Me too...50+...I enjoy Clapton almost daily.

I agree with both of you. And never get tired of his singing either

I learn of Clapton in Taiwan as was listening to Layla and I shot the sheriff in the ‘70s learning guitar from the few US military radio stations! Never grew tired of his playing and singing! 30 plus years and counting

@@CreamBootlegs I’m 19, and hear all the versions of steppin out almost always. Each version is truly magic, the improvisation is crazy good and those phrases.

@@CreamBootlegs yeah besides the obvious “sunshine of your love” steppin out and many of their other songs are just amazing that casuals don’t know. Check out their studio outtakes. There’s one here for “take it back” studio takes, it’s just Clapton and ginger playing. It Truly sounds amazing

And without pedals, effects, or...

@@pabloperez4063 true. I still can't imagine how the sound of his two Marshall stacks at full blast was live. I wish could hear that one time :(

RIP Jack Bruce. His bass playing was just "far-out" as we used to say at the time. I still need the Cream to get I don't know what and that is "far-out" too.

1) there are a few dozen hours of live Cream in YT and 2) it's Cream, not The Cream.

also: I saw Cream in 67 and 68 in L.A. - I snuck a mini reel-to reel into the Farewell Concert and recorded the whole concert. Yes, Cream live was quite the transcendent experience if they were having a good night. A friend of my mom's stole the Cream tape. The concert is in YT - maybe it's my tape! L.A. Forum, farewell concert.

@@dennismason3740 Saw them about a dozen times in the 60's. One of the most memorable was at Staples High School in Westport, CT on a Wednesday night. We drove down from Colgate U. to see them in my hometown. They played for almost 3 hours, there was no warm up band, just Cream and nothin' else!! Also saw them in New Haven and the Fillmore East. They were the greatest rock fusion band of all time, never heard better jams.

@@1blastman - Fantastic. I agree.

1969 Union Catholic High School New jersey , unreal to be sure

Well said!

+bmp-226 Bro you are totally right, it got too where Clapton Bruce and Baker wouldn't even hang out together and by this time he had become deaf in one ear from playing full volume in front of a couple marshall stacks (but usually just the one ,as 2 was just too loud he said) but he got too where he was wearing specialy designed ear plugs and he couldn't hear what he was playing ,and it got too where he was playing in weird traumatic kind of state and not really wanting to be there but having too and only really hearing in certain areas. yet . what Clapton did is , He Was The First to utilize the Les Paul and Marshal combo and crank it so it sustained and overdrived, its that old blues sound only louder. He would use the licks he hearned by the greats like Freddie and BB and Hubert and Albert and the part that would connect those licks would be him, and he was very fluid at improvising between maj and min pent lines and his beloved maj 3rd, He may play these Cream solos for 15-20 Minutes and of course after awhile you've exhausted every lick you know and are just repeating yourself (from Erics own mouth and very honest and true) but the thing is ,ive never really heard him boff a line , screw up a phrase or improvisation . And even though yes Peter Green is/was the best of the British Blues Guitarists (sheer emotional depth and fluidic mastery of his Dorian flavored Blues and gorgeous stinging Vibrato that only Kirwan and Kossoff can come close too, Green said that of all the Masters , Eric was his favorite) There is a reason why Eric 's style has changed , he also wanted to down play the guitar hero gunslinger thing of his early Blues Breaker and Cream days, and play more the role of accompanist or back up , and lower volumes and eventually the improvisations changed as well. as did the guitars , he had to change in order to survive I think , and while I'm not familiar with his more 70's type of albums ,I know regaurdless what ever Eric is playing the foundation is still the blues , whether its being played well or not is the real question & depends on him, but fuck, he's already done it all , and I'm indebted to his genius and love finding some old licks of his that are always resurfacing on the net..He was the First ,one of the top 3 ,and was the milestone by which all others were judged...

+Shem Su Hor Nephilim -I think you covered it from a to z. great comment.

Out of all the great blues guitarists there was only one who could really sing and that was Peter Green.I was fortunate to see them all.

@@shemsuhornephilim7702 Great post, We knew and could see the tension in the band towards the end. - The Version of Spoonful on Wheels of Fire is the Gold Standard for great rock fusion music. They took rock and jazz to another level. - When genius musicians experiment, sometimes the results are mixed, but even "bad Clapton" is usually great music.

Ciprian, absolutely agree. They were on the seen for what, from the Spring of '66 to Nov of '69? The impact that they made was incalulable.

@Bob Smith That was not rock, that was rock'n'roll. Different genre. Even some tunes of Chuck Berry, another guy here told me to consider.

@Bob Smith :)))) Nope. Things are way more complex. You have to study more. I recommend you to begin with what is probably the best rock history book ever: www.amazon.com/Whats-That-Sound-Introduction-History/dp/0393624145 This will show you the next steps. Pleasant discovery travel and we are waiting for you on the other shore to join the tribe!

@Bob Smith "Don't judge a book by it's cover" Bo Diddley. When you will study more you'll find out that rock'n'roll is just a root of some more roots that the rock has. Please forgive me if sounded condescending. It is just knowledge.

There were many guitar "heroes" Clapton and Hendrix just took it to the next level. they took the Guitar Hero thing to superstardom. Indeed Eddie Van Halen cited cream as one of his biggest influences. He said he would spend hours trying to play Clapton solos note for note.

Blame it on Music from Big Pink! (Coming from a super fan of the Band).

Thats allegedly why he got the nick name 'slowhand'.....used to break a string when in the bluesbreakers and the audience would give a slow hand clap while he changed the string. .....shame how the youngsters of today have 'matured' to the obsession of X factor and pop idol

fostex fan a red Les Paul? Could be Lucy!

OspreyD40 - I was at this concert as well. I was thinking he started with a Les Paul and then played the SG for one tune? But my memory might be a bit off. :-) This was the first big concert I ever went to.

My recollection, from balcony toward the left is that the curtain was down, sounds of Sunshine Of our Love Began as the curtain rose. When Eric began to solo and it wasn't "like the record" I didn't know what to make of it. We were pretty innocent, hadn't heard rock musicians improvise. My clear impression is that he was playing his painted SG until he broke a string, then was handed a red Les Paul. I recall very clearly that I felt the Les Paul sound was significantly sharper and more piercing, in a very good way. I do not recall how long he played the Les Paul. He might have handed it off and returned to the SG when the broken string was replaced. I recall them doing Train Time which was later released on Wheels Of Fire. That also really struck me, since there wasn't anything quite like it on their two albums to date. Incidentally, anyone reading this who still has their "Dratleaf"-as-publisher vinyl Disraeli Gears LP's, and early Fresh Cream LP's should never let them go. (Avoid the "Nemperor" publisher Disraeli Gears LP's, because the sound was somewhat numb compared to the first-pressing Dratleaf ones.) In the digital transfers of Sweet Wine (as a gross example) actual notes have been scrubbed from Eric's soloing in the 'compression process to digital formats. Apple iTunes versions are awful for the musical information losses, and even the CD's have lost music in the transfer from vinyl to CD. Terrible!

I have a recollection of there being strobe lights very briefly as the curtains came up. I have one of the "Dratleaf' LPs.

I just love this feeling man!

Me, too. That's why I thought "Hey, let's point it out so the music here is not forgotten over who's God on guitar or not". Sure appreciate letting us in. Much the best.

Thats what she said lol, me too

Hans Sieburg That's the problem in a nutshell. Nobody listens anymore, everybody goes by articles an list an what not. Nobody is above Cream, nobody, and I mean nobody, has their level of playing. I don't know one band who jams 10+ min all the time on their songs like Cream an who never play the same song the same way. I mean to jam for 10+ min all the time an keep that level of playing all the way through an keep you interested is an amazing feat, to say the least. Lastly, there's also a better version then this on KZfaq, much clearer an one hell of a jam.

+larkyleroy Van Halen is technically very good, but in my opinion, he can't touch the great English players. Clapton, Beck, Green, Taylor, Thompson, Page. These English guys have technique but the soul, intensity, tone and emotion just "drips" from they're fingers! also, Van Halen's tapping isn't even original - Harvey Mandel, a great American player, was doing it years before and, in my opinion, with ten times as much soul, emotion and tone.

+larkyleroy The irony about your Van Halen statement is Eddie says he has learned every solo Eric ever played with Cream ,all the live ones included note for note, (kind of a really brash thing to say really ) and knows he sounds nothing like Eric but its where he learned his phrasing, ...me I don't see it Eddie is not a blues player ,at least not on any Van Halen tunes I can recall. I loved Mick Taylors work too, according to Mayall Mick was lazier and took longer to develop while Green was pushy and trying to prove himself. Boy did he ever. 2nd in Blues depth and mastery only to Robert Johnson himself.

+Shem Su Hor Nephilim Since Van Halen has come up.....He did an album with Brian May called 'Star Fleet' I think. It was basically just blues jams. Side two was one long track called 'Bluesbreaker'! Just thought I'd mention it. Don't know if its on here. Or if its ever been released on CD?

avalanche344 It was just two great players fooling around with blues changes. None of it bore any relation to 'actual blues'! May was just the right age to be blown away by The Beano album when it first came out.

+larkyleroy Nonsense! Johnson would have laughed! How rigid! How structured! How on beat.

Say it....Seen them .

i agree, paul. this backbay concert is some of the best ec-cream stuff ive ever heard. metart93 has uncovered things i didnt know existed.

I tell ya, when I hear stuff like this I really miss those Gibsons. I'm not saying you can't get a blues tone from a Strat because obviously you can, but EC's blues style seems to flower on a Gibson.

paul harris Strats are fine! But if you really want to tear it up, Gibson's are for this sort of thing!

Agreed

Can't doubt that the three of them were all essential, and certainly the best power trio ever...I think.

@@pierstuson5909 They were,Yes. Seen them "Live " as a young musician. Jack was just the Power house that propelled them ,drew away w/ Vocals and pushed the limits of playing ,of Gingi and Erica.

@@CreamBootlegs You mean acid. But yeah, ALL three. If you play at all, check out Mike Brookfield and My Blues Guitar here on youtube. They do a lot of cream stuff and both channels do the bluebreakers album.

The Dominos' Fillmore East concert rocked - one of their greatest performances. END of an ERA.

i find both kind of performances very pleasing, love clapton’s 60’s and 70’s

I think after the 60s Clapton felt he had nothing to prove anymore as far as shredding on guitar so he went the other direction with his hippie friends and concentrated more on songs and songwriting. but I understand what you're saying people that thought that Clapton was going to form another "cream" and go on like that were sadly mistaken.

Yes they were

Live Cream, right?

@@jerryshunk7152 right, you are

Jimi Hendrix showed Eric Clapton how to really play a guitar when he arrived in England ,facts.

Yip. GB is doing nearly a drum solo behind EC, who is hammering it out.

@@roberthenry6910 Blackmore comes to mind...

I agree, most of Clapton,s post Cream stuff is a non starter for me, I saw Cream Live, Blind Faith and as a Solo act, and nothing compares with the Cream output. Solo's to a stratospheric level that he's never reached afterward, and understandably, he probably didn't want to, similar to Richie Blackmore tiring of the guitar slinger competition.

Went down hill the second he picked up a fender

I watched RFK speech he gave to a black crowd shit brought me too tears

Just curious, but what question were you talking about?

%1000 with you on that

Although alot of great recordings were also made with his firebird

@@MajesticMage Agreed. Although still a Gibson with humbucker pick-ups and I believe he also played an ES-335. You can see him playing the firebird with blind faith on KZfaq.

Andrew Larson totally agree. EC is god!

Bloomfield did it on the first two Butterfield records..

@@johnr8820 The Wright brothers' flying contraption may have flown first, but does that compare to a fighter jet?

Robert Henry Never said it did

You may want to consider the guy EC said was the best, Duane Allman.

Years of alcohol abuse and trading in the Gibson for a strat.

+rickythik Didn't peak out - just changed directions - wanted to become a troubadour. He realized that the extended corrosive intensity was killing him. I've seen him in concert several times - all of a sudden he closes those eyes and just erupts into the most melodic, emotionally powerful, technically brilliant improvisational burst's I've ever heard. He doesn't always do it - it's too physically and emotionally demanding. When he does and you're lucky enough to be there, you realize he really is the greatest living guitar player- no b.s.

well put

If Hendrix is Moonshine then Clapton, esp. considering he's played prominently for 42 more yrs at least, is a bottle of 1744 French wine worth $5,000,000! Compared to any rock/esp. blues guitarist of today!

john polete lol...that might be a little too extreme, john. how about a 42 year old bottle of chivas that someone stashed and forgot about? now thats gonna be some damn good scotch!

How close is Hurtwood Edge (Erics mansion/estate he bought while in Cream and still owns!)to Scotland anyways? Surrey to Scotland?Hmm? Yeah, I guess your right! Eric wouldn't drink any I can sure tell ya that! hahaha Hendrix and Clapton were the 1st 2 rock/blues guitar greats on this planet and I doubt too many will argue that one! Sure there were others like Johnny Winter or Peter Green but nobody from 1966 to 1970 even came close to those 2!

Look at the pictures. He's got twin stacks, though it looks like only one is miked for the P.A. And he's probably in what amounts to a high-school auditoreum.

@@tiborzkarate1 YES! Clapton got famous using Gibson's and Humbuckers and 100 watt MARSHALL'S, Strat's and Fender are awesome BUtt! NOT FOR ERIC Clapton.