I learn of Clapton in Taiwan as was listening to Layla and I shot the sheriff in the ‘70s learning guitar from the few US military radio stations! Never grew tired of his playing and singing! 30 plus years and counting
@@CreamBootlegs I’m 19, and hear all the versions of steppin out almost always. Each version is truly magic, the improvisation is crazy good and those phrases.
@@CreamBootlegs yeah besides the obvious “sunshine of your love” steppin out and many of their other songs are just amazing that casuals don’t know. Check out their studio outtakes. There’s one here for “take it back” studio takes, it’s just Clapton and ginger playing. It Truly sounds amazing
This show was on April 5, 1968 at the Back Bay Theatre, which was the day after Dr. King was assassinated. There is no doubt that that event played into the intensity of this gig. This is some incredible playing, not just by Clapton, but by "The Cream" as a trio. I wish there were more of Cream's live gigs available (and, coming years, no doubt more will be discovered in attics and collections). I cannot imagine what this was like as a live experience.
also: I saw Cream in 67 and 68 in L.A. - I snuck a mini reel-to reel into the Farewell Concert and recorded the whole concert. Yes, Cream live was quite the transcendent experience if they were having a good night. A friend of my mom's stole the Cream tape. The concert is in YT - maybe it's my tape! L.A. Forum, farewell concert.
@@dennismason3740 Saw them about a dozen times in the 60's. One of the most memorable was at Staples High School in Westport, CT on a Wednesday night. We drove down from Colgate U. to see them in my hometown. They played for almost 3 hours, there was no warm up band, just Cream and nothin' else!! Also saw them in New Haven and the Fillmore East. They were the greatest rock fusion band of all time, never heard better jams.
I ve not heard this recording before but ive heard most vof his stuff on Vynal LP and seen Cream l8vr twice so thank you for posting this it clearly shows he was and really remains a tremendous force on electric guitar there are still guitarist trying tp sound like him today on 2024 wow thanks eric and thanks again for posting
by the time cream ended, eric had been playing these high octane licks night after night for years. even filet mignon will taste like shit if you have to eat it at every meal for more than a week. after cream, he wanted to order something different from the menu. i can respect that.
+bmp-226 Bro you are totally right, it got too where Clapton Bruce and Baker wouldn't even hang out together and by this time he had become deaf in one ear from playing full volume in front of a couple marshall stacks (but usually just the one ,as 2 was just too loud he said) but he got too where he was wearing specialy designed ear plugs and he couldn't hear what he was playing ,and it got too where he was playing in weird traumatic kind of state and not really wanting to be there but having too and only really hearing in certain areas. yet . what Clapton did is , He Was The First to utilize the Les Paul and Marshal combo and crank it so it sustained and overdrived, its that old blues sound only louder. He would use the licks he hearned by the greats like Freddie and BB and Hubert and Albert and the part that would connect those licks would be him, and he was very fluid at improvising between maj and min pent lines and his beloved maj 3rd, He may play these Cream solos for 15-20 Minutes and of course after awhile you've exhausted every lick you know and are just repeating yourself (from Erics own mouth and very honest and true) but the thing is ,ive never really heard him boff a line , screw up a phrase or improvisation . And even though yes Peter Green is/was the best of the British Blues Guitarists (sheer emotional depth and fluidic mastery of his Dorian flavored Blues and gorgeous stinging Vibrato that only Kirwan and Kossoff can come close too, Green said that of all the Masters , Eric was his favorite) There is a reason why Eric 's style has changed , he also wanted to down play the guitar hero gunslinger thing of his early Blues Breaker and Cream days, and play more the role of accompanist or back up , and lower volumes and eventually the improvisations changed as well. as did the guitars , he had to change in order to survive I think , and while I'm not familiar with his more 70's type of albums ,I know regaurdless what ever Eric is playing the foundation is still the blues , whether its being played well or not is the real question & depends on him, but fuck, he's already done it all , and I'm indebted to his genius and love finding some old licks of his that are always resurfacing on the net..He was the First ,one of the top 3 ,and was the milestone by which all others were judged...
@@shemsuhornephilim7702 Great post, We knew and could see the tension in the band towards the end. - The Version of Spoonful on Wheels of Fire is the Gold Standard for great rock fusion music. They took rock and jazz to another level. - When genius musicians experiment, sometimes the results are mixed, but even "bad Clapton" is usually great music.
@Bob Smith :)))) Nope. Things are way more complex. You have to study more. I recommend you to begin with what is probably the best rock history book ever: www.amazon.com/Whats-That-Sound-Introduction-History/dp/0393624145 This will show you the next steps. Pleasant discovery travel and we are waiting for you on the other shore to join the tribe!
@Bob Smith "Don't judge a book by it's cover" Bo Diddley. When you will study more you'll find out that rock'n'roll is just a root of some more roots that the rock has. Please forgive me if sounded condescending. It is just knowledge.
There were many guitar "heroes" Clapton and Hendrix just took it to the next level. they took the Guitar Hero thing to superstardom. Indeed Eddie Van Halen cited cream as one of his biggest influences. He said he would spend hours trying to play Clapton solos note for note.
My friend, who I was standing next to, took the picture at 12:02 at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. Those were the days - five feet from the stage. Great music from three great musicians.
I believe Mr. Clapton was the first real guitar hero everybody including Jimi Hendrix looked up to. Mick Taylor told me himself how much Eric influenced him back then. When I first heard him in the 80s I didn't think he was great because I thought nobody was better than vanhalen. I dug a little deeper and discovered Cream and the blues breakers then I understood why they called him God in those days. If Robert Johnson could have lived to see Eric im sure he would have loved him.
+larkyleroy Van Halen is technically very good, but in my opinion, he can't touch the great English players. Clapton, Beck, Green, Taylor, Thompson, Page. These English guys have technique but the soul, intensity, tone and emotion just "drips" from they're fingers! also, Van Halen's tapping isn't even original - Harvey Mandel, a great American player, was doing it years before and, in my opinion, with ten times as much soul, emotion and tone.
+larkyleroy The irony about your Van Halen statement is Eddie says he has learned every solo Eric ever played with Cream ,all the live ones included note for note, (kind of a really brash thing to say really ) and knows he sounds nothing like Eric but its where he learned his phrasing, ...me I don't see it Eddie is not a blues player ,at least not on any Van Halen tunes I can recall. I loved Mick Taylors work too, according to Mayall Mick was lazier and took longer to develop while Green was pushy and trying to prove himself. Boy did he ever. 2nd in Blues depth and mastery only to Robert Johnson himself.
+Shem Su Hor Nephilim Since Van Halen has come up.....He did an album with Brian May called 'Star Fleet' I think. It was basically just blues jams. Side two was one long track called 'Bluesbreaker'! Just thought I'd mention it. Don't know if its on here. Or if its ever been released on CD?
avalanche344 It was just two great players fooling around with blues changes. None of it bore any relation to 'actual blues'! May was just the right age to be blown away by The Beano album when it first came out.
The number has *ALWAYS COOKED* at the end and from 11:10 onward is NO exception. Eric’s speed and design precision on the fretboard is stunning. This Clapton madman style at this intensity would be COMPLETELY dismissed by late 1968. Gone, toast- finished. Blind Faith had some beautiful guitar sections and so did Layla. But the laid back Eric was now for Life. As much as we appreciated the 2005 RAH Cream reunion nothing on that stage even came close to the speed and genius of what we have here on Steppin’ Out. *I’m So Glad* at the LA FORUM on Goodbye Cream- not just speed although he had that definitely but taste and composition. End of an era I guess.
RIP Jack Bruce. His bass playing was just "far-out" as we used to say at the time. I still need the Cream to get I don't know what and that is "far-out" too.
In my opinion.......there has never been before or after this period another guitarist who can top Eric Clapton’s ability to fluidly play blues vocabulary over fast tempos such as this........NO ONE!!! Not Hendrix, not Page, not Stevie Ray Vaughan, not Mike Bloomfield, not Bonamassa, not Gary Moore, NO ONE.
Abe Union pride brings back many memories but me and my son are going to see Mr Clapton in Dublin and London at rah it's my bucket list my son is Bernstein law also part owner of Ride em cowboy in St Pete Florida can't wait it's in May what a better way to see Mr Clapton then with your son very proud
I'm fan of Eric Patrick Clapton from 35 years (since I was 15) and I did listen to several guitar players (Jimi, srv, page, Richie, pete and many others) but no one provide me the Eric's special sensations (various tones). For me Eric is something else
Oh goodness! I was there with my best friend Dick, brother Dan and another bloke and can relate this: Mr. Clapton broke a string on the painted SG so exchanged that for a brilliantly red Les Paul, which had a searing tone -brighter than the SG. It may be the Les Paul that's heard here. That would match my memory of the tone. Incredible show for youngsters who had never been introduced to improvisation! ("What's he doing? That's not like the record...") They opened with the theater curtain rising to reveal them as Sunshine of Your Love unfolded. I know they played Train Time. That was before Wheels Of Fire was released, and I believe the songs heard on Wheels Of Fire were recorded during this tour. Amazing stuff! Thank you for this splendid posting!!
Thats allegedly why he got the nick name 'slowhand'.....used to break a string when in the bluesbreakers and the audience would give a slow hand clap while he changed the string. .....shame how the youngsters of today have 'matured' to the obsession of X factor and pop idol
OspreyD40 - I was at this concert as well. I was thinking he started with a Les Paul and then played the SG for one tune? But my memory might be a bit off. :-) This was the first big concert I ever went to.
My recollection, from balcony toward the left is that the curtain was down, sounds of Sunshine Of our Love Began as the curtain rose. When Eric began to solo and it wasn't "like the record" I didn't know what to make of it. We were pretty innocent, hadn't heard rock musicians improvise. My clear impression is that he was playing his painted SG until he broke a string, then was handed a red Les Paul. I recall very clearly that I felt the Les Paul sound was significantly sharper and more piercing, in a very good way. I do not recall how long he played the Les Paul. He might have handed it off and returned to the SG when the broken string was replaced. I recall them doing Train Time which was later released on Wheels Of Fire. That also really struck me, since there wasn't anything quite like it on their two albums to date. Incidentally, anyone reading this who still has their "Dratleaf"-as-publisher vinyl Disraeli Gears LP's, and early Fresh Cream LP's should never let them go. (Avoid the "Nemperor" publisher Disraeli Gears LP's, because the sound was somewhat numb compared to the first-pressing Dratleaf ones.) In the digital transfers of Sweet Wine (as a gross example) actual notes have been scrubbed from Eric's soloing in the 'compression process to digital formats. Apple iTunes versions are awful for the musical information losses, and even the CD's have lost music in the transfer from vinyl to CD. Terrible!
Clearly, this is the Clapton we admired in the late 60s. Hearing this, I once again understand my deep deception when seeing and hearing Clapton playing in London's Marquee Club in 1971 as "Derek" - with a Fender Strat and doin' the stuff from Layla.
I think after the 60s Clapton felt he had nothing to prove anymore as far as shredding on guitar so he went the other direction with his hippie friends and concentrated more on songs and songwriting. but I understand what you're saying people that thought that Clapton was going to form another "cream" and go on like that were sadly mistaken.
@@pierstuson5909 They were,Yes. Seen them "Live " as a young musician. Jack was just the Power house that propelled them ,drew away w/ Vocals and pushed the limits of playing ,of Gingi and Erica.
@@CreamBootlegs You mean acid. But yeah, ALL three. If you play at all, check out Mike Brookfield and My Blues Guitar here on youtube. They do a lot of cream stuff and both channels do the bluebreakers album.
Thank you for putting this on. Everybody is making comments about which guitarist was better, which ones influenced whom and so forth. Just listen ... listen to Clapton and Baker speaking to each other over a fairly long stretch, and all the other issues seem so ...
Me, too. That's why I thought "Hey, let's point it out so the music here is not forgotten over who's God on guitar or not". Sure appreciate letting us in. Much the best.
Hans Sieburg That's the problem in a nutshell. Nobody listens anymore, everybody goes by articles an list an what not. Nobody is above Cream, nobody, and I mean nobody, has their level of playing. I don't know one band who jams 10+ min all the time on their songs like Cream an who never play the same song the same way. I mean to jam for 10+ min all the time an keep that level of playing all the way through an keep you interested is an amazing feat, to say the least. Lastly, there's also a better version then this on RU-vid, much clearer an one hell of a jam.
It's a great version and Clapton is on fire, like he was for most of this period when he performed with Cream. But all of these people who post about "I've been following Eric for 50 years now" and never get tired of his playing are baloney. Clapton never played like this, post Cream. NEVER. Yes, he did jam with his own band and on occasion he would whip out the old reference to Cream but his days of jamming "a la cream" were over. The closest to jamming like Cream might have been with Derek and the Dominoes but that was a super brief episode of his life. Cream remains unique for Clapton.
I agree, most of Clapton,s post Cream stuff is a non starter for me, I saw Cream Live, Blind Faith and as a Solo act, and nothing compares with the Cream output. Solo's to a stratospheric level that he's never reached afterward, and understandably, he probably didn't want to, similar to Richie Blackmore tiring of the guitar slinger competition.
I tell ya, when I hear stuff like this I really miss those Gibsons. I'm not saying you can't get a blues tone from a Strat because obviously you can, but EC's blues style seems to flower on a Gibson.
anyone looking for a teacher , someone to teach them the blues - this is all you will ever need... either you get it, or you don't ... that guitar solo was the history of the blues
@@MajesticMage Agreed. Although still a Gibson with humbucker pick-ups and I believe he also played an ES-335. You can see him playing the firebird with blind faith on RU-vid.
Clapton peaked out heavily at the end of the 60's - period. Even before Cream made their largest selling LP he never again played to the level he set when arriving from Mayall's Blues Breakers
+rickythik Didn't peak out - just changed directions - wanted to become a troubadour. He realized that the extended corrosive intensity was killing him. I've seen him in concert several times - all of a sudden he closes those eyes and just erupts into the most melodic, emotionally powerful, technically brilliant improvisational burst's I've ever heard. He doesn't always do it - it's too physically and emotionally demanding. When he does and you're lucky enough to be there, you realize he really is the greatest living guitar player- no b.s.
To rvollin1935 Been playing guitar my whole life and Love Clapton in Cream/Mayall, hung with Peter & LOVED him AND Danny Kirwan in F Mac/PG in Mayall, but have also seen Hendrix and Jeff Beck and they are just Untouchable!!! Nobody comes close-opinion, but I am correct!
Some folks complaining about Eric changing musical directions from what he was doing with Cream. Hell, he did it already! What else was he going to do with it just keep playing the same stuff over and over? I love a lot of Eric's work since then especially Derek and the DOmino's. Yeah he never hit Cream height again but hell neither has anybody else.
Today - you wouldn't even know it was the same player unless you saw with own eyes. Except for a few stylistic signature nuances, it's night and day from a passion energy and sonic view.
I saw them in the sixties, and realised immediately I probably might not make it to the top of the guitar playing profession! they were superb. I'd seen them all in different bands separately but together there was and never has been, anything quite like it.
Oh Well! Look at it this way, how wide is Eric's musical tastes? He is an Icon forever, an originator forever, a mentor forever, the establisher of THE marshall/gibson sustain sound of Rock, on and on and on, so what if he plays Lay Down Sally? He also has played Tears In Heaven, Pilgrim, on and on... now he is an Activist for Healing with his Crossroad Concerts! As for me, he has earned the right to play whatever he wants, some I like more than others but it all is from his heart!
This is Cream at Their Peak, about a month later, Rolling Stone wrote a shitty review of Cream's Exemplary performances at Bill Graham's Venues and EC said 'Fuck it, I'm done, Thanks a lot Rolling stone
If Hendrix is Moonshine then Clapton, esp. considering he's played prominently for 42 more yrs at least, is a bottle of 1744 French wine worth $5,000,000! Compared to any rock/esp. blues guitarist of today!
john polete lol...that might be a little too extreme, john. how about a 42 year old bottle of chivas that someone stashed and forgot about? now thats gonna be some damn good scotch!
How close is Hurtwood Edge (Erics mansion/estate he bought while in Cream and still owns!)to Scotland anyways? Surrey to Scotland?Hmm? Yeah, I guess your right! Eric wouldn't drink any I can sure tell ya that! hahaha Hendrix and Clapton were the 1st 2 rock/blues guitar greats on this planet and I doubt too many will argue that one! Sure there were others like Johnny Winter or Peter Green but nobody from 1966 to 1970 even came close to those 2!
what's even more amazing is that he went from this to being a sideman with Delaney and Bonnie shortly after Blind Faith. Clapton never sat on one thing for very long in those days. That's how he rolled.
Great. For all i know, any digital amp preset labeled Hall Reverb could have used Winterland as a foot print. I went there about a dozen times, starting in '73. It was perfect.
Everyone has their day ..getting old is not fun kids ....but if your lucky, it comes to all of us ...Yes, Eric was different back then ... but as he said the other day: 'I just can't play like I used to'...time and age has a way of creeping up on us .....all those beautiful guitar licks ...are just passing in the cosmos ...enjoy it while you can ...a survivor of the 60's ...
Actually it was the intense volume. He was losing his hearing + the headaches, and of course the constant infighting in the band. He'd had enough, and just decided to save his hearing, his sanity and health by mellowing out a little. We din't get just midnight, we also got Layla, Cocaine, I Shot the Sheriff a ton of other great originals. That said, make no mistake, he can still play like that anytime he wants.
Great version and great pix. But as to comments below, there's no better or best, just levels of competence - which is objective, and taste which is subjective. Music is cooperation, not competition. It's like trying to pick a best painter, it doesn't make any sense.
@ 70+yo I will reluctantly ask what this has above Coltrane who was before my time. I will always admire Eric, Jimi. Jimmy etc, but I have learned since they were not first. Nevertheless, this is awesome!
I could have been at this show,, I was 14 and my friends father owned a record store and had tix. I disobeyed my parents on some stupid thing. They had warned me no show if I did. I found out that my father did not fuck around when he said something like that. Damn...
metart93 hi! there are several outright breakdowns in 'this' version; Clapton stops playing for a full beat at least twice to "take stock." the 66' Cream according to EC capped solos at around 4 minutes. as Townshend says in his recent auto-bio "I wondered why Eric played such long, meandering soles in Cream." The he says later in book: "I now understand why "to fill time." also as an accomplished guitarist to be honest the 'Klooks' riffs sound are MORE refined to these golden ears.
yeah, there are actually a couple of spots where you can tell he loses track of where Jack is, and he has to ease up in order to figure out what part of the line they're in :-)
Everybody wanted to evolve. Jimi Hendrix wanted to do more jazz and classic stuff, but he was quite disappointed, because people wanted to see only psychedelic Hendrix, who burns his guitar :-) Eric evolved too, and in my opinion in great way ! his late 60s studio work, and his 70s strat work on layla album is great. He got softer then, but who carres, lay down sally, tears in heaven. God, he is so versaitlite, From the Cradle is great too.