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The most ambitious name was chosen by them. Yes, because they weren't the "creme" yet, they weren't yet what they would become within a couple of years, but it was as if they already knew it. Or at least, Robert Stigwood knew it.
Just as it was known that they wouldn't last long, because bringing and keeping together three great personalities like Clapton, Bruce, and Baker was no simple task. Each of the three had the credentials to be able to "lead" any group. The three were already known in the London blues circuits: Eric Clapton had been a guitarist in the Yardbirds and had collaborated on the production of the self-titled album by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Jack Bruce, bassist/singer, had played with the Graham Bond Organization and with Manfred Mann. Ginger Baker, a drummer fond of Jazz and tribal sounds, had also played with the Graham Bond Organization.
The three were endowed with great technique and inventiveness, and in three years managed to bend the structural rigidity of the blues by incorporating jazz components, psychedelia and laying the foundations for what would eventually become Hard Rock in the following years, thanks to contributions from bands like Led Zeppelin.
The adventure began in 1966. After the release of the singles "Wrapping Paper" and "I Feel Free", "Fresh Cream" was released in December of that same year.
The album is fresh and mostly features highly personalized covers of historical blues tracks ("Rollin' And Tumblin'", "I'm So Glad", "Spoonful", "Four Until Late"), combined with new works of rare greatness such as "N.S.U." (very early psychedelic traces in this track) and "Toad", Baker's percussive masterpiece, showcasing all his skill.
Clapton's solos travel among the frantic bass lines of Bruce, who contributes more than once with keyboards and harmonica, and of course with his strong and vigorous voice, while Baker masterfully orchestrates everything from behind the skins. After the Yardbirds, they were one of the first supergroups of British rock, and it is still surprising today how just three instruments could create such incredible atmospheres.
To be listened to in one breath, without interruptions. The creme is all here.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 I Feel Free (02:55)
Feel when I dance with you,
We move like the sea.
You, you're all I want to know.
I feel free, I feel free, I feel free.
I can walk down the street, there's no one there
Though the pavements are one huge crowd.
I can drive down the road; my eyes don't see,
Though my mind wants to cry out loud...
I feel free, I feel free, I feel free.
I can walk down the street, there's no one there
Though the pavements are one huge crowd.
I can drive down the road; my eyes don't see,
Though my mind wants to cry out loud,
Though my mind wants to cry out loud.
Dance floor is like the sea,
Ceiling is the sky.
You're the sun and as you shine on me,
I feel free, I feel free, I feel free.
02 N.S.U. (02:47)
Driving in my car,
Smoking my cigar,
The only time I'm happy's when I play my guitar.
Sailing in my yacht,
What a lot I got,
Happiness is something that just cannot be bought.
Hopping in and out
Hopping up and down
I don't want to go until I've been all around.
What's it all about,
Anyone in doubt,
I don't want to go until I've found it all out.
03 Sleepy Time Time (04:22)
by Jack Bruce and Janet Godfrey
I'm a sleepy time baby, a sleepy time boy.
Work only maybe, life is a joy.
We'll have a sleepy time time.
We'll have a sleepy time time.
We'll have a sleepy time time.
We'll have a sleepy time time.
Sleepy time time, sleepy time all the time.
Asleep in the daytime, asleep at night.
Life is all playtime; working ain't right.
Chorus
I have my Sunday, that ain't no lie.
But on Monday morning comes my favorite cry.
Chorus
04 Dreaming (02:01)
Dreaming about my love;
You bring me joy and hours of happiness,
More or less.
I dream my life away.
Waiting for you to come;
Changing my life for you to emptyness,
Meaningless.
Minutes just drift by.
I dont care if I get nowhere.
I can just dream and youll be there.
What else is there to do?
Dreaming about my life;
Where are you now, and when will you
Come to me?
I dream my life away.
Chorus
First verse
Dreaming, dreaming.
05 Sweet Wine (03:20)
Who wants the worry, the hurry of city life.
Money, nothing funny; wasting the best of our life.
Sweet wine, hay making, sunshine day breaking.
We can wait till tomorrow.
Car speed, road calling, bird freed, leaf falling.
We can bide time.
Repeat Second Verse
Repeat First Verse
06 Spoonful (06:31)
Could fill spoons full of diamonds,
Could fill spoons full of gold.
Just a little spoon of your precious love
Will satisfy my soul.
Men lies about it.
Some of them cries about it.
Some of them dies about it.
Everything's a-fightin' about the spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
Could fill spoons full of coffee,
Could fill spoons full of tea.
Just a little spoon of your precious love;
Is that enough for me?
Chorus
Could fill spoons full of water,
Save them from the desert sands.
But a little spoon of your forty-five
Saved you from another man.
Chorus
08 Four Until Late (02:10)
by Robert Johnson
From four until late I was wringing my hands and crying.
From four until late I was wringing my hands and crying.
I believe to my soul that your daddy's Gulfport bound.
From four until late, she made me a no good barroom clown.
From four until late, she made me a no good barroom clown.
You know she won't do nothing but tear a good man's reputation down.
A woman is like a dresser, some man always running through its drawers.
A woman is like a dresser, some man always running through its drawers.
She cause so many men to wear an apron overall.
When I leave this town I will bid you fare farewell.
When I leave this town I will bid you fare farewell.
And when I return again, you'll have a great long story to tell.
12 The Coffee Song (02:47)
by Colton and Smith
There's a full time reservation
Made in a bar at the railway station,
And there's a story, a kind of fable,
On a card at the corner table.
On it is a message; been there some time.
It starts off, "The coffee tasted so fine..."
It says, "One day, this may find you,
These few words may just remind you.
We sat here together just to pass time;
You said how the coffee tasted so fine."
It goes on to say, "I love you.
If you should find this I must hear from you."
It gives a number but the name has faded away.
All that is left are just the words, "Maybe someday..."
That's the story and the fable;
Never leave alone from a corner table.
Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo.
Doo doo-doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo.
13 Wrapping Paper (02:22)
Wrapping paper in the gutter
Moving slowly as the wind on the sea,
(Faces calling, waves moving)
In your picture on a wall of a house of old times.
(Can you hear me) Can you hear me
(Can you hear me) Wandering sadly?
In the city, feeling pretty,
Down and out and making love to you on the shore,
(Ruined buildings, faces empty)
In the picture as I gaze ahead and don't see
(That they're calling) That they're calling.
(That they're calling) Wandering sadly.
Shattered windows, stairs to nowhere.
(Hear you calling) Hear you calling
(Hear you calling) As I wander so sadly.
Wish I knew what you'd done to me;
Turned me on to things I never knew.
It's all broken, weeds are growing.
Wish I was going home to the house by the shore
(Where you loved me) Where you loved me,
(Where you loved me) Loved me so sadly.
Someday I'll get back, somehow I'll do it.
I'll arrive there and you'll be there to meet me.
(Walk together, tread the weeds down)
Kiss again in the picture on the wall
(Where I loved you) In the old house.
(Where I loved you) Loved you so well.
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