Bruce was the dominant singer in the band, established on Fresh Cream, seeing as Clapton wasn’t as confident in his vocals at the start. Besides being able to carry a tune while playing the bass, Bruce’s keening baritone lent itself to layered harmonies, as displayed on “N.S.U.” and “Sweet Wine”, both of which could be called psychedelic before the fact. “Sleepy Time Time” and “Dreaming” come from more of a music hall tradition, which likely appealed to manager Robert Stigwood. All together, they deliver a diverse menu of styles. (Just to keep things confusing, the original US LP began with “I Feel Free”, their first hit single, and omitted “Spoonful”, which ended the first side. In their homeland, the opposite was the case. The CD you can buy today includes both, thankfully, being essential to the album.)
Side two provides something of a blues primer, being mostly hepped-up arrangements of songs every London R&B band should have memorized by then. “Cat’s Squirrel” is a suspended-fourth riff as old as the hills, and just plain fun. Clapton sings a rather polite lead on Robert Johnson’s ragtimey “Four Until Late”, which is wiped aside by a furious “Rollin’ And Tumblin’”. “I’m So Glad”, an extremely simple Skip James song, rises above its simplicity via a neat descending intro, compact guitar solo and dynamic drums. Those drums dominate the last song on the album, as “Toad” begins with a jam on E, followed by a definitely musical drum solo that would become a template, for better for worse, for drummers of all levels of skill.
It’s a terrific debut, economical and powerful. The one nitpicky thing that holds back enjoyment of the album—besides the bomber jackets on the cover—is its extreme stereo separation, with the basic backing track (instruments) in one channel and the vocals on the other. That makes some tracks sound like one of your speakers isn’t working, and after seemingly every other album had received some kind of expanded edition, Fresh Cream had to wait until its fiftieth anniversary had passed before this was rectified. The Super Deluxe Edition presented the original British sequence in both mono and stereo, each on its own disc bolstered by singles and alternate mixes. A third disc added a pile of outtakes and BBC sessions, while a Blu-ray disc included the US mix (plus “Spoonful”, “Wrapping Paper”, and “The Coffee Song”) in both mono and stereo, in high resolution.
Cream Fresh Cream (1966)—4
2017 Super Deluxe Edition: same as 1966, plus 52 extra tracks (and Blu-ray)
Audiophiles, to a man, swear by the DCC version of Fresh Cream mastered by Steve Hoffman. But it's out of print and a couple of hundred bucks. Next best is the old Polydor version. I don't know if either of these fix or mitigate the underlying separation issue, though I didn't see any complaints in the forums.
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