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Le esibizioni dei Cream sono intense e trascinanti, assoli lunghissimi e improvvisazioni in coda, a gran volume ed energia.
L'anno successivo (1968) esce ''Wheels Of Fire'', un doppio album metà studio metà live. Ripetere il successo è difficile, eppure possibile. Stavolta il sound Cream mischia al caratteristico blues elettrico un gusto decisamente pop e maggiori influenze psichedeliche, con un tocco di orchestrazione, violini e violoncelli (ellepì in studio); ma dal vivo i Cream mantengono il loro approccio diretto e profondamente blues. Tanta carica e jam imprevedibili.
La chitarra di Clapton si scioglie in uno scivoloso wah-wah, si sbizzarrisce, impazza nei suoi virtuosismi; Baker mostra quella tecnica jazzistica appresa nella Blues Incorporated in schizofrenici assoli di batteria; Bruce monta su solide linee di basso, scrive e interpreta le canzoni.
Il capolavoro è ''White Room'', chitarra fluida e cori, batteria ritmata e basso mai scontato; ''As You Said'' è una ballad psichedelica voce, chitarra e violoncello, dove la voce è appena un sussurro; e il riff tonante di ''Politician''; l'energica ''Desert Cities Of The Heart''; la sognante ''Pressed Rat And Warthog''.
Dal vivo la performance di ''Crossroads'' è pulsante e viva, si sente lo stile dei tre strumentisti; una volta per uno, Clapton si diletta nella prolissa ''Spoonful'', Baker nella sconcertante ''Toad'' (17 minuti di drum solo).
Se ''Disraeli Gears'' è un capolavoro, ''Wheels Of Fire'' non vale da meno. Buone idee, ci sono. Magari diverse, ma rimangono i Cream. Alla memoria.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 White Room (05:03)
In the white room with black curtains, near the station
Blackroof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings
Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes
Dawnlight smiles on you, leaving my contentment
I'll wait in this place where the sun never shines
Wait in this place where the shadows run from themselves
You said no strings could secure you at the station
Platform ticket, restless diesels, goodbye windows
I walked into such a sad time at the station
As I walked out, felt my own need just beginning
I'll wait in the queue when the trains come back
Lie with you where the shadows run from themselves
At the party she was kindness in the hard crowd
Consolation for the old wound now forgotten
Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes
She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings
I'll sleep in this place with the lonely crowd
Lie in the dark where the shadows run from themselves
02 Sitting on Top of the World (05:01)
One summer day, she went away;
Gone and left me, she's gone to stay.
She's gone, but I don't worry:
I'm sitting on top of the world.
All the summer, worked all this fall.
Had to take Christmas in my overalls.
Chorus
Going down to the freight yard, gonna catch me a freight train.
Going to leave this town; worked and got to home.
Chorus
05 Pressed Rat and Warthog (03:18)
by Ginger Baker and Mike Taylor
Pressed rat and warthog have closed down their shop.
They didn't want to; 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And pressed rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
Sadly they left, telling no one goodbye.
Pressed rat wore red jodhpurs, warthog a striped tie.
Between them, they carried a three-legged sack,
Went straight round the corner and never came back.
Pressed rat and warthog have closed down their shop.
The bad captain madman had told them to stop
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And pressed rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
The bad captain madman had ordered their fate.
He laughed and stomped off with a nautical gate.
The gate turned into a deroga tree
And his pegleg got woodworm and broke into three.
Pressed rat and warthog have closed down their shop.
They didn't want to; 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And pressed rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
06 Politician (04:16)
Hey now baby, get into my big black car.
Hey now baby, get into my big black car.
I want to just show you what my politics are.
I'm a political man and I practice what I preach.
I'm a political man and I practice what I preach.
So don't deny me baby, not while you're in my reach.
I support the left, though I'm leaning, leaning to the right.
I support the left, though I'm leaning to the right.
But I'm just not there when it's coming to a fight.
Hey now baby, get into my big black car.
Hey now baby, get into my big black car.
I want to just show you what my politics are.
07 Those Were the Days (02:57)
When the city of Atlantis stood serene above the sea,
Long time before our time when the world was free,
Those were the days.
Golden cymbals flying on ocarina sounds,
Before wild Medusa's serpents gave birth to hell
Disguised as heaven.
Those were the days, yes they were, those were the days.
Those were their ways, miracles everywhere are they now?
They're gone.
Those were their ways, yes they were, those were their ways.
Those were the days, yes they were, those were the days.
Tie your painted shoes and dance, blue daylight in your hair,
Overhead a noiseless eagle fans a flame.
Wonder everywhere.
Those were the days, yes they were, those were the days.
Those were their ways, miracles everywhere are they now?
They're gone.
Those were their ways, yes they were, those were their ways.
Those were the days, yes they were, those were the days.
08 Born Under a Bad Sign (03:13)
Born under a bad sign
i've been down since i began to crawl
if it wasn't for bad luck
i wouldn't have no luck at all
bad luck and trouble is my only friend
i've been down ever since i was ten
Born under a bad sign
i've been down since i began to crawl
if it wasn't for bad luck
i wouldn't have no luck at all
More wine and women
is all i crave
big bad women gunna carry me to my grave
Born under a bad sign
i've been down since i began to crawl
if it wasn't for bad luck
i wouldn't have no luck at all
bad luck and trouble is my only friend
i've been down ever since i was ten
Born under a bad sign
i've been down since i began to crawl
if it wasn't for bad luck
i wouldn't have no luck
if it wasn't for real bad luck
i wouldn't have no luck at all
born under a bad sign
born under a bad sign
09 Deserted Cities of the Heart (03:38)
Upon this street where time has died.
The golden treat you never tried.
In times of old, in days gone by.
If I could catch your dancing eye.
It was on the way,
On the road to dreams, yeah.
Now my heart's drowned in no love streams, yeah.
The street is cold, its trees are gone.
The story's told the dark has won.
Once we set sail to catch a star.
We had to fail, it was too far.
It was on the way,
On the road to dreams, yeah.
Now my heart's drowned in no love streams, yeah.
I felt the wind shout like a drum.
You said, "My friend, love's end has come."
It couldn't last, had to stop.
You drained it all to the last drop.
It was on the way,
On the road to dreams, yeah.
Now my heart's drowned in no love streams, yeah.
Now my heart's drowned in no love streams, yeah.
On this dark street the sun is black.
The winter life is coming back.
On this dark street it's cold inside.
There's no retreat from time that's died.
It was on the way,
On the road to dreams, yeah.
Now my heart's drowned in no love streams, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now my heart's drowned in no love streams, yeah.
Now my heart's drowned in no love.
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Altre recensioni
Di March Horses
Una dimensione parallela, un inferno/paradiso popolato da strane figure, esplosioni di fluidi, nuvole acide, raggi di luce monocromatici.
Questo monumentale affresco rimarrà l’epitaffio del gruppo, non contando live postumi (ed il trascurabile 'Goodbye').
