Cream’s Disraeli Gears has stood the test of time as a key album in the late 60’s psychedelic era. The legendary three piece featured Eric Clapton (vocals/guitar), Jack Bruce (vocals/bass), and the iconic Ginger Baker (percussion/vocals). It’s almost hard to imagine a three-piece could create a sound so heavy and big as Cream, but the trio did it with aplomb. Disraeli Gears primed the pump for the brand of rock that would follow in the 1970’s– a sound rooted in the blues, but experimental in nature and one that developed new sounds through the use of fuzzy guitars soaked in reverb and delay.
They weren’t alone in driving this new sound forward of course. “Sunshine Of Your Love” was actually inspired in part after the band attended a Jimi Hendrix concert in London during January of 1967 ahead of recording the album. According to Rolling Stone magazine, this event would come full circle when Hendrix would cover the song live, being blissfully unaware that he was the one who inspired the song in the first place. A nice historical footnote showing the symbiosis between two legendary forefathers of modern rock.
Standout Songs: “Strange Brew”, “Sunshine Of Your Love”, “Tales of Brave Ulysses”
