[Slowhand] RE: Cream reunion

[Jon Maclean]

I too have very mixed feelings about this whole prospect.
On the one hand it creates an air of excitement and nostalgia many of us 
feel for a great band which although short-lived, was vitally important at 
the time. On the other hand, a sense of dignity would suggest that if 
attempted at all, such a reunion might have been better staged 10 or 15 
years ago, when the partcipants were still middle-aged. To imagine the 
spectacle of three 60+ year old men trying to do justice to the power and 
raw energy of Cream circa 1968 is a daunting prospect. I have no doubt that 
they will be able to present competent and entertaining shows.
But whatever they do, it cannot hope to match the performing heights Cream 
scaled in its heyday, hence my comment about dignity.
Although circumstances clearly curtailed a Beatles reunion, it perhaps 
worked out best in the end that the Beatles never truly reunited after the 
1970 split. There is a neat closure to their story. The seeming 
invincibility the band had at the time was not compromised by acceptable but 
not great comeback performances based on nostalgia.
I witnessed Peter Green's Splinter Group live in Australia about 2 years 
ago, and it was just so sad to see Peter as a mere shadow of his former self 
as a musician. I really did get the impression he was not there mentally at 
all, and the other guys were quite content to trade on his name (I believe 
he has since left the band under mysterious circumstances, and is once again 
in retreat). Compared to the memory of his greatness in Fleetwood Mac, that 
performance was about as undignified as one could get, in my view anyway.
Money? Surely to God none of these guys are contemplating this for reasons 
of money.
Sure, I will buy the Cream reunion CD and DVD sets, and probably enjoy them, 
but my over-riding thought is that I wish Eric had just let this one go.

Cheers,
Jon


>From: Apurva Parikh <apuraja8 at hotmail.com> To: slowhand at planet-torque.com 
>Subject: [Slowhand] lukewarm on Cream Reuinon Sent: Thursday, 11 November 
>2004 4:57:18 PM
>
>If it happens.. For me it won't be about what type of guitar plays (Strat 
>vs Gibson), but it'll more >about how much passion/energy Ginger/Jack have. 
>Hopefully it's not just a vehicle for them to >make some maybe much needed 
>cash, but it's actually something they all will be creatively driven >by.