Sunday, time for a classic. This time we jump back to 1967 where we find a band called "Cream", an excellent band among many other good bands back then.
Todays tune "Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band Cream, written by Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, and Eric Clapton. Originally released on the album Disraeli Gears in November 1967 and later released as a single in January 1968, it is Cream's only gold-selling single in the United States. It features a distinctive electric/bass guitar riff and a guitar solo from Clapton.
Development of the song began when Bruce and Clapton attended The Jimi Hendrix Experience show at the Saville Theatre in London. After the concert, Bruce returned home and wrote the riff that runs throughout the song. Most of the lyrics to "Sunshine of Your Love" were written during an all-night creative session between Bruce and Brown, a poet who worked with the band: "I picked up my double bass and played the riff. Pete looked out the window and the sun was coming up. He wrote 'It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes…'" Clapton later wrote the song's refrain which also yielded the song's title.
Clapton created the guitar tone on the song using his 1964 Gibson SG guitar (the famous "Fool" guitar) with a wah-wah pedal and a Marshall amplifier. The song is renowned among guitarists as perhaps the best example of his legendary late-1960s "woman tone", a thick yet articulate sound that many have tried to emulate. For the solo, Clapton played the opening lines from the pop standard "Blue Moon" (1934), creating a contrast between the sun and the moon.
Drummer Ginger Baker came up with the song's tempo, which was based on African drumming. Engineer Tom Dowd later claimed to have suggested the drum part, but Baker insists that he was indeed the one who came up with the drum pattern and didn't receive writing credit: "not even a thank you!"
The drumming on the first two verses emphasizes beats one and three, contrary to rock and roll standard practice, which emphasises beats two and four.
Cream's American record label, Atlantic, did not like the song originally and was not going to release it, but changed their mind when Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, whose Stax label was at the time distributed by Atlantic) said he liked the song. The 1970s disco and funk band Chic, while also signed to Atlantic Records during the birth of their classic hit single "Le Freak", were inspired by the song.
The title of the album is based on a malapropism. Eric Clapton had been thinking of buying a racing bicycle and was discussing it with Ginger Baker, when a roadie named Mick Turner commented, "it's got them Disraeli Gears", meaning to say "derailleur gears", but instead alluding to 19th-century British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. The band thought this was hilarious, and decided that it should be the title of their next album.
The album includes the fellows Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. that are simply superb musicians with the gift of unending virtuosity. Unfortunately the album does not totally hang together, marred by some poor material. They usually compensate for what they lack as composers and songwriters by thorough brilliance of performance. But in some tracks ("We're going Wrong," "Dance the Night Away" and "Blue Condition," among them), the material is too pale to support the heavy instrumental work which makes Cream such an overwhelming trio.
"Strange Brew" stands out as the most complex song and rather an unusual one in that Eric uses reverb — to stunningly mean and sensual effect — and it is really very far away from the usual blues stylings for which he has been noted. In some places in the song, it sounds like the guitar has been triple-tracked.
Todays tune "Sunshine Of Your Love" where Cream is performing live at Royal Albert Hall, London. November 26th, 1968
"Farewell Concert" is the live recording of the Cream's final concert at the Royal Albert Hall on November 26th, 1968. Directed by Tony Palmer, the film incorporates pieces of six performances with narration by BBC announcer Patrick Allen, along with interviews with the band members themselves, showcasing their playing abilities. The film has often been criticized for both its mediocre sound and visual effects. In 2005, a special extended edition of the concert appeared featuring full versions of all songs separated from the narration and interviews. The new version featured digitally remastered sound and video including three bonus songs.
Sadly did Jack Bruce passed away of liver disease on 25 October 2014, in Suffolk, England, aged 71
More info @
Official Eric Clapton Web
Official Jack Bruce Web
Official Ginger Baker Web
Listen to "Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love" on Spotify here!Follow tuneoftheday.blogspot.com on Spotify here
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