Tales
Of Brave Ulysses
by Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp
You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,
But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.
And the colors of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses:
How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,
For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips.
And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise,
And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea.
And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body,
Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind.
The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.
Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell,
And you know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands
With tales of brave Ulysses; how his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing.
The tiny purple fishes run lauging through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.
It is really hard
to believe that Cream was only together for a little more than two
years. They were rock's first power-trio and in their short history
would sell millions of records and sell out concert halls everywhere.
The band was formed as a blues-rock outfit in late 1966 with Eric
Clapton on guitar and occasional lead vocals, Jack Bruce as its main
songwriter, lead singer and bassist and drummer Ginger Baker. Clapton
was already pretty well know as a guitar hero in the UK and with Cream
would soon be an international guitar playing superstar. He had been
in bands like the Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers before
Cream.
Bruce
also had been a member of the Bluesbreakers along with Clapton for
a short time and had just left Manfred Mann when he joined up. Baker
was the drummer for the Graham Bond Organisation , yet another band
that Bruce had also been a member of. All three Cream members were
looking to expand their music experiences and play music other than
what was standard for the time period. No question that was what they
ended up doing, playing long blues jams and extended solos live including
everything from blues, to psychedelic, to hard rock.
It
seem unreal that a band so hot would break up while at their
peak, yet that is just what happened to Cream. Once again the three
members wanted to break out and do something new. Cream played their
last concert on November 26, 1968, at London’s Royal Albert
Hall. There would be one last album after the breakup to be
released in early 1969 , Goodbye, it consisted of three studio tracks
and three live tracks. One of those studio tunes would be the Eric
Clapton-George Harrison composition "Badge" which is the
album's best track. Goodbye may not have gotten the greatest reviews
but it did hit number two on the charts.
Life
after Cream was most rewarding for Clapton with a huge solo career.
He did briefly belong to two supergroups, teaming up again in '69
with Baker in Blind Faith and then in 1970 he formed Derek & the
Dominos. Bruce went on to form several different bands with several
big name musicians and covered everything from blues, rock, folk and
jazz. Baker after Derek & the Dominos formed a couple of bands
including Ginger Baker's Air Force which put out a couple of albums.
He was later in a few other bands and then got back with Bruce in
BBM in 1994. He retired from the business in late '97 and bought a
horse farm in Colorado which he ran until late '99 when he was being
forced out of the country.
CREAM
OFFICIAL WEBSITES (CLICK
ABOVE TO VISIT)
For
listen samples, click on CD cover photo's.
In new window click on CD photo again and scroll down.
Fresh
Cream - (1966)
Disraeli Gears - (1967)
Wheels of Fire - (1968)
Goodbye - (1969)
Live Cream - (1970)
COMPILATIONS
Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream - 1995
Those Were The Days - 1997
BBC Sessions - 2003
Cream Gold - 2005
Live Cream Volume II - 1972
Cream-Royal
Albert Hall: London 2005 (LIVE) CD
Cream-Royal Albert Hall - London May - 2005 -DVD
Cream - Farewell Concert (1968)
Inside
Cream (1966-1969) DVD
Cream: Fresh Live Cream (1993) DVD
Strange Brew DVD
