@@giuliogrifi7739 I heard "Blind Faith" in concert. They opened with "Crossroads". The tempo was slower. Plus, Jack Bruce wasn't there. Clapton, Winwood and Baker killed it, however.
Originally titled "Cross Road Blues" and written and recorded by Robert Johnson back in the mid-1930's in Fort Worth.,Texas. Eric Clapton heard the mono record of Robert and his acoustic guitar and he knew he had to record it. Johnson wrote 29 songs in his short career, he was the first modern member of the 27 club, and every one of them has been recorded by other artists. Hear what inspired Eric Clapton, Keith Richard, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger Jimmy Page, and a few other folks. Play the original.
Thanks for posting this. Addendum to it. The movie "Crossroads", with Ralph Machio is loosely based off of this tail. Most notable is the epic guitar duel in it. th-cam.com/video/tXfZtlAPUNc/w-d-xo.html
....Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, Eddie Van Halen, Peter Green, and the rest of that generation of guitarists. Clapton changed everything forever after with this one song. No joke.
A lot of American servicemen were leaving old American blues records around England, where they were stationed. This had a big influence on some of the local kids (like Eric Clapton). Combine that with the new technology (easier to play guitars, louder amps, electronic effects) and you have a lot of the blues into rock story right there.
In Liverpool, there was an active market for American records sold by sailors out of the NATO naval base. The Beatles’ first teenage conversation with a black man was supposedly initiated with “Thank you sir for helping defending our country. Do you have any records for sale?”
@@cahillgreg indeed, their idiom would likely have been more Liverpudlian, but I have no idea of what a scouser is, so I rendered it in the way I heard the story. English stories told in America are generally Lord Granthamized.
No American servicemen would have brought a Robert Johnson single over to Europe. Johnson was very obscure. Indeed, I knew of Robert years before it was possible to hear him, in the UK, on record. The first time a Robert record was available in the UK was 1962? Also, after Robert's original recordings were released in the 1930s, it wasn't until the 1960s that any of his recordings were made available again in the US.
Regarding how the blues became rock, Sister Rosetta Tharpe recorded some of the earliest examples of what would later be called Rock n Roll in the early 40's. The merger of gospel, blues, and boogie woogie can be heard clearly in her awesome catalog. And she played a mean electric guitar!
Both bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger ‘Peter’ Baker were originally jazz musicians, who had played together in the Graham Bond Organisation, whereas Eric Clapton was from a blues tradition musically, so the improvisation from jazz became mixed with blues songs and in their own compositions. Jack Bruce had trained as a cellist and also played double bass, piano, organ, acoustic guitar and harmonica. Jack wrote most of Cream’s original songs along with poet Peter Brown, but both Ginger and Eric also made song writing contributions. My favourite band ever, but such a shame they only lasted about two years, and I don’t think Eric ever captured that raw, energetic guitar playing just full of emotion. I was a teenager in the 1960s, so they were the group who illuminated my brain musically and helped make me investigate other areas.
What makes Clapton's solo so epic is what Bruce and Baker are doing behind him. They drove Clapton past his comfort zone. Clapton once said playing with those two scared the hell out of him. Bruce said we were really a provressive jazz trio, we just didn't tell Eric
That´s true! Clapton believed playing blues, but Jack and Ginger wanna play jazz. Listen to "Sweet Wine", "N.S.U", "Spoonful" and my favourite song "I´m so glad" (from the LP "Good-Bye", hearing this song with headphones in the 70´s nearly destroyed my ears...). Since these times I´m a Cream-Fan and a Derek & the Dominos-Fan. Best live music for me!
You guys finally got to this foundational reworking of the Robert Johnson blues classic. This aggressive hard rock sound, along with Hendrix together changed the game in the late 60’s. The greatest 4 minutes of live music, from the era.
Chuck Berry took the Blues, added some swing, and created Rock and Roll. It evolved from there, with much help from certain British bands like The Graham Bond Organization, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds, The Animals, into Rock. Dylan then took his original folk lyrics, expanded them into more introverted and poetic observations and commentary, and injected them into the then-current Rock forms, now adapted to accomodate his lyrics and subject matter, which The Beatles and The Kinks, importantly, picked up and spread, while The Who acted out, physically, the growing teenage angst and frustration, and then Hendrix began experimenting with the guitar and the sounds it could make while bringing a jazz influenced sound to Rock, and Cream experimented with the boundaries of the Blues as a form. This is a gross simplification, mind you, but it does provide a bit of a starting point for further exploration.
The funny thing is, Chuck Berry said in an interview that he didn't like the Blues all that much. Basically said it wasn't really his vibe and that he was more of a jolly type of person. He'd do pure Blues numbers live occasionally. His accessing of the Blues came more through his love of uptempo Jump Blues.
Archivists have debunked that fable in several books about the Blues. It was actually Tommy Johnson, an earlier singer/guitarist, who claimed to have sold his soul to the devil. Robert never claimed that, but after being gone a year to Arkansas, and coming back much more highly skilled at guitar, than when he left, his contemporaries speculated that, being the reason for the rapid improvement in skill. ✌😎 Tommy Johnson actually called himself "the Devil's son in law".
I am blown away at the fact that I have been watching ypu guys for a while. Doesn't seem like that long, but you guys have covered so much unfamiliar music. To see you react to Crossroads and Lex talking about Layla andcThe White Room, very impressive has your journey has evolved. Hope you two have enjoyed it as much as me watching your videos.
"White Room" was made when Clapton was with Cream, while "Layla" was done by Clapton when he was part of Derek and the Dominos. Regardless, "Crossroads" has one of the greatest guitar performances ever recorded.
And it (Layla) was about his good friend George Harrison's wife, whom he stole, for lack of better terminology........as was "Wonderful Tonight". Naughty-naughty, Eric, haha!
Congratulations on discovering the first band to play HARD ROCK! December 9th, 1966, marks the historical birthdate of hard rock, with the release of Cream's debut album "Fresh cream" (and its single "I feel free", Admittedly, Cream's first single "Wrapping paper" arrived earlier that year, but that was a pop song.) This powerfuk supergroup trio - guitarist and sometime vocalist Eric Clapton, drummer Ginger Baker and bassist, main vocalist, main songwriter, band leader and all around genius Jack Bruce beat their buddy Jimi Hendrix to the punch by just one week to the day - when a certain single called "Hey Joe" was released. Cream inspired literally everyone that followed in HEAVY music, and we who love HARD ROCK and, a little further down the line, HEAVY METAL, owe them literally everything. Long live the loud!
Cream might have slightly edged out Jimi in terms of first release date. But imagine the effect Jimi's presence in London '66 had on Eric. If I'm not mistaken, he was doing the loud intense club stuff ahead of Cream. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Cream. But they had help and I would say by '66 - The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Sonics, The Who, The Small Faces, The Stones at their hardest, and even The Beatles at their hardest-edged and most intense (moments and guitar sounds on Revolver) did at times what I would call proto-hard rock. To my way of thinking, Little Richard's most intense 50's stuff qualifies as hard rock, not stylistically but in essence.
Probably my favorite Cream song is "Badge"; this was the music of my junior high school (now middle school) years. But this song was the one that got a ton of airplay when it came out.
Clapton was one of the original pioneers of finding Blues and Reinterpreting it for modern English Audiences "Cream" were one of the first and PROBABLY the greatest Blues band of all time! ALL 3 Musicians Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker (on Drums MASTER Drummer Jazz and Blues Drummer) and Jack Bruce(a Scott who was a Master on Both the stand-up Double-Bass (Classically trained top orchestra level) but went into Jazz, then Blues and joined Cream on Bass guitar and vocals with Clapton) so between the three of them they were ALL 3 VIRTUOSO'S in their own fields and instruments and when they came TOGETHER it was Electric! The Cream of the Crop! (Hence the name) "The Cream"! Love ALL THEIR STUFF!! You have to check out their 2005 Reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall! The one and only time that got together after 30 years of not talking in rock n roll style falling out! But form together again and just MAGIC! (Jack Bruce died not long after tragically relatively young and Ginger Baker died the other year 83 or 86 years old I think?) So ONLY real get TOGETHER Reunion they had was a few sell out nights at the Royal Albert Hall! And it's LEGENDARY!! THEY WERE ALL AT YJEOR BEST DESPITE their ages they'd grown as musicians in the 30year Hiatus and they said ONLY one night of practice before the Concert and they just Gelled! Unbelievable! You have to review those performances! Especially "Toad"! Has a virtuoso extended Drum solo my Ginger Baker that's considered probably the Best drum solo EVER! Cheers from London England 👍❤️🏴😎
You WERE listening to a very important song, Brad - in it’s day it was revolutionary - before Led Zeppelin, before peak Hendrix, before the Allman Brothers - this recording was THE transition from Blues to Blues-Rock. For my money, the best SHORT guitar solo ever -on a song which they NEVER recorded in a studio - only this version from the legendary Fillmore - and on their final concert tour in 1970. And notice how CLEAN that musicianship was -not a bum note, or a slur, or a missed beat anywhere. Exceptional. I think Robert Johnson would have been listening in - and would have absolutely LOVED IT.
@@bugvswindshield yeah I lump Elvis and with the American blues. Most of the British artists were inspired by Elvis and Buddy Holly and Little Richard and Chuck Berry and the great bluesman.
The Brits done took our blues and made a whole new vibe, and they did it so well. Thank you Brad for just listening and thank you sweet Lex for always being so damn cute!! 👍❤🤙
Wow such a great classic rock & blues song! The Cream were one of the first real 'super groups' and Eric Clapton's guitar combined with Ginger Baker's drumming and Jack Bruce's bass are mind-blowing!! Another great example of the heavier rock sound of blues is 'Going Down' by Freddie King in 1971, you guys should check it out :) 🙏👍
Great though they were, I think the successor to Cream - 'Blind Faith', when Steve Winwood and Ric Grech joined Eric and Ginger was the first real 'Supergroup' although that's an argument that could go on for ever!
Yep. That's why it is definately important to go back to the early rock songs that people consider to be seminal in the development. Its taken my a life time of listening to hear the connections to jazz, blues early rock and all the styles that developed in the 60's. Its totally worth getting that education, as it makes listening to almost any kind of music more rewarding cause you can hear the strains of what came before.
During the middle 60's you had the "British Invasion" where UK musicians started to replicate old American blues artists' songs and put their own spin on it. Those songs became big hits and the kids in the US loved it.
This is among the best of the best. Cream was the original power trio and with Clapton, Jack Bruce on bass & Ginger Baker on drums, they had 3 superstars combining for one of the greatest jam/blues bands of all time. Spoonful, White Room, Sunshine of your Love, so many great jams. Muddy Waters put blues on electric. Check out John Mayall & Paul Butterfield as well, but EC was the man who dove deep into the blues & helped shape Rock.✌️❤️🎶
This is typial UK 60's R&B ie Blues with Rhythm. Lots of bands were performing old Blues songs updating them to capture the 60's mood. The Rolling Stones, Them, John Mayels Bluesbreakers and others all had there own takes on blues.
Eric Clapton's idea. One of my favorite blues songs. Clapton, Bruce, and Baker play off each other better than anyone ever did. Among the best solo's ever.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe's guitar wizardry created the "lead guitar" role of modern rock & roll. Chuck Berry morphed the blues into the rock & roll sound (along with Little Richard as a masterful pianist), while their contemporaries, Muddy Waters & Bo Diddley, created an electric blues that opened the door for the likes of Clapton, Hendrix, Page, and Beck to revolutionize the rock sound.
Lex was wondering who was the first to make a blues song rock. There is a legend, recounted by Greil Marcus, I believe, that Robert Johnson himself, on occasion,played live in some juke joints with drums and bass. If true, Marcus, suggested, that might just be the first rock and roll band. Playing live, in the 1930s. Fun to think about.
I saw Cream's first official gig at Windsor Jazz and Blues festival and again a few days later at a small pub in London--the Nag's Head maybe. To see them at such close quarters was truly mind boggling.
I remember the Nag's Head (York Road, Battersea). I used to see Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac , Stan Webb's Chicken Shack and several other similar bands there regularly. The DJ was Mike Vernon.
Live Cream recording at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco 1968, and released on Wheels of Fire album 1968. Lead guitarist Eric Clapton decided to give it a Rock Flare. You two are on top of it. Well done.
That’s actually a good idea to take a blue song and play it at higher speed to see how it changes it. Rock n rollers have been playing blues rock for as long as I’ve been alive and even longer.
I've never heard any other playing of Clapton's that, for me, comes close to this. Absolute pure fire and perfectly executed. He does a fine singing job on it, too. Good blues voice and underrated in that way.
What freaks me out is that he plays CRAZY, hot solo and can just stop it in a second, play quieter and sing. If I played a solo like that I would either be out of breathe or completely forget the next words to sing. (Guess that's at least one reason why he is Eric Clapton and I'm not.) 🙂
I've always felt that, of the four "live"songs on "Wheels of Fire," this was the most concise group effort. I consider "Spoonful" to be Clapton's Masterpiece.
@@robertroddy6639 I tried in the past with "Spoonful" but always found that song too slow and ponderous for my taste after the up tempo fire of "Crossroads.*. No offense. I even had the " Wheels of Fire" album as a kid. I may check it out again at some point to see what I think now. Zero in on Eric's playing. It's been a while. I'm kind of picky when it comes to various forms of blues expression. Some of it inspires and energizes me and some of it doesn't.
Cream started out as a primarily blues band but as the market changed the record company pressured them into doing psychedelic rock. That's where "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room" came from. Their version of "Crossroads" is an amalgam of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads Blues" and "Traveling Riverside Blues". Later on, after Cream broke up Clapton did "crossroads" ar a much slower pace which I think is even better.
I would query that in some respects. Ginger Baker once said that the one thing Eric Clapton never understand about Cream was that it was supposed to be a Jazz band. Ultimately Clapton was delighted to get out of it.
The members of this band started in blue bands. And a lot of the english bands from the 60s that you have reacted to, started as blues bands. For example, Fleetwood Mac was originally a blues band.
Bruce and Baker played in jazz bands like the Grsham Bond Organisation,it was Clapton who played with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. The fusion in Cream created something very
Very special! Unfortunately the tensions led to the group breaking up very quickly. All three had amazing careers after Cream though - I specially liked Bruce’s work with Leslie West and Corky Laing (from Mountain).
Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Fats Domino, ushered in the birth of Rock n Roll. Ike Turner is said to have played the first Rock song, Rocket 88
The complex superb interplay of their consummate musicianship on this song depletes my superlative dictionary !!!! They could have played nothing more forever, and their place in rock history would have been confirmed through this song alone. Astonishing !!!
So many bands (mostly British) picked up southern blues and brought it into the mainstream: House Of The Rising Sun; Heard It Through The Grapevine; just to name a couple
You guys nailed it. Brad said "I feel like this is an important song". YES, its the iconic blues song by the iconic blues musician, Robert Johnson. Every blues musician since then has covered this song and it has grown (sped up as you guys put it) but it is still the root of modern blues and rock. You guys did a great job of reacting to Clapton's cover.
Rocked the house many times with the last band I worked with full time. Everybody just went crazy!! We had 3 badass guitarists, an unbelievable keys player and a powerfully dynamic front man/lead singer. One time we jammed out on this song for over 20 minutes!
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The guitar solo still gives me chills. Clapton, Bruce and Baker at their best. Free form progressive blues jamming.
Well said!
Brings back good memories doesn’t it. God bless these two
And then there will be "Blind Faith"...1969.
That makes Cream's live performances take on more of Jazz form. Improvisation was not playing much of a role in the Rock genre at the time.
@@giuliogrifi7739 I heard "Blind Faith" in concert. They opened with "Crossroads". The tempo was slower. Plus, Jack Bruce wasn't there. Clapton, Winwood and Baker killed it, however.
Originally titled "Cross Road Blues" and written and recorded by Robert Johnson back in the mid-1930's in Fort Worth.,Texas. Eric Clapton heard the mono record of Robert and his acoustic guitar and he knew he had to record it. Johnson wrote 29 songs in his short career, he was the first modern member of the 27 club, and every one of them has been recorded by other artists. Hear what inspired Eric Clapton, Keith Richard, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger Jimmy Page, and a few other folks. Play the original.
This was the very first album after landing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and it made my 4 years go a lot smoother at times! Thank goodness for Cream!
Thanks for posting this. Addendum to it. The movie "Crossroads", with Ralph Machio is loosely based off of this tail. Most notable is the epic guitar duel in it. th-cam.com/video/tXfZtlAPUNc/w-d-xo.html
It's been said that Machio deserved an Oscar for acting like he could play the guitar and Vai did for acting like he didn't. 😂
....Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, Eddie Van Halen, Peter Green, and the rest of that generation of guitarists. Clapton changed everything forever after with this one song. No joke.
A lot of American servicemen were leaving old American blues records around England, where they were stationed. This had a big influence on some of the local kids (like Eric Clapton). Combine that with the new technology (easier to play guitars, louder amps, electronic effects) and you have a lot of the blues into rock story right there.
In Liverpool, there was an active market for American records sold by sailors out of the NATO naval base. The Beatles’ first teenage conversation with a black man was supposedly initiated with “Thank you sir for helping defending our country. Do you have any records for sale?”
@@Roikat No scouser uttered that Dickensian jive.
@@cahillgreg indeed, their idiom would likely have been more Liverpudlian, but I have no idea of what a scouser is, so I rendered it in the way I heard the story. English stories told in America are generally Lord Granthamized.
@@cahillgreg They were Grammar School lads, posh boys with flexibility and control.
No American servicemen would have brought a Robert Johnson single over to Europe. Johnson was very obscure. Indeed, I knew of Robert years before it was possible to hear him, in the UK, on record. The first time a Robert record was available in the UK was 1962? Also, after Robert's original recordings were released in the 1930s, it wasn't until the 1960s that any of his recordings were made available again in the US.
Eric Clapton was definitely right there swinging a hammer with some others when the bridge from blues to rock was built.
Clapton's soft home counties vocal let cream down - the other elements were all there.
This is blues AND rock from the start.
Regarding how the blues became rock, Sister Rosetta Tharpe recorded some of the earliest examples of what would later be called Rock n Roll in the early 40's. The merger of gospel, blues, and boogie woogie can be heard clearly in her awesome catalog. And she played a mean electric guitar!
Once you're used to Clapton's solo, pay attention to Jack Bruce supporting him like a madman on bass. They were called Cream for a reason.
That bass line is one of the finest ever played. Bruce matches Clapton almost note for note.
The cream of the crop.
I love Jack Bruce in this song. The man was an astoundingly good bass player 👍
It’s such a spare sound, you can hear everything. A fine bass line from a fine bass player
Not to mention just how much Ginger’s drumming fills in the gaps while still holding down a rock solid beat that meshes perfectly with Jack’s bass.
I think it was Muddy Waters who wrote a song called ‘The Blues Had a Baby and They Called it Rock n Roll’
Both bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger ‘Peter’ Baker were originally jazz musicians, who had played together in the Graham Bond Organisation, whereas Eric Clapton was from a blues tradition musically, so the improvisation from jazz became mixed with blues songs and in their own compositions. Jack Bruce had trained as a cellist and also played double bass, piano, organ, acoustic guitar and harmonica. Jack wrote most of Cream’s original songs along with poet Peter Brown, but both Ginger and Eric also made song writing contributions. My favourite band ever, but such a shame they only lasted about two years, and I don’t think Eric ever captured that raw, energetic guitar playing just full of emotion. I was a teenager in the 1960s, so they were the group who illuminated my brain musically and helped make me investigate other areas.
Finally - one of the greatest live performances in rock history.
Rock'n'Roll IS the blues. Just to a beat you can dance to.
You really nailed it on the blues to rock transition, Cream and Led Zeppelin both did a lot of blues covers that made that transition.
THIS!!
Baker, Bruce, Clapton...🔥🔥🔥
Hey the Muddy Waters song, The Blues had a Baby and named it Rock & Roll !!
For whatever reason.. I felt this song and the riffs massaged a part of my brain... I felt a euphoric satisfying effect😊!
In my humble opinion their best song
What makes Clapton's solo so epic is what Bruce and Baker are doing behind him. They drove Clapton past his comfort zone. Clapton once said playing with those two scared the hell out of him. Bruce said we were really a provressive jazz trio, we just didn't tell Eric
That´s true! Clapton believed playing blues, but Jack and Ginger wanna play jazz. Listen to "Sweet Wine", "N.S.U", "Spoonful" and my favourite song "I´m so glad" (from the LP "Good-Bye", hearing this song with headphones in the 70´s nearly destroyed my ears...). Since these times I´m a Cream-Fan and a Derek & the Dominos-Fan. Best live music for me!
You guys finally got to this foundational reworking of the Robert Johnson blues classic. This aggressive hard rock sound, along with Hendrix together changed the game in the late 60’s. The greatest 4 minutes of live music, from the era.
Great comments Brad, "I can kind of see how blues turned into rock" and "the missing link". This is when it happened.
Three goats who loved the blues and just amplified and tore it up.
Never have three better musicians been joined together in one group. What memories from my high school years when we were rocking to these guys.
Chuck Berry took the Blues, added some swing, and created Rock and Roll. It evolved from there, with much help from certain British bands like The Graham Bond Organization, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds, The Animals, into Rock.
Dylan then took his original folk lyrics, expanded them into more introverted and poetic observations and commentary, and injected them into the then-current Rock forms, now adapted to accomodate his lyrics and subject matter, which The Beatles and The Kinks, importantly, picked up and spread, while The Who acted out, physically, the growing teenage angst and frustration, and then Hendrix began experimenting with the guitar and the sounds it could make while bringing a jazz influenced sound to Rock, and Cream experimented with the boundaries of the Blues as a form.
This is a gross simplification, mind you, but it does provide a bit of a starting point for further exploration.
The funny thing is, Chuck Berry said in an interview that he didn't like the Blues all that much. Basically said it wasn't really his vibe and that he was more of a jolly type of person. He'd do pure Blues numbers live occasionally. His accessing of the Blues came more through his love of uptempo Jump Blues.
The Graham Bond Organization is sadly neglected these days by many people ; an outstanding group
Great cover of the Robert Johnson original. Cream was one of the very first super groups.
Goosebumps on that solo Clapton knows that guitar and he makes the guitar cry.
The bass riff in this song is one of my favs. Jack Bruce absolutely kills it on bass👍and of course Clapton’s guitar 🎸
Don't forget Ginger Baker on drums..
Playing counterpoint melody and bass at the same time. What a monster!!
No wonder that Jack Bruce later worked with jazz giants like John McLaughlin or Carla Bley.
You guys should react to…
Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love
🎸🤘
One of the all time great blues rock songs! ♥
Afropuffs and freckles, lex is killin me!
This song is cream praying homage to the great blues legend of Robert Johnson, who legend has it sold his soul at the crossroads.
Robert Johnson did write it.
@@GivnoFyux444 Yes he did this is Creams Cover of it with a few lyrical changes but the music is the same
And there we have it people, Eric Clapton confirmed as the greatest, wailing on a solo AND BRAD IS SMILING 😃🤟😃 Brilliant
Jack Bruce is a genius Scotland is extremely proud
Robert Johnson--- The Original-- sold his soul at a crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi
In return he got his guitar skills.
Archivists have debunked that fable in several books about the Blues. It was actually Tommy Johnson, an earlier singer/guitarist, who claimed to have sold his soul to the devil. Robert never claimed that, but after being gone a year to Arkansas, and coming back much more highly skilled at guitar, than when he left, his contemporaries speculated that, being the reason for the rapid improvement in skill. ✌😎 Tommy Johnson actually called himself "the Devil's son in law".
@@ramblerdave1339 Weren't they cousins?
@@euanthomas3423 I think I read they weren't related, but my reference material was loaned, and hasn't found it's way home.🥴✌
RIP Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, Cream are one of my favourite 60's groups and this is (in my opinion) one of their best songs.
lot of great comments , and information . nice review . great music , then again all blues is great
Clapton's second solo is the Holy Grail of rock guitar.
Das sehe ich genau so . 👏👏👏
Clapton is a maestro playing like a stray violin maestro
I am blown away at the fact that I have been watching ypu guys for a while. Doesn't seem like that long, but you guys have covered so much unfamiliar music. To see you react to Crossroads and Lex talking about Layla andcThe White Room, very impressive has your journey has evolved. Hope you two have enjoyed it as much as me watching your videos.
True! Cream, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and many more were blues bands originally
"White Room" was made when Clapton was with Cream, while "Layla" was done by Clapton when he was part of Derek and the Dominos. Regardless, "Crossroads" has one of the greatest guitar performances ever recorded.
And it (Layla) was about his good friend George Harrison's wife, whom he stole, for lack of better terminology........as was "Wonderful Tonight". Naughty-naughty, Eric, haha!
Best bass line ever... Bruce was ripping it.
"The Blues had a baby, and they called it Rock n Roll"~ Muddy Waters
Great Cream song. Check out Sunshine of Your Love.
Congratulations on discovering the first band to play HARD ROCK! December 9th, 1966, marks the historical birthdate of hard rock, with the release of Cream's debut album "Fresh cream" (and its single "I feel free", Admittedly, Cream's first single "Wrapping paper" arrived earlier that year, but that was a pop song.) This powerfuk supergroup trio - guitarist and sometime vocalist Eric Clapton, drummer Ginger Baker and bassist, main vocalist, main songwriter, band leader and all around genius Jack Bruce beat their buddy Jimi Hendrix to the punch by just one week to the day - when a certain single called "Hey Joe" was released.
Cream inspired literally everyone that followed in HEAVY music, and we who love HARD ROCK and, a little further down the line, HEAVY METAL, owe them literally everything. Long live the loud!
Cream might have slightly edged out Jimi in terms of first release date. But imagine the effect Jimi's presence in London '66 had on Eric. If I'm not mistaken, he was doing the loud intense club stuff ahead of Cream. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Cream. But they had help and I would say by '66 - The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Sonics, The Who, The Small Faces, The Stones at their hardest, and even The Beatles at their hardest-edged and most intense (moments and guitar sounds on Revolver) did at times what I would call proto-hard rock. To my way of thinking, Little Richard's most intense 50's stuff qualifies as hard rock, not stylistically but in essence.
Greatest guitar work . Jack Bruce rocks ❤
This song was originally done by Robert Johnson in 1936. You should check out his version.
Probably my favorite Cream song is "Badge"; this was the music of my junior high school (now middle school) years. But this song was the one that got a ton of airplay when it came out.
Nailed it guys. Blues to rock link
Clapton was one of the original pioneers of finding Blues and Reinterpreting it for modern English Audiences "Cream" were one of the first and PROBABLY the greatest Blues band of all time! ALL 3 Musicians Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker (on Drums MASTER Drummer Jazz and Blues Drummer) and Jack Bruce(a Scott who was a Master on Both the stand-up Double-Bass (Classically trained top orchestra level) but went into Jazz, then Blues and joined Cream on Bass guitar and vocals with Clapton) so between the three of them they were ALL 3 VIRTUOSO'S in their own fields and instruments and when they came TOGETHER it was Electric! The Cream of the Crop! (Hence the name) "The Cream"!
Love ALL THEIR STUFF!!
You have to check out their 2005 Reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall! The one and only time that got together after 30 years of not talking in rock n roll style falling out! But form together again and just MAGIC! (Jack Bruce died not long after tragically relatively young and Ginger Baker died the other year 83 or 86 years old I think?) So ONLY real get TOGETHER Reunion they had was a few sell out nights at the Royal Albert Hall! And it's LEGENDARY!! THEY WERE ALL AT YJEOR BEST DESPITE their ages they'd grown as musicians in the 30year Hiatus and they said ONLY one night of practice before the Concert and they just Gelled! Unbelievable!
You have to review those performances! Especially "Toad"! Has a virtuoso extended Drum solo my Ginger Baker that's considered probably the Best drum solo EVER!
Cheers from London England 👍❤️🏴😎
Every one is talking blues and Rock..What is holding it all together is Ginger Baker playing Jazz drums.
You WERE listening to a very important song, Brad - in it’s day it was revolutionary - before Led Zeppelin, before peak Hendrix, before the Allman Brothers - this recording was THE transition from Blues to Blues-Rock.
For my money, the best SHORT guitar solo ever -on a song which they NEVER recorded in a studio - only this version from the legendary Fillmore - and on their final concert tour in 1970. And notice how CLEAN that musicianship was -not a bum note, or a slur, or a missed beat anywhere. Exceptional.
I think Robert Johnson would have been listening in - and would have absolutely LOVED IT.
The history of blues into rock music is rich and fascinating. All the juicy details are on the internet in abundance. Happy trails.
Nice take you guys. The music of the late 60's was a blues rock fusion. I was eighteen when this stuff blew our minds in 1968.
The British Invasion actually brought Blues into the mainstream by blending it with Rock. Rock n Roll evolved from Swing, Rhythm and Blues.
American blues inspired the British and the British playing American Blues inspired the world
Elvis Presley good sir. Elvis. He came way before the brittish invasion.
@@bugvswindshield yeah I lump Elvis and with the American blues. Most of the British artists were inspired by Elvis and Buddy Holly and Little Richard and Chuck Berry and the great bluesman.
The Brits done took our blues and made a whole new vibe, and they did it so well. Thank you Brad for just listening and thank you sweet Lex for always being so damn cute!! 👍❤🤙
This is probably the single greatest live rock/blues recording of all time, despite how Clapton may feel about it.
Guys you got to do more cream they have 4 or 5 all time incredible hits songs . Classic stuff
Cream is one of my favorite bands and Crossroads is one of my favorite Cream songs. I used to sing it in our college band in 1967 and 1968.
Wow such a great classic rock & blues song! The Cream were one of the first real 'super groups' and Eric Clapton's guitar combined with Ginger Baker's drumming and Jack Bruce's bass are mind-blowing!! Another great example of the heavier rock sound of blues is 'Going Down' by Freddie King in 1971, you guys should check it out :) 🙏👍
The Jeff Beck Group did a nice, worthy cover of "Going Down." Hard rockin' blues.
Great though they were, I think the successor to Cream - 'Blind Faith', when Steve Winwood and Ric Grech joined Eric and Ginger was the first real 'Supergroup' although that's an argument that could go on for ever!
@@Itelkner & Luther Allison
it is a wonder to watch the dots connect as it all start to pull together. it is amazing to watch.
I always feel there is a crazy, frenetic energy to this version and Claptons solo is just crazy; gives me chills or something.
Yep. That's why it is definately important to go back to the early rock songs that people consider to be seminal in the development. Its taken my a life time of listening to hear the connections to jazz, blues early rock and all the styles that developed in the 60's. Its totally worth getting that education, as it makes listening to almost any kind of music more rewarding cause you can hear the strains of what came before.
The blues teaches more than any professor I could ever have. 💚💚💚
During the middle 60's you had the "British Invasion" where UK musicians started to replicate old American blues artists' songs and put their own spin on it. Those songs became big hits and the kids in the US loved it.
It is so fun to see you two figure it out ‼😁Yes, Country and the Blues had a baby and they called it "Rock-n-Roll" 🥰
This is among the best of the best. Cream was the original power trio and with Clapton, Jack Bruce on bass & Ginger Baker on drums, they had 3 superstars combining for one of the greatest jam/blues bands of all time. Spoonful, White Room, Sunshine of your Love, so many great jams. Muddy Waters put blues on electric. Check out John Mayall & Paul Butterfield as well, but EC was the man who dove deep into the blues & helped shape Rock.✌️❤️🎶
Brad & Lex, their "Badge" and "Strange Brew" are next for you!
Absolutely agree!
And Tales Of Brave Ulysses and SWABLR.
Badge and White Room are two of the best
Yes! Good call
It was just like evolution,it happened.these people led the way. someone had to.
All the music I love is basically African American gospel blues jazz originally from the south .
This is typial UK 60's R&B ie Blues with Rhythm. Lots of bands were performing old Blues songs updating them to capture the 60's mood. The Rolling Stones, Them, John Mayels Bluesbreakers and others all had there own takes on blues.
They finally got it. Rock came from the blues
Eric Clapton's idea. One of my favorite blues songs. Clapton, Bruce, and Baker play off each other better than anyone ever did. Among the best solo's ever.
Tightest live song ever. Ckapton in prime form. Song is so tight. LIVE!
Without the Blues of the 20's, 30's, and 40's. There would be no rock n roll of the 50's, 60's, and 70's!
Sister Rosetta Tharpe's guitar wizardry created the "lead guitar" role of modern rock & roll. Chuck Berry morphed the blues into the rock & roll sound (along with Little Richard as a masterful pianist), while their contemporaries, Muddy Waters & Bo Diddley, created an electric blues that opened the door for the likes of Clapton, Hendrix, Page, and Beck to revolutionize the rock sound.
Amen!😁❤✌
Lex was wondering who was the first to make a blues song rock. There is a legend, recounted by Greil Marcus, I believe, that Robert Johnson himself, on occasion,played
live in some juke joints with drums and bass. If true, Marcus, suggested, that might just be the first rock and roll band. Playing live, in the 1930s. Fun to think about.
Rock is just blues electrified and amplified
3.25.22. You’re learnin Brad-Mann‼️🎸
Cream invented power blues rock. No one before took blues to a new level.
I saw Cream's first official gig at Windsor Jazz and Blues festival and again a few days later at a small pub in London--the Nag's Head maybe. To see them at such close quarters was truly mind boggling.
I remember the Nag's Head (York Road, Battersea). I used to see Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac , Stan Webb's Chicken Shack and several other similar bands there regularly. The DJ was Mike Vernon.
B B King said that Clapton was "the greatest rock guitarist in the world and plays the Blues better than most of us."
I recall BB saying that Peter Green had the edge on Clapton. More blues feel.
Good reaction, kids.
55 years later and I still get goosebumps.
Little Richard had some of the sickest blues and that very naturally moved to his becoming one of the principal innovaters in creating Rock and Roll
happy to hear this after so many years!
My favorite trio from the late ‘60’s.
Chuck Berry Lex... grandfather of "rock n roll"
Live Cream recording at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco 1968, and released on Wheels of Fire album 1968. Lead guitarist Eric Clapton decided to give it a Rock Flare. You two are on top of it. Well done.
Jack Bruce just beatin' his bass to death...LOVE IT!
This is my all time favorite song!
That’s actually a good idea to take a blue song and play it at higher speed to see how it changes it. Rock n rollers have been playing blues rock for as long as I’ve been alive and even longer.
Best part of watching you two is when you are both moving together in harmony to the music. It's like you're dancing on that love seat. :)
I've never heard any other playing of Clapton's that, for me, comes close to this. Absolute pure fire and perfectly executed. He does a fine singing job on it, too. Good blues voice and underrated in that way.
I agree. This is his best playing for me.
What freaks me out is that he plays CRAZY, hot solo and can just stop it in a second, play quieter and sing. If I played a solo like that I would either be out of breathe or completely forget the next words to sing. (Guess that's at least one reason why he is Eric Clapton and I'm not.) 🙂
I've always felt that, of the four "live"songs on "Wheels of Fire," this was the most concise group effort. I consider "Spoonful" to be Clapton's Masterpiece.
@@robertroddy6639 I tried in the past with "Spoonful" but always found that song too slow and ponderous for my taste after the up tempo fire of "Crossroads.*. No offense. I even had the " Wheels of Fire" album as a kid. I may check it out again at some point to see what I think now. Zero in on Eric's playing. It's been a while. I'm kind of picky when it comes to various forms of blues expression. Some of it inspires and energizes me and some of it doesn't.
One of the first “Super Groups”, great power trio, the 21 year old Eric Clapton was truly a genius
Bass, guitar, drums. All you need for great Rock.
Cream started out as a primarily blues band but as the market changed the record company pressured them into doing psychedelic rock. That's where "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room" came from. Their version of "Crossroads" is an amalgam of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads Blues" and "Traveling Riverside Blues". Later on, after Cream broke up Clapton did "crossroads" ar a much slower pace which I think is even better.
I would query that in some respects. Ginger Baker once said that the one thing Eric Clapton never understand about Cream was that it was supposed to be a Jazz band. Ultimately Clapton was delighted to get out of it.
The members of this band started in blue bands. And a lot of the english bands from the 60s that you have reacted to, started as blues bands. For example, Fleetwood Mac was originally a blues band.
Bruce and Baker played in jazz bands like the Grsham Bond Organisation,it was Clapton who played with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.
The fusion in Cream created something very
Very special! Unfortunately the tensions led to the group breaking up very quickly.
All three had amazing careers after Cream though - I specially liked Bruce’s work with Leslie West and Corky Laing (from Mountain).
I have a lesser known one for you.
Artist: Mazzy Star
Songs:
1) Fade Into You
2) Flowers in December
3) Cry, Cry
Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Elvis, Fats Domino, ushered in the birth of Rock n Roll. Ike Turner is said to have played the first Rock song, Rocket 88
The complex superb interplay of their consummate musicianship on this song depletes my superlative dictionary !!!! They could have played nothing more forever, and their place in rock history would have been confirmed through this song alone. Astonishing !!!
So many bands (mostly British) picked up southern blues and brought it into the mainstream: House Of The Rising Sun; Heard It Through The Grapevine; just to name a couple
You guys nailed it. Brad said "I feel like this is an important song". YES, its the iconic blues song by the iconic blues musician, Robert Johnson. Every blues musician since then has covered this song and it has grown (sped up as you guys put it) but it is still the root of modern blues and rock. You guys did a great job of reacting to Clapton's cover.
Rocked the house many times with the last band I worked with full time. Everybody just went crazy!! We had 3 badass guitarists, an unbelievable keys player and a powerfully dynamic front man/lead singer. One time we jammed out on this song for over 20 minutes!
All the young British guys back in the 60s ate up all that southern Delta blues stuff. That's why they did rock n roll better than anyone else.
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Jack Bruce KILLED IT on bass !!
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Yes rock is faster blues! Great observation 😊