88. Cream — Disraeli Gears (1967)

1. Cream was always known more for their firey live presence than as a killer studio band, so I’ve not given them a ton of my attention (given I couldn’t get that live experience). I know their two major hits, one of which is on this record, but that’s about it. I was pumped to dig in, and Disraeli Gears mostly satisfied.
2. Regarding those hits — “Sunshine Of Your Love” is the second song on this album, and it remains now and forever an absolute banger. It’s heavy but accessible, bluesy but psychedelic, guitar-driven with a catchy melody. It’s everything I want from an Eric Clapton song, a song I’ve never gotten tired of that never feels outdated.
3. The rest of this album puts similar effort into modernizing the blues sound to reflect the changing winds of pop music. Where BluesBreakers was felt too old school, the wah-wah guitars and distortion here leave a much funkier, more forward thinking sound. Album opener “Strange Blood,” and mid-record tunes “Tales of Brave Ulysses” and “SWLABR” capture the excellent Clapton guitar work and leave you with a close approximation of what made Cream such a great live band. For a band not known for their studio work, this is a very good studio album.

One Essential Song:

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