[Slowhand] Cream.....ho hum

[Shanahan]

Fellas

1) When rumours were circulating during the middle of '66 about the
formation of Cream, what were the fans of these three guys expecting from a
live concert?
2) When Disraeli Gears had just been recorded, before the U.S. cross-country
tour and the start of the long extended live jams, what were the fans
expecting from a live concert?
3) When they decided to call it a day, and went in to record the three final
studio tracks for Goodbye, was anybody expecting what was released?

As far as I'm concerned Cream is the title of a band that had Baker, Bruce
and Clapton in it.  They did Mother's Lament, Wrapping Paper, Sunshine,
Spoonful, Pressed Rat, As You Said, What A Bringdown, Doing That Scrapyard
Thing.  Quite a variety.   If these three guys get up on stage again they'll
be Cream.  If they perform acoustically, loud raucous rock, instrumental
jazz or accapella, they'll be Cream.  I like all three of them, and to have
them perform again is great.  They haven't come out of retirement to play,
they've been working musicians all their lives.  They are capable.

When these guys comment on the time they were together in Cream, what
aspects do they highlight?  The long extended live songs, where the audience
would go wild no matter how they played?  I think not.  It's usually along
the lines of respect and admiration for each other as musicians, the quality
of the songwriting, the approach and production of their albums.

What will be the criteria for choosing the setlist?  Do they perform the
'old' songs.  If they write new material can they perform that?  Can they
cover other Howlin Wolf songs other that Sitting On Top Of The World?  Will
they use the Setlist Generator?  If we attend the RAH and make an audience
recording, do we trade it as track-at-once, because there's no point in
listening to a concert from start to finish, unless we're doing something
else?

AND......

Sam, Ginger certainly fluffed the intro to Crossroads at the R&R Hall of
Fame, but the rest of the songs I thought were okay. In the following two
years he performed live with Bill Frisell and Charlie Haden in The Ginger
Baker Trio.  Both these guys have credentials to match and surpass all but a
few.  They chose to perform with Ginger.  In the shows I saw (on video)
Ginger held his own.  Okay 10 years on, who knows if he can crank out a 20
minute Toad (sounds quite disgusting), but is that what we want to hear?


Tone
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