Cream: Farewell Concert (Special Extended Edition)

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Product Description ------------------- On guitar: Eric Clapton. Lead singer and bass guitarist: Jack Bruce. On drums: Ginger Baker. Their motto: "Forget the message, forget the lyrics, and just play." Their name: Cream. For two glorious years, Cream's high-volume blues, jamming and extended solos blazed a path into rock history. But the time to part had come, and all that remained was one wild, unforgettable concert. Now you are there, on November 26, 1968, inside London's illustrious Royal Albert Hall, jammed to its gilded rafters with rock fans ready for the final concert of what many still consider the greatest band that ever played. Includes rare off-stage interviews with the band members. BURST: Five Additional Songs! SONGS: Sunshine of Your Love • White Room • Politician • Improvisations • Stepping Out • Sitting on Top of the World • Spoonful • Toad • I'm So Glad • Improvisations • Crossroads Blues .com ---- Cream's 2005 reunion (after a mere 37 years apart) was big news and a very hot ticket. But anyone wondering what the fuss was all about is unlikely to get much enlightenment from Cream - Farewell Concert. The trio's (guitarist Eric Clapton, bass player Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker) November 1968 gig at London's Royal Albert Hall, the same venue chosen for their reunion, may have been a spectacular display of their instrumental virtuosity and legendary improvisational skills, but you'd never know it from this sub-par document. The sound has been digitally remastered, but the audio is still a turgid sonic sludge. The visuals are even worse, with director Tony Palmer jerking the camera around as if this were an episode of NYPD Blue, layering the picture with dated and distracting psychedelic light effects, and providing far too many close-ups of Bruce's teeth (and almost no wide s of the entire band). As for the music, well, it's apparent that these boys really could play; surprisingly, Baker's jazz-inflected drum solo is one of the highlights. But their reliance on extended blues jams ("Spoonful," "Sitting on Top of the World," etc.) belies the fact that despite their dismissal of commercial rock music (cf. Bruce's lofty cl in an accompanying interview that "we wouldn't dream" of trying to write a hit single), Cream's four studio albums contain some wonderful pop songs. Farewell Concert includes "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room," but for a much more satisfying taste of what they were all about, try the CD or DVD versions of Cream - Royal Albert Hall - London May 2-3-5-6 2005 instead. --Sam Graham