Clapton, Bruce and Baker reunion

May 25th, 2007 | Music Guru | Rock

Jack Bruce says Cream is once again rising to the top. The bassist for the legendary rock group told The Associated Press on Thursday that he agreed recently to play an unspecified show or shows later this year with guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker.

Bruce would not say when the reunion would occur, but that it would not be the seven-continent Live Earth shows on July 7.

Bruce recently told the Scotsman newspaper there was no chance the band would reunite because of long-standing tension between him and Baker.

Representatives for Clapton and Baker have not confirmed the reunion.

Infighting and ego clashes between Baker and Bruce go back decades, with Baker once firing his drum sticks at Bruce during a show and Bruce upending Baker’s drum kit.

Clapton persuaded Bruce and Baker to reunite in 2005 after a 37-year split. But the ill will resurfaced, with Baker accusing Bruce of turning up his bass to deafening levels during a Madison Square Garden show, and Clapton appeared uncomfortable on stage.

However, Bruce played those 2005 shows about a year after receiving a liver transplant that kept him alive. He hopes another Cream reunion would be less physically and mentally stressful.

Cream were a 1960s British rock band celebrated as one of the first great power trios and supergroups of rock, their sound was characterised by a melange of blues, pop and psychedelia. Cream combined Clapton’s blues guitar playing with the airy voice and intense basslines of Jack Bruce and the jazz-influenced drumming of Ginger Baker.

Cream’s music included songs based on traditional blues such as “Crossroads” and “Spoonful”, and modern blues such as “Born Under a Bad Sign”, as well as more eccentric songs such as “Strange Brew”, “Tales of Brave Ulysses” and “Toad”. Cream’s biggest hits were “I Feel Free”, “Sunshine of Your Love”, “White Room”, “Crossroads” and “Badge”.

Cream, together with The Who, made a significant impact upon the popular music of the time providing a heavy yet technically proficient musical theme that foreshadowed the emergence of bands like Led Zeppelin in the late 1960s and Rush in the 1970s. The band’s live performances influenced progressive rock acts and other jam bands, including the Grateful Dead, Phish, and even Black Sabbath.