Cream were a 1960s British blues-rock band and supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker. Their sound was characterised by a hybrid of blues, hard rock and psychedelic rock, combining Eric Clapton's blues guitar playing with the voice and basslines of Jack Bruce and the jazz-influenced drumming of Baker. Fresh Cream is Cream's December 1966 debut album. It was the first LP release of producer Robert Stigwood's new "Independent" Reaction Records label. It reached number 6 in the UK in February 1967 and - eventually - number 39 in the US in August 1968. The British version omitted "I Feel Free" (then their current single), while the US version contained it, though it dropped "Spoonful".In 2003, the album was ranked number 101 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. 01 - I Feel Free 02 - N.S.U. 03 - Sleepy Time Time 04 - Dreaming 05 - Sweet Wine 06 - Spoonful 07 - Cat's Squirrel 08 - Four Until Late 09 - Rollin' And Tumblin' 10 - I'm So Glad 11 - Toad 12 - The Coffee Song 13 - Wrapping Paper LINK
Disraeli Gears is the second album by British supergroup, Cream. It was released in November 1967 and went on to reach #5 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also their American breakthrough, becoming a massive seller there in 1968, reaching #4 on the American charts. The album features the two singles "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine of Your Love". The title of the album was taken from an inside joke. Eric Clapton had been thinking of buying a racing bicycle and was discussing it with Ginger Baker, when a roadie named Mick Turner commented, "it's got them Disraeli Gears", meaning to say "derailleur gears," but instead alluding to 19th Century British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. The band thought this was hilarious, and decided that it should be the title of their next album. In 2003 the album was ranked number 112 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. VH1 also named it their 87th greatest album of all time in 2001. 01 - Strange Brew 02 - Sunshine Of Your Love 03 - World Of Pain 04 - Dance The Night Away 05 - Blue Condition 06 - Tales Of Brave Ulysses 07 - Swlabr 08 - We're Going Wrong 09 - Outside Woman Blues 10 - Take It Back 11 - Mother's Lament LINK
Live Cream (also called Live Cream, Volume 1) is a Winterland/Fillmore live compilation album by Cream released in 1970. This album comprises four live tracks recorded in 1968 and one studio track "Lawdy Mama" from 1967. The instrumental track for "Lawdy Mama" is the same chord progression as heard on "Strange Brew" with a different vocal and guitar solo by Eric Clapton. Live Cream hit #15 on the Billboard Hot 200, and made #4 on the UK Top 40. 01 - N.S.U. 02 - Sleepy Time Time 03 - Sweet Wine 04 - Rollin' And Tumblin' 05 - Lawdy Mama LINK
Live Cream Volume II is a live compilation album by Cream released in 1972. This album contains six tracks recorded at Winterland and Oakland Coliseum Arena in 1968. "Live Cream Volume II" went to #27 on the Billboard Hot 200, and #15 on the UK Album Charts. 01 - Deserted Cities Of The Heart 02 - White Room 03 - Politician 04 - Tales Of Brave Ulysses 05 - Sunshine Of Your Love 06 - Steppin' Out LINK
01 - Cat's Squirrel 02 - Beauty Queen 03 - Rollin' And Tumblin' 04 - Coffee Song 05 - Toad 06 - Sweet Wine #1 07 - Sweet Wine #2 08 - I Feel Free #1 09 - I Feel Free #2 10 - I Feel Free #3 11 - I Feel Free #4 12 - Wrapping Paper #1 13 - Wrapping Paper #2 14 - You Make Me Feel #1 15 - You Make Me Feel #2
Disc 2
01 - Sleepy Time Time (Alt Version From Acetate) 02 - Sweet Wine (Alt Version From Acetate) 03 - I'm So Glad (Alt Version From Acetate) 04 - Wrapping Paper (Alt Version From Acetate) 05 - Four Until Late (Alt Version From Acetate) 06 - Cat's Squirrel (Alt Version From Acetate) 07 - White Room (Without Wha Wha Solo) 08 - Sing Along 09 - Anyone For Tennis 10 - Pressed Rat And Warthog 11 - 2-11 Falstaff Beer #1 12 - 2-12 Falstaff Beer #2
Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California. The original lineup of the group evolved from an earlier Los Angeles band, The Red Roosters, which included Randy California (guitars, vocals), Mark Andes (bass) and Jay Ferguson (vocals, percussion). With the addition of Ed Cassidy (drums) and keyboard player John Locke the new band was originally named the Spirits Rebellious (after a book by Khalil Gibran) but was soon shortened simply to Spirit. Randy California had also played with Jimi Hendrix (then known as Jimmy James) in Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in 1966. Spirit's self-titled debut album is one whose multifarious experimentalism owes a lot to the contemporary successes of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It marked the humble beginnings and grand aspirations of its eponymous authors. While the mindset required to produce Spirit was ubiquitous, the endeavour itself was far from clichéd. The eclecticism of Randy California's writing coupled Barrett's psychotropism with Morrison's West Coast bohemianism; and although the result proved somewhat inaccessible to the masses, it made the project ripe for underground FM airtime. The band would later curtail its psychedelia, focusing on a broader array of genres. This release was published first by Ode records in 1968.
01 - Fresh-Garbage 02 - Uncle Jack 03 - Mechanical World 04 - Taurus 05 - Girl In Your Eye 06 - Straight Arrow 07 - Topanga Windows 08 - Gramophone Man 09 - Water Woman 10 - The Great Canyon Fire In General 11 - Elijah 12 - Veruska [Bonus] 13 - Free Spirit [Bonus] 14 - If I Had A Woman [Bonus] 15 - Elijah [Alternate Take - Bonus]
The Family That Plays Together, the second of four albums released by the original Spirit lineup, was marketed by Ode Records in 1968. Unlike its predecessor, Spirit, their self-titled and surreal debut, The Family That Plays Together evinces more greatly the band's ability for playing beyond the genre of psychedelic rock than within it. Tracks "It Shall Be" and "Silky Sam" demonstrate the ease with which the ensemble can incorporate jazz into their idiosyncratic form of rock, while "Jewish" and "Aren't You Glad" evidenced the band's competence in exploiting, to their advantage, both world music and jam rock respectively. "Poor Richard" and "Its All the Same" feature glorious double track lead breaks from guitarist California. The inspiration behind entitling The Family is alleged to have derived from the stepson-stepfather relationship guitarist Randy California and percussionist Ed Cassidy shared. 01 - I Got A Line On You 02 - It Shall Be 03 - Poor Richard 04 - Silky Sam 05 - Drunkard 06 - Darlin' If 07 - It's All The Same 08 - Jewish 09 - Dream Within A Dream 10 - She Smiles 11 - Aren't You Glad 12 - Fog 13 - So Little To Say 14 - Mellow Fellow 15 - Now Or Anywhere 16 - Space Chile LINK
This, the last album from the original lineup, is to me one of the the greatest albums ever made. It's got everything- fantastic songs-great production-competent and inspired musicians! The sound is more psychedelic with guitars zooming between the speakers and a lot of backwards tapes. The songwriting is more consistenly mature than on the previous albums. The album was initially a failure commercially, and this sadly led to the group breaking up. Ed Cassidy said in the Time Circle booklet: "There was frustration (...) we had had what we thought was going to be successful, and I think everybody started to think, 'Maybe it's not working. Maybe it's time to move on.' This was sort of like 'The last hurrah', so to speak, and I think that's one of the reasons why it became a classic album. It was advanced for it's times, doing a lot of things electronically that were not being done, and the arranging of songs and how we had initiated the blending of one song into another." 01 - Prelude - Nothin' To Hide 02 - Nature's Way 03 - Animal Zoo 04 - Love Has Found A Way 05 - Why Can't I Be Free 06 - Mr. Skin 07 - Space Child 08 - When I Touch You 09 - Street Worm 10 - Life Has Just Begun 11 - Morning Will Come 12 - Soldier LINK
Model Shop is a 2005 album by the Los Angeles group, Spirit, which collects the material they recorded in 1968, for the soundtrack to Jacques Demy's film Model Shop. Chronologically, the album's material falls in between their second and third albums, The Family That Plays Together (1968) and Clear (1969). For his film, director Jacques Demy wanted a band that captured the vibe of Los Angeles as he saw it. After hearing Spirit perform in an L.A. club, he decided that they would be the perfect group for his film's soundtrack. However, the film itself was considered a failure and no soundtrack album was released at the time. Most of the material remained unreleased until 2005, following the discovery of a master tape of the original mono mixes. Model Shop differs from other Spirit albums of the era, in that most of the songs were written collaboratively. Also, with the exception of "Now or Anywhere" and "Green Gorilla", the pieces are exclusively instrumental and hilight the Jazz leanings of the band. 01 - The Moving Van 02 - Mellow Fellow 03 - Now Or Anywhere 04 - Fog 05 - Green Gorilla 06 - Model Shop I 07 - Model Shop Ii (Clear) 08 - The Rehearsal Theme 09 - Song For Lola 10 - Eventide 11 - Coral 12 - Aren't You Glad LINK
The "Mercury years" of Spirit were not their early, formative years which were spent with CBS/Columbia. By 1975, the band had effectively ceased to exist. Randy California and Ed Cassidy however decided to give it another go. They resurrected the band name and self funded their comeback album "Spirit of '76", intended as part of the American bicentennial celebrations. Mercury Records picked up the band and further albums were recorded and released over the next couple of years. Disc 1 01 - Jack Bond 02 - America Bautifultimesy Are A'changing 03 - Victim Of Society 04 - Lady Of The Lakes 05 - Tampa Jam 06 - My Road 07 - Sunrise 08 - Urantia 09 - Maunaloawhat Do I Have 10 - Feeling In Time 11 - Happy 12 - Walking The Dog 13 - Tampa Jam 14 - Joker On The Run 15 - When 16 - Like A Rolling Stone 17 - Veruska 18 - Once Again 19 - Tampa Jam 20 - Thank You Lord 21 - Guide Me 22 - Hey Joe Disc 2 23 - Farther Along 24 - Atomic Boogie 25 - World Eat World Dog 26 - Don't Lock Up Your Door 27 - Colossus 28 - Phoebe 29 - Mega Star 30 - Once With You 31 - Diamond Spirit 32 - Stoney Night 33 - Pineapple 34 - Looking Into Darkness 35 - Holy Man 36 - Would You Believe 37 - Detroit City 38 - Circle 39 - Other Song 40 - Yesterday 41 - Family 42 - Maybe You'll Find 43 - Magic Fairy Princess 44 - Gorn Attack 45 - Stars Are Love 46 - It's Time Now 47 - Green Back Dollar LINK Part 1LINK Part 2
