I Feel Free (Ultimate Cream Triple CD Boxset) - Cream > Reviews > ... and they can still do it 37 years on!!

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Variety, originality, style, class
Disadvantages:	None really

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

It's hard to know what to say about Cream that hasn't already been said a million times, folks. What this very good compilation does is to remind us just how varied they were in their approach, ability and style. Having just lived through the non-stop roaring of Fall Out Boy live ( see my review - yes, folks, you cannot judge 'em if you don't listen to 'em), I was almost begging for something like Wrapping Paper by the end, so numb were my ears and every other part of my anatomy that hadn't been actually cauterised by the wall of noise. And Cream were not exactly shrinking violets live, either, with Marshall stacks about the size of a small semi in Ruislip and secret weapon Ginge in the background. What is missing nowadays is the light and shade, the variety, the colour, the little details that make music of any hue lasting and even meaningful.

Almost every track here is worth a good listen and some of them are legendary. The live "Crossroads" is quite rightly thought of by many as the best 4 minutes ever in world rock, and shows what made Clapton so fantastic - not his speed, not his tone, not his style but his timing. Ginger's drumming in White Room is just out of this world, as are Jack's vocals, bass and songwriting on We're going Wrong. Anyone lucky enough to have been at the Albert Hall last year will know that this song was an absolute standout. De blooze is represented by Clapton's Strange Brew, nice and understated, Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign and Crossroads (Robert Johnson, of course, just in case you're from The Crab Nebula) plus a stellar version of "Sitting on top of the World" - particularly excellent vocals here, too. I am not convinced that that I need trawl through each track as it does what it says on the tin, in that it includes all Cream's mixed bag of greatest and even not-so-greatest moments......

....because there is also a fair collection of oddities too - Wrapping Paper (wierd, to say the least), Anyone for Tennis and scraggs from the end of their career, such as "Doing that Scrapyard Thing", full of puns and surrealistic lines like something from Alice in Wonderland. Their music is really varied - it ain't just the blues by a very long way.

Classics like "I Feel Free" (anyone care to rewrite that crazy solo?), "Badge" (called Badge because when Eric wrote it with George Harrison, George talked about the "Badge" meaning the "bridge". George is billed on the original as "L'angelo mysterioso", playing the second/fourth riff in the middle. You can hear the riff crop up again in "Here comes the Sun" from the wonderful "Abbey Road") and "Tales of Brave Ulysses" still sound magical, and God, how we all gibbered with delight at Clapton's fills in "SWLABR", which still inspire. For those who wonder, it stands for "She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow" - form an orderly queue, boys.

Clapton uses exclusively Gibson guitars - Les Paul, SG, Bison mainly - and there are those who say that Gibson is a Clapton must. Well, tell it to Eric swho has been a Fender man for 15 years-plus now, except on the blues album and the Robert Johnson tribute. But my God, that SG on Crossroads seems to say a lot more than Blackie the Strat - I think I am an unreconstructed old Gibson man.... just wait 'til you hear that Bluesbreakers CD with John Mayall ....!! Les Pauls, ya bass!

I just love Cream. I saw them as many times as I could in the sixties and once in the 05s. They were the most fantastic band on stage and on record, and I just cannot imagine what chemistry brought Messrs Clapton, Bruce and Baker together at all in the first place. All this happened in not much more than two years with a crazy tourinmg schedule too - today, Salisbury, next month, America. If I had nothing else on my desert island to listen to except Crossroads, White Room and We're going Wrong, I would be quite happy. I think that Ginger was and is the best rock crossover drummer ever, anywhere.

Now, if you haven't already done so, buy Chris Welch's fabulous book CREAM (Amazon have it) - I always say this - a real labour of love beautifully produced, and the Albert Hall concert DVD from 2005. Avoid the Farewell Cream DVD from the Albert Hall by art-school director Tony Palmer - it's awful.That should keep you busy for a weekend or two. Pray for rain or that the lawn mower explodes. Nothing should disturb Cream in full cry and you will find that at least 70% of this lovely selection will appeal to you. Normally five stars, but a very mixed bag for some people (9 stars for Crossroads, only three for Wrapping Paper, and so on).