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Disraeli Gears

Cream - Disraeli Gears Audio CD

A fair review of the Cream "Disraeli Gears" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Cream reviews here, or go back to the Cream tabs.

Band: Cream
Title: Disraeli Gears
Rating:

Release Date: 1998-04-07
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Strange Brew 2: Sunshine of Your Love 3: World of Pain 4: Dance the Night Away 5: Blue Condition 6: Tales of Brave Ulysses 7: Swlabr 8: We're Going Wrong 9: Outside Woman Blues 10: Take It Back 11: Mother's Lament

A lighter shade of blues
. 3 1/2

Creative classic rock digs deep with some memorable melodies, evading excellence from the little disposable hippie pop and fuzzed-out overkill heard.

My Mind-Blowing Introduction To The Music Of Cream!!

It was 1981, I was 17 when I first heard this on vinyl---It was a life-changing musical revelation!
I love every track on here and I thought they did a great job with the remastering. MAN!!--Why can't they make music like this now!
MAN!!--Why couldn't I have been born 15 or 20 yrs before when I was born,
so I could've really enjoyed this classic psychedelic rock album when it was current and,
dare I think it, maybe could've had the chance to see CREAM live and in person??---WOW!!

At any rate, this was my introduction to that MEGALITH of late 60's classic rock history.
Music was so atmospheric in the late 60's and early 70's, and goodness knows, a time
of much radical changes and substance. I love to get around people of my parents' generation
who were living life and doing their thing as the young people of this time, so I can hear
their stories and absorb the music that moved them and captured where they were coming from.
I can put this CD on and be transported by it, much like SGT. PEPPER, THE DOORS, HENDRIX, SLY
and others, and it's like a blueprint or photograph, only a sonic one, of a time, a generation,
an ethos, and a mighty freaky funky all-inclusive celebration that will rock on forever!!
DISRAELI GEARS is, was, and always will be. . . THE BOMB, BABY!! (-:.

Simply Gear--In a Disraeli Kind of Way
Musically speaking, I was wide open to anything new--so the album's somewhat psychedelic feel worked just fine for me. So anyway, I was 15 in 1967 when this record came out, and in many ways that was just the right age. But I was hearing enough and reading enough to know that skill mattered. And roots mattered too. The fact that Cream was NOT a garage band meant something (although I later decided that garage bands certainly had their place in the grand scheme of things as well). It would take a while before I'd even to get a chance to explore Clapton, Bruce and Baker's back catalogue, but the very fact that they were known to be top drawer was a draw for me.

It was even a little exciting to read interviews with the band at the time of the album's release in which they stated that they'd already moved WAAAY beyond that point musically. As it later turned out, they were probably talking about jamming--which as it turned out, really wasn't my bowl of tea, but the very notion of constant dynamic artistic growth and development tickled my brain. Still one of the things I liked most about DISRAELI GEARS (as well as WHEELS OF FIRE's studio tracks) was how the virtuosic instrumentals actually served the songs, and not vice versa. Of course, it almost went without saying that "Sunshine of Your Love" or "Tales of Brave Ulysses" would be expanded upon considerably in concert. But what's nifty about the studio tracks is how well the intricate guitar work and powerhouse drumming is interwoven into actual songs.

Aside from the obvious novelty numbers sung by Ginger Baker (this was still the era of "Give The Drummer Something Cute to Do"), DISRAELI GEARS is about 50% atypical Cream. I mean, if "Ulysses," "Sunshine" and "Brew" were all destined to become Cream standards, songs like "World of Pain," "Dance the Night Away," "We're Going Wrong" and even "SWLABR" were just off the wall enough to count as "near novelty" numbers themselves. These tunes displayed an experimentalism that went beyond mere virtuosity. It wasn't all heavy and didn't have to be, which was a lesson I often wished their followers had taken more to heart.

A song like "Tales of Brave Ulysses" could even be a little on the literate side, without showing too much strain for it. Even the segues were interesting. "World of Pain" post-adolescent gloom effectively counters "Sunshine's" exuberence.

It was actually quite telling that the band saw fit to close out the original Side 1 AND Side 2 of the record with those Ginger Baker novelty tunes. It was a sly way of saying, "Don't take all this virtuoso stuff SO seriously. There's more to us than that. " There was. And it's still there for the enjoyment and edification of everyone's inner 15 year old.

.

Good chill out music if you like it, but samey if you don't. 75/100
Whilst I can't exactly see why this constitutes a 'classic' album, I did enjoy it a whole lot more than their debut, which I gave 3 stars and 65/100 too.
"Disraeli Gears" was featured on the tv series "Classic albums". Their debut, "Fresh cream", which I reviewed here, also features on many lists on the greatest albums of all time. . . Australian Rolling Stone and American Rolling Stone lists, for starters. For me, this is a reasonably good album, but it is only with their third, and final regular studio album, "Wheels of fire", that Cream make an album worthy of the label "classic".

That being said. . .

The two songs that I consider to be the best on this album are:

Sunshine of your love - a bluesy rock song with an instantly identificable introduction. Good riff, drum pattern and noticeable bass. Has the lyric "give you my dawn surprise", which, if sung by Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, would be thought really cool, but if sung by AC/DC's Bon Scott, would be thought sleazy.

Tales of brave Ulysses - seems to presage their later song "White room". Has fantasy/poetic type lyrics. Noticeable bass and I like the tone of the drum and its pattern. Has a "Stairway to Heaven" type guitar solo.

The rest:

Strange brew - bluesy rock with distorted rock guitars (rhythm and lead guitars). The singer has a high voice in the album opener and the bass in noticeable.

World of pain - laidback, soulful song. Has some breathy, high pitched vocals. Bass, and a nice drum tone feature as well.

Dance the night away - another laidback, soulful sounding song. Similar to the previous song, in any case.

Blue condition - laidback track, with a classic blues riff. Has a drunken melody and the vocals have a sort of carnival/novelty record type vibe (Monty Python style). Piano features.

Swlabr - the intro features bluesy hard rock, with some soulful and bluesy lead guitar. The guitars remind me of the kind of buzzy guitar sound Led Zeppelin make (I'm assuming that Led Zeppelin create that sound with guitars).

We're going wrong - high pitched vocals, bass, with a repeated, complex drum pattern. The guitar strums a simple pattern.

Outside woman blues - a funky blues track, in a Beatle-esque way. Harder drumming here. Bass and a bluesy lead guitar. Not sure, but I think that the singer may get the lyrics wrong one time, re the order of "food/dirt".

Take it back - the intro reminded me of The Red Hot Chili Pepper's classic intro to "Around the world". A jaunty blues song with harmonica.

Mother's lament - has a self-conscious intro, with dual lead vocals which aren't synchronised. Piano features, and one of the singers seemed to have a New Zealand type accent in this song! There is an ethereal echo in this song too. . . but I suppose the song mainly comes across as a novelty song.

Recommendations from this period in music history:

Cream: Wheels of fire

The Jimmi Hendrix Experience: "Are you experienced?", "Electric Ladyland" and, to a lesser extent, "Axis: Bold as love". .

creams 1967 psychedelic classic!!
disreali gears was the second album of this 60,s supergroup. cream,s disraeli gears was released in november of 1967. so in the spirit of that year the album,s cover art which i think is one of the coolest in rock reflected the high times!!cream unfortuneatly had alot of infighting bettween jack bruce and ginger baker. cream would split up by early 1969. the standout cuts are;sunshine of your love,tales of brave ulyses,swalbr and dance the night away among others!!so grab this psychedelic gem!!.

You can see a complete list of all Cream discography, or go back to the Cream tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.