Early Cream show: Live in Detroit gets vinyl release

 

(by Bill Glahn)

Cream: Live In Detroit ’67 (London Calling LC2LPC5013)

Venue: Grande Ballroom, Detroit, MI October 15, 1967

Cover/Presentation: Beautiful glossy gatefold cover, European type which always seem more resistant to ring wear and damage than their American counterparts. Records pressed on gorgeous white virgin vinyl which look like two 12-inch slabs of white chocolate. Delicious! Inside presents a 1967 article from Teenset magazine and period photos.

Sound quality: B (see review)

Tracklist: [side A] Tales of Brave Ulysees/ NSU/ Sitting On Top of the World/ Sweet Wine (fade) [side B] Sweet Wine (cont)/ Rollin’ & Tumblin’/ Spoonful (fade) [side C] Spoomful (cont)/ Steppin’ Out/ Traintime [side D] Toad/ I’m So Glad

Review: London Calling is one of those European labels that have cropped up over the last few years that have taken advantage of European laws that allow for unauthorized (or public domain) releases of broadcast recordings. On the back of the album jacket of Live In Detroit ’67, London Calling informs us that this recording comes from a WRIF-FM broadcast on October 15, 1967. I think, this time around, London Calling is fudging. WRIF didn’t exist until 1970 when Detroit FM pioneer, WXYZ, changed their call letters. 

More likely, this was lifted from a Japanese bootleg on the Gold Standard label called Cream Set, which featured the same mono soundboard recording. There has been some remastering to boost Clapton’s guitar and remove some ever-so-slight tape hiss that appeared on Cream Set. Unfortunately, that and the fact that nearly 2 hours of music is now squeezed onto a format only designed for 45 minute (max) per disc, also ups the amount of high end distortion - very slight on Cream Set, more noticeable here. Still, by bootleg standards, this is quite a good recording from a Cream performance that pre-dates the release of their Disraeli Gears album by several weeks. 

Cream Set will probably set you back 3 figures these days and this is the first vinyl appearance of this show that I am aware of. So, along with the exquisite packaging, it’s a fine addition to collectors who prefer vinyl. But there is another caveat as well. The style of long jamming that Cream traded in for their live performances requires that several songs be split with fade outs when presented as a 2LP set. This could have been avoided by expanding it to 3 discs. The length of the recording certainly justifies that.

On with the show…

The Grande Ballroom had a reputation for tough, knowledgeable, and discriminating rock audiences, similar in nature to the one held by the Apollo Theater in New York for soul music. Artists needed to bring their A game.

Cream’s resume at this point was one album of tightly constructed and well performed rock songs and blues re-workings. They were about to drop another one (their best). Radio audiences wouldn’t know about their penchant for extended workouts in a live setting until the following year with the release of Wheel of Fire. So how did Detroit respond to this 10-song, 2-hour marathon? 

I talked to several veteran Detroit journalists and one Detroit musician over the years that attended this concert. Every one of them stated that they came away thinking of Cream as some sort of non-funny joke. The musician claimed that Clapton wasn’t inventive enough to sustain interest over a 15 minute solo. Music historian, Dave Marsh, a teenager at the time, stated simply, “They were awful.” So what do the tapes reveal?

The audience response to Cream, limited hereby what could be picked up on a soundboard recording, is mixed. For a city with a history of great harmonica players, during “Traintime” the audience is silent throughout, Clapton wisely deciding to jump immediately into the opening riff for “Toad” at the song’s conclusion. Throughout the show, the response seems to be “politely enthusiastic.” But then, the front rows that would have been occupied by “Eric is God” myth-believers are the ones that would have been picked up through the stage mics. None of the jeering that lives in the memories of people who were there is in evidence. The loudest applause is for the poly-rhythmic drumming of Ginger Baker at the conclusion of “Toad,” closer to the jazz drummers that played behind beat poets than the Afro-Anglo sounds he would pursue later. 

 How do I hear it? I’ve always felt that Clapton is an excellent guitar player when there are boundaries involved. Disraeli Gears and Layla are two of the greatest rock albums ever made. As a jam guitarist, though, I think there is plenty of room for criticism. In this set’s first long song, N.S.U., a 16-minute marathon on a song that clocked in at under 3  minutes on Fresh Cream, Clapton sounds enthusiastic and inspired. By “I’m So Glad,” the last song, you realize it’s going to be the same basic soloing. With Cream, you just don’t get the excitement and diversity of The MC5, an unsigned band at this time but well-known to Detroit audiences. It was right that he MC5 should release their first album in 1969 as a live one. It would have been a critical disaster for Cream to do so, “God status” for Clapton none-withstanding. 

In conclusion, this is a set that most rock guitar enthusiasts are going to love. But you shouldn’t ignore Jack Bruce or Ginger Baker, arguably the best musicians on the stage that night.

Bonus review from the archives (February 1996 print edition)

Cream: Ricky Tick (Hiwatt/Scorpio 93066)

[review by Kirk Zeleski]

How deep is the well of the Scorpio family of labels? Although the connection between these two labels is not a given, the focus and quality of their releases is consistent and the fact that this release features the Hiwatt logo on the cover and the script Scorpio label on the disc would seem to indicate that the same folks are responsible for both labels. And what a pair of labels! Their specialty seems to be super high quality soundboard recordings by what are commonly known as “classic rock” bands that have somehow avoided mass availability among tape traders – even those with serious connections.

Previous releases include a pair of legendary Led Zeppelin bootlegs (Jennings Farm Blues & Studio Daze), a pair of Who releases that gained notice in even the mainstream press (Lifehouse to Leeds & Pure Rock Theater), some great Faces titles, top notch Dylan, cool Neil Young… You get the picture- a bootleg label that puts out worthy material that should have seen official releases years ago In fact, the upgraded Who’s Next uses some of the Lifehouse To Leeds material as bonus tracks, the tapes supplied by the bootlegger!

It then comes as no surprise that this Cream release is of incredible quality despite it’s early recording date, Hounslow, England January 15, 1967 [editor’s note: more likely April 1967, still quite early and significant]. The only earlier show by Cream that has surfaced so far is from Klooks Kleek, West Hempstead, England December 1966 (included here as bonus tracks, but available previously). 

The most amazing thing, besides the quality of the recording, is just how far Cream had developed their improvisational live set. The legendary instrumental battles and interplay are already well in place, something only The Grateful Dead were doing in America around this period, although on a far less rowdy and intense scale. Fresh Cream had only hinted at the extremes to which Cream would blend electric blues and hard rock. Ricky Tick is a real eye-opener.

Although Eric Clapton is often hailed as a great “pure” blues guitarist,” a view that he has justified from his work with John Mayall through his recent From The Cradle album, he is actually in top form when doing this style of hard improvisational rock. His blues playing in the studio is just a little too clean, a little too thought out, for this scribes taste. When Clapton unleashes his playing in the manic confines of Cream, he has no pear. I would venture to say that more young guitarists have been influenced by this style of playing than any number of his blues, country, or pop releases. Has Clapton ever been pushed to excel in the manner that he was by such egos and talents as Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker? I think not!

Baker once again proves to be the busiest drummer in rock this side of Keith Moon. Bruce fights Clapton constantly for the space to showcase his jazzy bass lines. This is cool stuff.

Bonus tracks include the previously mentioned Klooks Kleek tracks and some early studio recordings that include Clapton, but ot the other members of Cream.