Product Description

Recorded in the U.S. in a three-and-a-half day flurry of inspired activity before the band members' visas expired, DISRAELI GEARS continued to present the legendary, unprecedentedrock power-trio acrobatics pioneered by Cream on their debut FRESH CREAM. The acronymic "SWLABR (She Walked Like a Bearded Rainbow)" for instance, featured some of the band's mostfiery instrumental interplay. The album, with its eye-catching day-glo cover, was produced by Felix Pappalardi (who went on to co-found the Cream-inspired Mountain) and once againfeatured collaborations between singer/bassist Jack Bruce and lyric poet Pete Brown. The Top Five hit "Sunshine Of YourLove", however, was written by Brown and Eric Clapton. Thaticonic riff-rocker, along with the slinky, bluesy "Strange Brew", and the mythographic, wah-wah stomper "Tales of BraveUlysses" was a staple of rock radio forever after, making DISRAELI GEARS one of the seminal '60s rock albums. Despite the good humor suggested by the jokey a capella reading of "Mother's Lament", however, all was far from peace and love inthe Cream camp at the time, as internal and external pressures broke up the band by the end of 1968.

Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #965 in Music
• Released on: 1998-03-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Running time: 33 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fresh Cream, the album that introduced this seminal super-blues trio to America, was perhaps a bit too blues-based to do the advance hype ("Clapton is God!") justice. Two of its three best-known tracks, after all, were blues covers; it was Disraeli Gears that turned Cream into a "supergroup." Here they pursue the psychedelic ideals of the era with total abandon (the LP cover art still stands as one of the 1960s' most striking designs), merging these ideals with their take on the blues and adorning the amalgamation with some superb pop craftsmanship. Of the 11 originals here, four--"Tales of Brave Ulysses", "SWLABR", "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine of Your Love"--earned major airplay. This, their excess-free greatest moment, does the Cream legend proud. --Bill Holdship

Customer Reviews

One of the very few classic rock albums that are actually classics.
I am 17 year old and i'm a massive fan of heavy metal, I love most types of music from Heavy Metal to Blues to abit of Indie to Instrumental rock and all types of rock from 60s 70s and 80s. 2 of my friends who have similar taste in music as me really like Eric Clapton so I checked his greatest hits and that was brilliant. Then I decided to start my Cream selection and bought this and i love it.

This awesome rock/blues album was made famous by the song Sunshine Of Your Love, which is a brilliant song but there is more to this album then that song. The best song for me here is World Of Pain it's amazing and the vocals on this album are brilliant. In conclusion, this album is brilliant and should any music lovers collection whatever music you like buy it.

You need to buy this album
Chances are, if you've stumbled upon this page, then you know something about music. There are going to be people out there who have no interest in this album, but a lot of them will be people with a very narrow view on music, and tastes which fall into very specific confines. This album, however, is one of the most important and great albums in the history of popular music. Eric, Jack and Ginger, influenced by some of the greatest music released up until 1967, went into the studio for their second album together and recorded something that not only paid a respectful homage to the Blues legends, but something that stood near the forefront of the blossoming psychedelic scene. It remains today one of the great psychedelic albums, alongside "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" or "Electric Music For The Mind And Body," perhaps even the greatest, and its influence on popular music thereafter is immeasurable.
Of course, if your music collection consists entirely of electro-pop, or speed metal, it's worth noting that this album doesn't really fit into either of those genres. If, on the other hand, you appreciate many different kinds of music, or you're just a fan of Psychedelia or great Blues based Rock, then get it, I'm surprised you haven't already.

Unsatisfactory in stereo because of the drums but one of the 'great' rock albums in mono.
Hasn't anyone who has reviewed this apart from 'Top Cat' noticed how unnatural and lightweight the drums sound on many of these tracks when heard in stereo. The people at the record company who put out a deluxe edition in stereo AND MONO must have noticed, though rarely do these people show this sort of musical intelligence.
40 years ago when I first got to know this it was a mono copy I had - on vinyl of course. When I acquired a CD copy some years ago at first I couldn't understand why I felt so let down but I soon realized that it was the stereo mix that was to blame; it was neither the quality of sound with the transfer to digital nor the music itself thankfully, although not having heard my old copy for some years, for a short time I was uncertain whether my old estimation of it had been correct. But no, when I was able to hear my old mono pressing again I found it was as good as ever, and there are not many things in rock I can say that about. It's still not as good as the best of their live recordings but I never thought it was. And it's not as good on CD, even in mono, as it is on vinyl, perhaps because a stereo cartridge playing a mono disc seems to give you a certain amount of right left separation, but it's still pretty good. See my review of the Deluxe Edition.
In referring to the stereo mix I am referring to all 3 stereo masterings that I have heard on CD, including the latest.
In mono I would give it 5 stars. The most important improvement made by listening in mono is the difference it makes to the drums. In stereo the drums are too isolated on the right and sound rather tentative and half-hearted. They just don't make sense in a way that makes a positive contribution to the music. They sound so light someone has described them as sounding as if Baker was using practice pads. But in mono they sound heavier and right, adding density and complexity. In stereo because they are in a separate world of their own they sound predictably regular, and instead of being contrapuntal are just distracting. This is made worse because often the lead guitar is on the extreme left, as far away from the drums as possible. But Baker's genius for using offbeats in the bar to place his stresses, and for suspending stresses where you expect them to be is clear and effective when heard in mono. This is vital in Cream. Without it a lot of the tension and release of tension is lost.
What I have said applies to the 5 most important tracks on the album, namely Sunshine, Ulysses, SWLABR, Outside Woman Blues, and We're Going Wrong. The rest of the tracks sound OK in stereo.
The stereo mix sounds alright apart from what happens to the drums. It's very sad this silly mistake was made and it really shouldn't be too difficult to put it right with another remastering.
Unfortunately the stereo engineering of 'Fresh Cream' the first album is equally bad, or in many ways worse, as almost every aspect of it is wrong. But at least the drums are loud, even if they are harmless, pushed as they are again to the extreme right, with the bass sitting right on top of them. Fortunately this means that played in mono the drums are quite capable of playing their proper part centre stage and at the same time this produces a better bass which no longer competes with the drums in their little space on the right, but expands and separates.
(This is all true of clean sounding stereo systems. In more bottom heavy or muddy ones the stereo separation may not seem so extreme.)
The same solution of combining the right and left channels does not work with 'Disraeli Gears' as the drums aren't quite loud enough in the stereo mix, so played in mono mode they still aren't loud enough, even if they are better placed. There is no choice, therefore, but to get the Deluxe Edition with the original mono mix.