"Crossroads" - Cream (Live - 1968)

Few groups have ever achieved the stature of Cream, the forerunner of all hard rock music as we know it today. Although founding member Eric Clapton never has never “kissed the sky” in quite the same way as Jimi Hendrix, he did kick music in the ass a bit when he left The Yardbirds to form a new sound of his own.

And what a sound! Along with virtuoso bass player Jack Bruce and the maniacal drummer Ginger Baker, Cream went on to mesmerize the entire world of rock and roll in the last half of the 1960’s. By the time 1970 rolled around Clapton was already in Blind Faith and on his way to creating some of the best music of the time with 1970’s double album “Layla.”

Of course, today he is known as the Ambassador of the Blues, and is sort of in charge of keeping classic blues alive. His goal seems to be to pass the music on in as pure a form as possible.  But every now and then I hear some of the old Cream records on the radio; “Badge” has weathered time particularly well; and then I start to look around on You Tube for something I haven’t heard in a while.

This clip is of Cream at their “farewell” concert at Royal Albert Hall on November 26, 1968. It was broadcast on BBC the following January, but never released in the United States until 1977. The group Yes opened the show; along with Rory Gallagher, who was in a band called Taste at the time.

There are many problems with the film; the most notable being that the cameramen seemed to have no real experience filming music;  most of the footage is focused on the faces; rather than the hands; of the musicians. Guitar players everywhere are disappointed when watching this film. We already know what they look like. We just want to see their hands.

Also, if you do watch the entire concert you will notice that Clapton and Baker seem to change clothes in the middle of some songs; and Clapton even has a different guitar for part of some numbers. This is because the film was cobbled together carelessly, with footage from the first show as well as the second show. Still a good video, in spite of the annoying camerawork. 

Frank Zappa on the Steve Allen Show - (1963)

Much has been written and said about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Beatles legendary first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. But, eleven months before that occasion, Steve Allen was already looking for the next big musical sound. In this March 4, 1963 broadcast Mr. Allen looks on as Frank Zappa, later of the Mothers of Invention, plays a pair of bicycles with drumsticks, proving that percussion can be found anywhere.

And, as if that isn't enough to impress the audience, he then proves that a bicycle’s handlebars can also be used as a wind instrument. The result on the audience is comical, and Mr. Allen is, of course, making sport of the whole thing. But watch Frank Zappa.

Throughout the whole ordeal; which at times it must have been; he has a gleam in his eye, as if he can already see and hear the future direction which pop music will take in just a few more years. Those discordant sounds emanating from the bicycles are the birth cries of a new genre of music called Heavy Metal. 

The cacophony of sound made on the Steve Allen Show that night would pale in comparison to the later sounds of super groups such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Cream. But, listen closely; you can hear the train of musical change coming in this unique performance by Frank Zappa. He was a most unusual man…