Disraeli Gears.
Disraeli Gears is the second studio album by Cream, released in 1967. It is generally considered to be their strongest and most popular release. Upon release, it hit number one in the Australian and US (Cashbox) charts.
The album is most famous for the hits "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine Of Your Love", the latter of which is essentially Cream's Signature Song. It was also subject of a documentary about the creative process behind the making of this album in the series Classic Albums.
Tracklist:
Side One
- "Strange Brew" (2:46)
- "Sunshine Of Your Love" (4:10)
- "World Of Pain" (3:03)
- "Dance The Night Away" (3:34)
- "Blue Condition" (3:29)
Side Two
- "Tales Of Brave Ulysses" (2:46)
- "SWLABR" (2:32)
- "We're Going Wrong" (3:26)
- "Outside Woman Blues" (2:24)
- "Take It Back" (3:05)
- "Mother's Lament" (1:47)
Principal Members:
- Ginger Baker - drums, percussion, backing and lead vocals
- Jack Bruce - lead vocals, bass, piano, harmonica
- Eric Clapton - guitar, backing and lead vocals
World Of Tropes:
- Cover Version: "Outside Woman Blues", "Mother's Lament". "Strange Brew" started as a cover of a blues called "Lawdy Momma" before changes rendered it completely unrecognisable and it became another song entirely.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: The narrator of "Dance The Night Away" intends to vanish from the world as a whole, living in the sea or the sky, just to dance uninterrupted.
- Design Student's Orgasm: The psychedelic album cover.
- Face on the Cover: The band shown in close-up, in a psychedelic cover.
- Gratuitous Panning: On most songs off this album, all the drums are on the right channel. Also, on "Mother's Lament," the reverb on the vocals is only on the right channel.
- Greek Mythology: "Tales Of Brave Ulysses" is based on The Odyssey.
- New Sound Album: Less blues, more Psychedelia.
- Non-Appearing Title: "SWLABR"
- Fun with Acronyms: "She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow"
- The Power of Love: "Sunshine Of Your Love".
- Protest Song: Possibly "Take It Back", which was inspired by students burning draft cards,
though there's also room to read it as about self-defence or outright cowardice. - Race Against the Clock: The band only had so much time to finish recording - their visas expired the very morning they finished the last song.
- Re-release the Song: A salsa-styled version of "Sunshine Of Your Love" appeared on Bruce's 2001 album "Shadows In The Air", with Clapton guesting. Both played it on multiple live albums as well.
- Shout-Out:
- To Benjamin Disraeli on the title.
- Clapton's solo in "Sunshine Of Your Love" is patterned after the 1930's Rodgers and Hart song "Blue Moon".
- "Sunshine Of Your Love" was covered together with Jimi Hendrix' "Purple Haze" on Frank Zappa's The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (1991).
- Something Blues: "Outside Woman Blues".
- Standard Snippet: The opening riff of "Sunshine Of Your Love" has become associated with any media set in the late sixties.
- Step Up to the Microphone: Eric Clapton sings lead vocals on "Strange Brew" and "Outside Woman Blues", as well as co-lead vocals on "Sunshine Of Your Love", "World Of Pain", "Dance The Night Away" and "Mother's Lament". Ginger Baker sings lead vocals on "Blue Condition" as well as co-lead vocals on "Mother's Lament".
