Cream - "Steppin' Out" Live at Klooks Kleek, London November 15th 1966. Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton at the start of their short career as Cream.
Andy Brennand However, we can argue on the matter who provides more satisfaction when we're listening to them, and we can judge who of them is more inventive as a player.
+sevchyk Lol How can you " argue" who gets more pleasure from listening? it's a totally subjective experience, man I know you 12 year olds have to learn, but why not shut up listen and learn?
sevchyk What a stunning rejoinder as if my avatar has anything to do with the fact you make stupid comments on RU-vid, and get called on them. I expect a moron like you has that happen frequently.
He's on fire in this. A moment in rock history when Hendrix hadn't yet established his thing, Beck and Page were still basically playing pop guitar, Townshend had invented rock chords but didn't have the solo chops, and the jazz-influenced technique guys had yet to discover sustain (or, let's face it, flair). He is, at this point, way out there on his own.
Hendrix had arrived in September and blown Eric off stage with a powerful version of Killing Floor. This upt the ante for Clapton and we can hear that in this firey version of Steppin Out. The battle was well and truly ON!
Probably partly it was because he was a quiet person in a band with volatile characters and this was his way of letting out his frustration. If you read any of his comments on this period, he wasn't happy and honestly got bored playing these 10-15 minute jams. Let's face it, he's a blues guy and there are 6 notes in a blues scale. He admitted many times, he felt out of his element playing with two jazz guys. But he is more than appreciative fans enjoyed it but he would not agree it was his best work.
Andy, I used to have a friend who was an American Vietnam draftdodger, hiding out in Jamaica. He turned me on to Cream and he and his friends would argue about who was better, Hendrix or Clapton. But you are right man, they are comparable to a Ferrari and a Lamborghini. Both Icons, we should just dig both of them and say where they came from was pure Magical healing sounds. We need them both back today. Much of the current music is no longer the healing of the nations.
I was there at Klooks Klek when this was recorded... I also saw Eric Clapton playing with John Mayall there as well in the very early days andd the sound of his black Les Paul I will never forget,,, magnificent sound in a small club... his sound was sooo new and special at the time
Jack Bruce told my buddy, who was his manager at the time, that this gig was the band at their best. Clarity, conviction and intent gave us this explosive moment.
Whew .... Clapton in his early 20's, with a lot of raw talent, mixed with the juice and firey desire to play on stage to impact an audience..... this audio is the result.
I gotta save this, pure Cream when we had no grandkids. I need to plug this legendary performance into a big system and turn it up. Hey can't you see they were right all along. This will never die. Eric, Bless.❤️✌️😎🎸🍀
This was 1966, Jim Marshall was just starting to build 100 watt heads in 1965. There's something about the sound of overdriven Marshall amps of that era. Clapton was plugging his Les Paul straight in and flooring those amps. That's a sound right there. That's a tone that stays in your head.
Clapton's playing at this gig and especially around this time is just astonishing. He was really starting to forge his trademark sound and the guitar on this track in particular is absolutely incendiary. The vibrato sound makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. If ever there was a guitarist that could truly make a guitar sing it was Clapton. Clapton is still a great guitarist but he really was unbelievable in the early Cream days; raw, experimental and truly pioneering.
This is one of the finest examples of Clapton's early playing I have ever heard - truly amazing especially considering it was 1966. Baker and Bruce were equally as good - what a trio of power!
You can really hear these are young men, willing to give it all they have got. It is more than skill, it is music played with the same manic intensity as early bebop or punk. After this period Clapton turned into a rather dull craftsman. But when he was in his prime he was a true miracle. Maybe guitar players are just like athletes, who can only perform at an exceptional level as long as they are completely singleminded about what ever they do. Once that is gone it is gone forever. You can never be that hungry twice.
No one over 32 should be in rock music. It's a young man's game. And if you're frying your talent in hard drugs like heroin, the muse is going to leave you all the faster.
true.in his autobio he says he didn't want to be the focus of attention but to blend in with the others.So that and a shed load of drink and drugs and love affairs were to 'blame' for his blanding out.However i'm second to no-one in my admiration for D and the Ds.
I agree hunger and drive make all the difference. Age doesn't make a difference. Parker, Coltrane, Miles, McClaughlin... all older folks who kicked it.
@Creative Solutions I just don't agree. His last interesting work was the Derek and the Dominos life album recorded in 1970, especially Why Does Lover Got To Be so Sad, Tell the Truth and and Have You Ever Loved a Women. His singing was great and passionate on that album. When I saw him 1974 during the 461 Ocean Boulevard tour, I realised immediately a new Middle of the Road Clapton had emerged. After that he occasionally did something interesting, but the adventurous guitar god was gone. His real career lasted only four years, the same timespan as the careers of guys like Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. Some die and some survive, but it seems impossible to continue performing at that manic energy level for more than a handful years. Just like punk or bebop it was a young man's game.
The kind of music Cream made and the volatility of the characters in the band meant it would only last a few years at most. Clapton isn't Alan Holdsworth or a virtuoso across many styles who can stand there and noodle for half an hour and never run out of ideas. He was a blues player and while he admitted that it challenged him and was a valuable experience, it grew tiresome and he wanted to play songs, not jam endlessly every night, especially when the rhythm section is at each other's throat nightly. Your opinion about Clapton's playing not being "exceptional" after Cream is like saying Tiger Woods is not exceptional because golf isn't as exciting as watching Tyreek Hill catch TD's from Patrick Mahomes.
I think that is because he burned out too quickly, and then decided to play stoned and drunk for a long time. Then he thought he could sing and play pop music. Still does.
1.56 on....The fire in his playing is incredible. People forget about 'this' Eric Clapton. They didn't call him God for nothing. Ginger Bakers drumming is immense throughout. Killer performance. Thanks.
+Anthony Monaghan Yep Anthony all the kids hear today is Eric's after Dominoes days stuff. I enjoy all of his music ,however when you check out his early stuff.... Bluesbreakers , Cream and Dominoes whew! That fire!
We got our copies of the Powerhouse and then shortly after that, the Bean-O one so naturally all of us guitarists had to start playing hard like that in 1966. But we had our Freddie King and Hubert Sumlin already anyway..Good time/bad time in America.
It really is amazing that this is 1966 - think of how most of rock music sounded in 1966! This is some of the first heavy rock sound, innit?! They are inventing a new kind of rock, here.
I know this post has already been up for nine years, but just want to say "thanks" to slunky08 for publishing this. Years ago, when 8-track tapes were still around, I found an 8-track at a thrift store of Graham Bond Organisation Live At Klook's Kleek... I thought I had found the Holy Grail! But since the advent of RU-vid, recordings that floated around music circles as bootlegs, and not accessible to most people, can be easily found here. A treasure-trove of historic performances! A huge Thank You to everyone who shares these recordings on RU-vid!
That was some serious guitar playing! What makes it even more amazing is that he was playing like that in 1966. Nobody was playing like that in 1966. Clapton set the tone for what was to come in the next few years
Good lord, he is on fire here! The band gives him great support, too, unlike their later stuff where everyone is soloing at the same time. Amazing track.
This brings back the excitement I experienced seeing Cream twice at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. Everyone was very competitive; Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Peter Green and I saw them all but Cream was special.
I have to say I saw the band during their 1st tour of the U.S. I went to see them at the Cafe Au go go in the village in NYC. This club was pushed if it held more than 350 people. You cannot imagine what it was like then, when these guys were firing on all cylinders. I listened to the 1st album before they came over to the States, but hearing and seeing them in person then was seeing and hearing the birth of new music.You instantly knew,The Beatles, Stones, EVERYONE was now basically old fodder. Hearing this super group from 30 feet away was like riding a star ship into another universe. I can only say this, music was never the same after Cream invaded the States. And needless to say they became the biggest group in the world at that time, and the real 1st fusion group (jazz-rock-heavy blues). 3 of the best there ever was. R.I.P Jack,Ginger.
So True. Seen them also in N.Y. Not sure if it was 1st tour.We had open seating up close and We loved loud. When they started to play we actually backed up to other rows . They were absolutely Incredible / Astonishing, to this day -Nothing comes even close ...Never will forget it.
i was too young for any of that but i was the youngest of 6 and i had all the hand-me-down mags like Hullabaloo which became Circus and I can testify to your statement that Cream were very heavily covered in the media and considered very important & vital in their day, which i was alive for but only about 6 yrs old lol
Must have been the Baker/Bruce combo that sent Clapton to new heights so soon. Imagine being there to witness it.. If I could go back in time to see how cream developed in 1966 and early 1967...
Yes, they it was like an excellent football team which plays like clockwork. They didn't allow him to be lazy or rely on his routine. They pushed each other to what is humanly possible.
Their most amazing version. Clapton is pure voodoo magic here. Also the clearest audio quality I've ever heard of this fave recording, thanx a zillion, slunky08!!
@@kerrymcmanus9188 Clapton here is God .. .. what you are hearing right now in this video-audio is authentic music cream .. .. BUT from 70 Clapton is shit .. .. You have to recognize things friend.
@@kerrymcmanus9188 I dont know friend .. .. He is god here but Claptom From 70s is shit there are better than clapton .. .. page rory and blackmore clapton is at the level of Alvin Lee or Martin Barre. but for me all these guitarists are gods, and I'm sure I'll leave some more and some more bands. (J.H. Experience, Crimson, who, lymyrd, and more local bands that now with Internet we are discovering, for example here in Spain 1967' SMASH BAND Spanish psychedelic rock group with blouse and progressive dyes) But Eric from 70s was a shit ... that's clear .. .. everybody knows it.
Ginger Baker - Best drummer ever by a country mile! Jack Bruce - Best Bassist. Clapton - One of the best ever.... To have seen these live I think I would have wet myself. What a band. There is no band today who are even fit to roadie for these guys. End of.
Dang chill people! Have a bit of soul maybe? Dude's just reacting to the video/Cream song whole sharing his excitement for more than one great musical talent out of that era. Something as cool and bluesy as this ( LIKE A LIVE F***ING CREAM SONG!!!) Doesn't call for such arbitration, you two Nancy boys can't just exchange ideas could ya? Disagreeing doesn't mean "snide insult time" especially something as relative as music
@@benramsell3245The only thingJohn Bonham was good at, was raping women an beating them. Led Zeppelin where the biggest thieves in all of Rock history. They've been to court so many times for ripping off other people's music an claiming it as their own. Ginger is far superior. Hell, even Moby Dick was taken from Ginger's Toad solo.
THIS is the reason they burned out so quickly..who could possibly sustain this level of playing for more than 3 years? Incredible how Ginger and Eric play off each other. They were one of the few bands that seemed to be polyrhythmic during extended jams..they would be locked in time and then just go off in different directions...then somehow all end up on the one. Staggering how great they were...
Jack on bass, hitting the “1” on the changes after subdividing the beat, along with those crazy offbeats, then back on 1. I’m So Glad, Spoonful and others. I often wondered if Jack was ‘counting in his head’ to come back and nail the 1. It’s a clever technique because no one knows you are counting 1,2,3,4 -2,234 etc.
after the 2nd lead in crossroads & Ginger Baker pulls them back together, amazing just like the Live yArdbiRs with Jimmy Page coming back together on "I'm confused'. beyond tight
Its too bad no one but Clapton could do this for 5 minutes straight. I love Clapton's songwriting, but the minute he switched to the strat he left all this behind him forever. Nothing has that sound like a Gibson with the tone rolled off and a fat Marshall amp.
He has no tone rolled off here. This is flat out. Contrary to what most think the majority of the time his volume and tone controls were on 10 (he said so himself-everything, even EQ controls in the amp, were all dimed). It’s blatantly obvious when he rolls his tone off for the “woman tone”. Clapton’s overall dark sound though comes from plugging into the normal channel rather than the bright channel of those Marshalls.
Stepping out was a Clapton showcase from when he played with the John Mayall Bluesbreakers. For more from this great Clapton period, check out the 'Beano' album.
Just 3 guys who got together and played music putting their own interpretation into some blues songs and made them amazing Id never heard anything like it in me life The only other band that came close to cream was the John Mayal band but he needed clapton to make it work . I was there in 68 and it was still the best live performance Ive ever seen I'll be 69 in two weeks
My perspective is; there are so many, many great guitarists to compare, Eric has done heavy metal, blues, boogie, etc. and proven his amazing talent, as I write, for sixty years. With that being said, who is the best, greatest, whatever? It's up to you!
When I was 15 I received my first guitar, having seen Cream twice. I would slow down the Clapton solos to 16 rpms so I could figure them out. This is MY interpretation of slowhand.
"just because you know a lot of chords and can play them real fast, doesn't mean your a good musician" Aunt Bee (yes, that Aunt Bee) >but these men have and always will be a trinity. Superb<
Eric Clapton recorded a studio version of this instrumental earlier in the year with John Mayall And His Bluesbreakers, but with Cream, he takes this instrumental to a completely different place.
Clapton liked working with the group in the recording studio, but he wanted to experiment more during the songwriting process, and during musical performances in concert. Cream allowed Clapton to have more creative and musical freedom of expression. Sadly, the fighting between Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, with Clapton caught in the crossfire, was more than Clapton could handle, so he became a solo artist, who would work with other musicians on an album by album basis.
Músicos de semejante calibre instrumental eran sorprendentes en 1966. Pero no solo virtuosismo. La improvisación es típica del Jazz, pero en R&B resultaba original. 1966! Pienso que jamás ha existido otro trio de semejante nivel técnico y musical.
Wow! I've never heard this version before. It's fantastic. I'm partial to The Bluesbreaker version, but if this is really from 1966, not that much time has elasped since the studio version. Both versions, the solo starts out the same. This is a pretty clean sounding recording. Thank you for posting this. I really enjoyed it. Yet another version of one of my favorite Clapton songs.
Wow!! Loads of live pics there which I haven't seen before and as always with these three, a great three-man sound never before heard or since!! Thanks for putting it together!!
I saw cream in the west village on friday and the next nite at the Action House in 1966.Ginger Baker was the first decent drummer I saw with double bass drums.
Watch Eric's RU-vid channel short where he talks about Cream. He noted that he toured with 2 Marshall stacks each using 100 watt heads. He only used 1 amp (stack) until he soloed and then the crew flipped on the 2nd amp giving him 200 watts for lead work. Eric says he can't believe he used to do that, lol. The conversation was with someone else (they never show that person.) was about using acoustic guitars on stage and he feels very comfortable using them today.
This is Clapton and Cream at their best...hasn't aged a moment. It is important to remember that Hendrix had already sat in with Cream in early October, and pretty much blew Clapton's shorts. He has said it many times in interviews, as did Chas Chandler, who was there. It takes nothing away from Clapton; just shows how incredible Hendrix was.
When this music came to my mind in the late 60s when I was in my early teenager days and started to play the guitar, THIS was exactly the sound I was looking for and dreaming off! You can't imagine how disappointed I was, when I heard this thin Stratocaster-plingplong from Eric ;-)
Everybody's did when this came out in late '66. I was just a kid. And then Hendrix came along in '67. Some good music in those days. We still haven't recovered.
Hendrix's trump card was that he integrated rhythm and lead guitar along with his singing. A fabulous feat. When it comes to just soloing Clapton's precision, speed, and phrasing was far superior to Hendrix. Hendrix fast solos where more of noise and soundscaping, but Clapton soloed like an assassin with the precision of a sniper and the phrasing of a poet. Well that's my take
Nah, Hendrix could play proper "note runs" faster than anything by Clapton - there are some 1968 live concerts here on youtube where you can actually hear Hendrix doing the super fast "cascading pentatonics" that people mostly associate with Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa nowadays. It's just that Cream-era Eric would stretch the reapeating licks for way longer than Hendrix. Hendrix didn't do the repeating licks for long when soloing, he would quickly move into dive bombs, long sustaining fuzz-drenched notes, bends and legato playing way more. Clapton had a way more limited chord and lick knowledge than Hendrix. Oh yes, I'm a huge Clapton fan, have always been I love his style, elegance and tone but in terms of variety of musical vocabulary and composition skills he had nothing on Jimi.
@@Dagger_323 Right, play fast pentatonics and double stops all day = master of the instrument. You really made me laugh right now. Don't get me wrong, Eric was great at that, his 66-70 era was my favorite, and he's one of the most influential guitarists on me (and to another million people), but he was nowhere near Hendrix on mastery of the instrument. Ask those guys who where there like Jeff Beck and many others, ask Clapton himself, they both knew Hendrix was way beyond them on every level, instrument alone, and I won't even mention composition skills. And if you disagree it's because you have no notion of what Hendrix actually did and could do.
@@Dagger_323 Yep, I totally agree on Clapton defining what most of what British Blues Rock came to be, I mean that's a fact and nobody needs to dispute that. But man, the type of string skipping Clapton did was elementary. His scale use, even if fast (I don't think it was that fast at all, even for those times...) - and even if he played for 30 minutes straight at times - was basic - yes, major and minor pentatonics are basic stuff, no matter how you play them, in my opinion, unless you are Eric Johnson. Yes, he did great stuff just using pentatonics, I still agree. However, your mention of it being "always fresh" is relative, I and a bunch of other people would agree that he often repeated himself, using "gimmicks" or no "gimmicks", doesn't matter - even Clapton got tired of that and ditched that playing style. Or rather, I could go on and say Clapton's gimmick was exactly playing those fast repeated licks for 30 minutes. You have to realize that actual playing must not be limited just to "fingers on the scale" as you seem to be implying. Oh, Hendrix was great in retrospect? His contemporaries - yes, some of the most amazing musicians then - thought he was the most effing formidable guitarist. And who did Miles Davis invite for a collab?
@@Dagger_323 haha I knew that the "challenge" was coming. Man, playing fast pentatonics will never be as hard as playing the variety of stuff Hendrix played. Clapton's best solos IMO are when he went more melodic (Derek and the Dominoes live, Badge, While my Guitar, I Feel Free, etc), and thankfully, he ditched the "play pentatonics all day" style after a couple years. You know why he did that? He thought it wasn't enough, he was embarrased by that repetitive pentatonic playing (at first because Cream didn't have enough songs and later, because that became his gimmick). It's easy for me to improvise over a track like Steppin' Out - the dynamics are cool - Clapton was a master at that and I love his tone, but if you don't have a problem with navigating across the fretboard with minor and major pentatonics anyone with some experience and a decent ear will be able to get close. Now compare Clapton filler pentatonic minutes of soloing to something like Hendrix's Woodstock improvisation, just to mention one example. Combining all those chord changes and the right hand rhythm, playing lead and rhythm at the same time and doing it musically - now that's hard and complex work. Oh, even the people who said Hendrix was all about gimmicks later shut up their mouths. (because early on he really pulled of many of those tricks, which he stopped doing so frequently later on, if you had actually listened to him you would know). John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, Robert Fripp, Blackmore, Johnny Winter all these guys loved Hendrix then and saw his geniality (not to mention "rivals" like Beck and Clapton), just to mention a few, so I still don't know why you keep on saying he was a gimmick lol
Pure. Fluid. Stunning. For me, this performance speaks for itself as it stands the test of time (54 years as of this post). The plain fact that the debate (as to which guitarist is the GOAT) has endured for nearly as long renders it pointless.
I love this old stuff..Cream was well beyond their time,and the sound they put out with just 3 guys is amazing! thanks for sharing. lol..like the clothes too
I used to have a bootleg Cream album I bought for a fiver on Eel Pie Island with this on it,I also remember Clapton saying this one is for Jack's wife Janet before doing I think Sweet Wine,Bootleg sound quality a lot of audience noise too but I played it to death and ruined it eventually.Shame it could have been transferred and cleaned up today.
MY WORDS ARE FINISHED FOR CREAM HERE. INCREDIBLE, AWESOME, STRATOSPHERICS, AMAZING: one of the best groups in history When Claton was authentic. When Eric was Clapton. When Clapton was clapton. When Clapton was a musician.
