Cream Stirring Up 2005 Reunion

By Jonathan Cohen
Billboard

Vintage rock trio Cream will reunite for a string of shows next year at London's Royal Albert Hall, sources tell Billboard.com. The group -- guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce -- played its final shows at Albert Hall before splintering in November 1968. Cream has not performed together since its 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Billboard.com understands the trio will begin rehearsals after the first of the year, with an eye on a week-long run of gigs at Albert Hall. It is unknown if plans call for additional shows in other parts of the world. A spokesperson for Clapton had no comment.

In just two years, Cream achieved legendary status on the strength of the albums "Fresh Cream," "Disraeli Gears" (recently reissued in a deluxe edition by Polydor) and the half-live/half-studio "Wheels of Fire," expertly blending blues, rock and the burgeoning strains of psychedelia.

"Disraeli Gears" is a particular landmark, sporting such signature tracks as "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine of Your Love," which features one of the most distinctive riffs in rock history.

"Live, Cream was a great, hardworking band -- Eric was supreme and Ginger the most musical drummer alive -- and those original live albums were very good, probably the best records of their kind up to that point," Bruce told Billboard in 1997, prior to the release of the boxed set "Those Were the Days." "But our studio recordings were probably more important, although there you can tell that each one of us had a different idea of what Cream should be."

Following Cream's split, Clapton and Baker joined another supergroup, Blind Faith, with Traffic's Steve Winwood and Family bassist Rick Grech. But the combo issued only one album before Clapton set off on an enduring solo career. Baker and Bruce have continued to record and tour in a variety of incarnations.

As previously reported, Clapton will release a new CD/DVD, "Sessions for Robert J," on Dec. 7 via Duck/Reprise.

Cool:)

:nod: props: :yeahthat :yippee: party:

Awesome! i love Cream

The writer of that article really put it together well. Cream was a corner-turning band. They were, in fact, so corner turning that the music industry felt intimidated by their power. Consequently the musicians and us music lovers had to fight hard to continue to get quality music, rather than canned music, after Cream scattered.

Clapton, even while he was with Cream, felt that fighting to play real music instead of the tripe the industry expected and demanded, was his do or die plight in life. He couldn't abide compromising his music for anything. There were and are plenty of great acts after Cream, don't get me wrong about that, but Cream was so great, so overpowering, that the music moguls felt overwhelmed and outdone by Cream.

Cream! Wow!

I'm a little wary about this. Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton can reunite and put on a couple of shows, but can they ever recapture the magic they had in the sixties? And remember, Bruce and Baker, who played together in the Graham Bond Organisation before joining forces with Clapton, have long been enemies and couldn't stand to be on the same stage with each other. Let's hope this turns out alright.

Originally posted by AKA
Following Cream's split, Clapton and Baker joined another supergroup, Blind Faith, with Traffic's Steve Winwood and Family bassist Rick Grech.

A Traffic reunion might be interesting! Family will never reunite, because Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney knew when too quit and want to leave the past behind. :)

I LOVE Cream.......... :)

:eek: