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Just finished reading Jack Bruce's autobiography.
- Thread starter thebeerleader
- Start date
Deserted Cities of the Heart has a transcendent feel to it and has been one of my favorite Cream songs for a while.
Like three bosses:
During the guitar solo around 3:50 Ginger and Jack change up the rythm and it just gets better from there on out. Watching this you can really see where Geddy got his inspiration for singing and aggressive, dig-in bassplaying.
And re. bassplayers and stupid hats, when Jack Bruce wears a hat, it is by definition a cool hat, no matter what it looks like.
During the guitar solo around 3:50 Ginger and Jack change up the rythm and it just gets better from there on out. Watching this you can really see where Geddy got his inspiration for singing and aggressive, dig-in bassplaying.
And re. bassplayers and stupid hats, when Jack Bruce wears a hat, it is by definition a cool hat, no matter what it looks like.
Ginger would never cop to "the rock world".
He was a cat. A jazz drummer an could prove it by playing with the best
Clapton at his learning from the best. A couple of tours with Ginger and Jack and he had no choice but to up his game
They weren't playing lay Down Sally
Lay down sally was way post any Cream, as I am sure you know. I have followed Clapton from the early 60's, as have many others here.
His work with the Yardbirds then with John Mayall, showed a brilliant young guitarist in the making. For my music happy place, the "Blues Breakers" album under the tutelage of Mayall, Fleetwood and McVie was his "top this" young prodigy album. He has been a relentless student of the blues, and related black American music and when he is drawn into the quality songs of folks like Marley or JJ Cale it is IMHO because he hears something special that draws him, not an exploitable monetary possibility. I may be wrong. I saw Cream live in SF and Hendrix and the Who and etc blah blah Blah. I was lucky to be geographically well positioned next door to Bill Graham, with an older brother with a driver's license. For my tastes his hooking up with Duane Allman, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon and Bobby Whitlock, was his best album ever, next to the aforementioned Blues Breakers.
I only post this to emphasize that nobody is wrong here. It is all about what grabs you by the soul, or regions south.
In the late 60's I tried to tell my fellow white music friends that Aretha Franklin was the greatest female vocalist on the planet. When I first heard SRV playing "Little Wing" I was driving my car on my local windy road, and I did in fact have to pull over and just concentrate and not loose the FM signal. (years later I saw the SRV tribute show where Clapton said he did similar), but did not say which song. So to make a ridiculously long post worse, it is ultimately about what moves you. There is only that! I can tell you that you are crazy if you like "play that funky music white boy" better than this
But you can say I am deluded. Fun to hear that all of us dedicated bass players have our personal experience related opinions, hopefully not set in granite.
He'd never cop jazz drummer either.
He calls himself a musician who plays music and that music shouldn't be put in a box.
I partially agree, I use genres just for the sake of describing certain music to others but really people place too much importance on them.
When I was first learning to play, I learned tremendously from the studio side of "Wheels of Fire", including this song. On that studio version of "Deserted Cities", Jack develops and varies his part in ways that have always fascinated me. It's a good example of his ability to blur the line between composing and improvising. (That's him on cello, too.) Folks wondering "What's all the fuss about this guy?" should give a listen.
Clapton's best guitar work is the material he did with Cream. Hands down! Couldn't understand what all the fuss about him being a super dooper guitar player and everything. Then one day I picked up the Strange Brew DVD, watched it and said "Whoah. He don't play like that anymore!"
Yes, his path has made it hard for old timers like me to convey why he's justifiably in the pantheon. He did about 6 years of absolutely earth-shattering guitar work, then turned into a more well-rounded singer/songwriter/guitarist.
At the time, the argument was "Clapton or Hendrix?" Beck, Page, Bloomfield, Green and all of the other guys were recognized and loved, but the two exalted ones were Clapton and Hendrix. (The people who preferred Clapton did so because he was easier to grasp, his solos had perfect logic, and he seemed more "serious" because he had zero showmanship and used no "gimmicks.") (Now, in 2013, Hendrix STILL seems ahead of our time, in many ways.)
Watch the 2 YT clips I posted up there. Maybe if you look past the fact that you are a Who fan and just concentrate on the drumming, you'll change your mind.
I was told that the Who developed the ability to play around what Moon was doing. Also, most of the British guitarists I've played with like busy drummers. As a bassist, that preferred R&B music and Soul, I hated drummers that couldn't play the same thing twice. They seem to listen to whoever is playing the melody and ignore what's happening anywhere else. It becomes a fight... and since I needed the bread, I just let it go usually and did what was necessary for the sake of the tune. I would have loved to have discussed it with the drummer, but it wasn't going to happen..
That concept of the snare slightly behind the beat etc. works great in that genre, as far as making everything feel heavy, but if you get a drummer that can't play any other way, it feels like work. Add an ego to it, and it REALLY feels like work...
I was told that the Who developed the ability to play around what Moon was doing. Also, most of the British guitarists I've played with like busy drummers. As a bassist, that preferred R&B music and Soul, I hated drummers that couldn't play the same thing twice. They seem to listen to whoever is playing the melody and ignore what's happening anywhere else. It becomes a fight... and since I needed the bread, I just let it go usually and did what was necessary for the sake of the tune. I would have loved to have discussed it with the drummer, but it wasn't going to happen..
That concept of the snare slightly behind the beat etc. works great in that genre, as far as making everything feel heavy, but if you get a drummer that can't play any other way, it feels like work. Add an ego to it, and it REALLY feels like work...
Entwhistle. That is all.
Fans who come from the original fan base and are familiar with all aspects of an artist's work can definitely have a unique perspective. It's the people who only have a limited knowledge of an artist's discography yet seem to think they know everything--that's another story. I'm not just speaking of Clapton or Cream, but in general terms. Certainly, though, this definitely applies to Hendrix. To really know what he did, it would be best to have the three first albums, plus the Band of Gypsys album. It might be okay to skip much of the Alan Douglas period. But then at least get the 4 CD purple box set, the 4 CD Winterland release, the "Valleys of Neptune" album, the 4 CD "West Coast Seattle Boy," the "Hendrix in the West" CD, the recent "People, Hell, and Angels" CD, and a few of the Dagger releases which are really official bootlegs, and the Live at Berkeley CD. That's even intentionally leaving out Woodstock--something which some people seem to think defines Hendrix, but which others don't think was his best work (including me.)
I didn't mean to get off on such a tangent. I agree totally with the comment about Clapton's earth-shattering six year period of work, though. As for Hendrix vs. Clapton, I prefer Hendrix. But what Eric Clapton did with Cream is the stuff of legend, worthy of listening to again and again.
I agree with all of that.
I'll just add that Hendrix agreed to let Chas Chandler bring him to England... on the one condition that he'd be introduced to Eric Clapton. Clapton's playing on the John Mayall Bluesbreakers album (his latest work at the time Hendrix was offered the trip to England) was staggering.
That's right. I believe getting to meet Clapton meant a great deal to Hendrix. On the other hand, when he got to jam with Cream for the first time in central London, Eric Clapton was obviously startled. Clapton left in the middle of "Killing Floor." When Chas Chandler found him, Clapton was smoking a cigarette and said--"You didn't tell me he was that ****ing good!"
