them! This album can be said to be a live performance from a very precious period when the completion of “DISRAELI GEARS” was in sight, and on the eve of their advancement and domination of the US. The first four songs are new songs that were to be included in “DISRAELI GEARS”, and the latter four songs are numbers from their debut album “FRESH CREAM”, so it was located just between the first and second albums. Cream must have been itching to play the new songs as soon as possible. At this time, Cream had obtained an excellent recording staff and was trying to evolve from a mere blues rock band to a unique psychedelic pop rock band and art rock band. Please listen to the amazing performance of the three people who were burning with ambition to conquer America and were trying to make a leap to become a world-class band. Anyway, this set list is the only rare one among Cream’s live recordings (it is rare to hear Clapton’s lead vocals live other than at Crossroads). A nice bonus track A bonus track is included at the end of this album. This is the title track, featuring Eric Clapton, from the posthumous album “The Shadow Club,” released in July as the posthumous work of lyricist Pete Brown, who passed away on May 12th this year at the age of 82. Pete Brown is a poet who has been writing lyrics for Jack Bruce since the band Cream was first formed. He also wrote the lyrics for the two famous hits Sunshine Of Your Love and White Room. The lyrics for Dance the Night Away, included in this album, were also written by Brown. This posthumous work was only released digitally (though there seems to have been a very limited media release that is difficult for the general public to obtain), so this is the only one that can be easily heard in the media. Clapton participated in this song, revisiting his memories of Cream. It seems that Clapton participated knowing that Brown had been battling cancer for several years. As a result, it became a perfect memorial tune for Brown. You can hear Clapton’s playing in the song, which is immediately recognizable as Clapton’s. The bonus track from Cream’s super rare club gig is titled The Shadow Club. Brown’s heart must have been filled with memories of the club. This bonus track was recorded with the hope that people would pay tribute to Brown after the youthful Cream’s amazing performance. This is a rare and top-quality Cream club gig that gives a glimpse into the British music scene at the time. Moreover, it is a second-generation reel master recording a gig at the legendary club, the Marquee, which was famous as a gateway for bands at the time. Marquee, London, England 23rd May 1967 PERFECT SOUND(from Original Masters)Taken from the original 2nd Generation Reel UPGRADE (40:04) 1. Tales of Brave Ulysses 2. World of Pain 3. Outside Woman Blues 4. Dance the Night Away 5. Sleepy Time Time 6. Sweet Wine 7. Rollin’ and Tumblin’ 8. N.S.U. Bonus Track Pete Brown with Eric Clap ton 9. The Shadow Club