Cream reunion Royal Albert Hall, London

The Guardian ^ | 5/3/05 | Alexis Petridis

[Guvmint_Cheese]

I think so. I want to say Harrison wrote the song as well.

[geege]

Don't forget the Depends!!!!

[Clemenza]

Jimi was from Seattle. Of course, he couldn't stand living here and went first to the east coast (to play with the Isley Brothers) and then to London.

[expatguy]

And "Badge"?

[Aquinasfan]

I did some googling and found that they both get credit for the song, or that George wrote the lyrics.

I remember hearing that George wrote on the music, "bridge," meaning that he wanted Eric to come up with a guitar bridge in the middle of the song. Eric thought it was the title, and misread it as "Badge." The rest is history...

[Aquinasfan]

I would choose "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love", but thats just me.

Too sixties for me. Like "Tales of Brave Ulysses."

[Clemenza]

The Sonics were one of a handful of underrated garage groups to come out of the Pacific Northwest in the 1960s. I always thought they they and the Raiders (that's right, the guys in the Revolutionary War uniforms) were forerunners of punk.

[Aquinasfan]

The guitar solo on the live version of "Crossroads" is probably one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. What happened to Eric Clapton after that?

I try not to think about it. But that solo makes the "Clapton is God" theory understandable.

There wasn't much after Derek and the Dominoes, was there? I like "The Core," but nothing nothing holds a candle to "Crossroads."

[scott says]

Yes George co wrote it.The story of that song is that Clapton had the lyrics on a piece of paper and George saw, "bridge" and said, "oh youve written one called Badge".Where is my badge is a the reference to when the Beatles received the MBE from the Queen.....

[scott says]

I'm not a huge fan of Cream,I understand your "too sixties for me". I feel the same way.

[Aquinasfan]

Found this:

George says; 'On Badge, Eric doesn't play guitar up until that bridge. He sat through it with his guitar in the Leslie (rotating speaker) and Felix Pappalardi was the piano player. So there was Felix, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and me. I played the rhythm chops right up to the bridge, at which point Eric came in on the guitar with the Leslie. And he overdubbed the solo later. I wrote most of the words, Eric had the bridge and he had the first couple of chord changes. I was writing the words down, and when we came to the middle bit I wrote "Bridge". From where he was sitting, opposite me, he looked and said "What's that-Badge?" So he called it Badge, because it made him laugh'.

[blu]

LOL! I meant musically, not physically!

[forester]

But Strats definitely cut through the mix better than Les Pauls, and you can get a nice twang out of them with an ash body (although not nearly as twangy or as bell-like as a Tele), and they're a lot more comfortably to play (especially when the gigs run long).

Our lead player has a definite metal style; plays mostly power chords in between fills and solos. I tend to use the bridge pick-up in order to cut through the power chords.

As far as weight, although my Les Paul is half the weight of my '76 Marauder, it still weighs a ton. One day I noticed Santana's guitar strap (~7" wide) Since I got a 6" wide bass strap, my shoulder feels much better :o)

[blu]

DUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHIFEELFREEDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHIFEELFREEDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHIFEELFREEDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHIFEELFREE(uuuuuuummmm uummmmmm ummmm) DUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHIFEELFREE(uuuuuuummmm uummmmmm ummmm)DUHDUHDUHDUHDUHDUHIFEELFREE

Opening riff for White Room? Or just meds need adjusting?! :)

[scott says]

Thats right, my memory fails me a lot!I remember hearing the story and got it mixed up.The All Things Must Pass is one of my favorites, the remix version that was remastered is terrible, the original is much better.Eric is on the lp.

[MJM59]

I wonder how many of today's hot musical performers will be giving reunion concerts like this in 35-40 years like Cream is doing? For some reason I am not seeing a lot of them.

[Aquinasfan]

All Things Must Pass is one of my favorites,

It's a great album. Interestingly, it could be described as a "Flower Power" album, but it holds up very well, except for the third record, which was a mistake.

[baseballmom]

Saw that too. IIRC, George's son, Dani, also played. Good show.

[MyFreedomIHoldDear]

When my oldest brother got back from Vietnam in '69, he suggested I listen to Cream. I only have the Disraeli Gears cds. There is a song called "The Politician" where Clapton sings "I support the Left, but I'm leaning to the Right". Apparently, he hasn't and probably will never.

[scott says]

Absolutely...way out there.I wish it was just 2 lps, the third is throw away material.Have you ever heard the 1991 Live In Japan cd? Its from when Eric talked George into doing a mini tour of Japan, with George fronting with Eric and His Band. Its in my top 5 personal favorites...