Full Cream Ahead

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to the 2 DVD set of Cream's 2005 reunion concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and I'm now finding a bit of time in which to enjoy them. Normally I'm wary of reunion concerts & nostalgia fests but I'd gathered from contributors to one or two discussion boards (back in 2005) that what Cream were doing was more than a bit special, and those who said so were absolutely correct. This is a master class in the basic rock trio - drums, bass & guitar - except that these guys come out of a grounding in blues & jazz that makes the idea of musicians playing to adoring crowds in late middle-age entirely congruous.

It's an odd notion I suppose considering the virtuosity of Clapton, Baker & Bruce, but it's the clarity and seeming simplicity of the playing that jumps out at the listener. Perhaps the lack of clutter in the musical textures is responsible for this illusion; perhaps it's just the sheer good taste and 'rightness' of what they play in the space they create in which to play it. I don't think Clapton has been heard to better advantage in recent years. His soloing is so inventive, so varied, just so good that it's impossible to get tired of it, whilst his ensemble playing is just that: a musician with a complete sense of what the context demands, entirely in sympathy with whatever's going on around him, knowing what's fundamental to create an ensemble. There are a number of moments when he achieves lift-off towards guitar heaven, but the solo at the end of White Room is utterly transcendent.

And what a rhythm section he's got, though thinking of Baker & Bruce in this way seems to do them a kind of disservice. They do more than lay down a groove: they create almost operatic textures in terms of the drama and movement they bring to much of the material. I suppose this is what takes Cream beyond being a great blues band, with jazz influences: from somewhere came the ambition to develop material that could reach beyond category, opening up new dimensions for what rock music might say. Forty years on they are saying it as loudly and clearly and brightly as when they first developed that vocabulary and I, for one, am more than happy to listen.

One last point: the three look genuinely happy to be playing together again, and I don't think they're types who would bother to put on an act. On a sentimental level that's touching, but I suspect it's also the reason musically why this stuff sounds so right. In one of the three interviews on the second disc of the set Ginger Baker talks about knowing what Clapton will play before he plays it. I'm certain there's no exaggeration involved.