Cream - The Reunion - Live At The Royal Albert Hall (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Not applicable

Advantages:	A well - produced record of a unique event
Disadvantages:	Wish there was another four hours !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This live DVD is all one could wish for and is a stark reminder of the sad pass we have arrived at when three old, and in two out of three cases, not very well, men blow the opposition away after a gap of 37 years. It's not very pre-tty, I tell thee (indeed). Like many of those lucky enough to be there (goodbye food and rent for several weeks) I was gibbering with excitement when they walked on stage and gibbering with excitement when they left. But then, so was my just-19 sax-playing son who had only heard the old records and looked at Dad's memorabilia. The bottom line is, when musicians are that good, they don't have a cut-off point when they are unfit for human consumption, as the fashion gurus and rock critics try to tell us. "Sorry, BB, you're 80, all washed up and no longer relevant" ....I don't think so, somehow.

What Messrs Clapton, Bruce and Baker did with these performances and this DVD is to remind the world at large that musicians achieve "legendary" status because they are better than most other people, and all the soft celled Socialist Equality in the world cannot obliterate that basic fact. In this world, Jack, I'm afraid, is not always as good as his Master.

Clapton displays all the fire and brilliance of his mentor and hero Robert Johnson, especially on Stormy Monday, Born under a Bad Sign and Spoonful: Ginger Baker, arthritis and all (I'm with you, Ginger) is just extraordinary and my son declared "Toad" his best rock moment ever in 19 years. Jack Bruce, after a liver transplant, danced around the fretboard of his bass guitar like a teenager and the voice, with all its range and power, was undiminished, even though Bruce himself did not look well. Just listen to We're Going Wrong: apart from the gorgeous chords, just get the vocals. How does he DO that?

This wasn't nostalgia, this was a great blues/rock trio at the very height of their powers .... wait a minute, did I not write that 37 years ago after the Sunday at the Saville gigs in London? But, readers, that's what it WAS! The reason this worked so well is that Clapton, despite using a Strat rather than an SG or a Les Paul, playede beautifully, Ginger hammered the kit as well as ever and Jack Bruce played like a 20 year-old. The proof is here to see - it's undeniable.

Not long after this concert, my wife bumped into Eric - she was waitressing. Eric signed programmes for Cream 37 years apart, signed the book and also a mug for my daughter. "To Izzie, from Eric". Superstar takes time for 14 year-old. What a decent man, and waht a musician.

Now, Jeff (Beck), reassemble Messrs Ron Wood, Rod Stewart and Micky Waller and we'll have a year of the finest wine.

All I can say is, if you enjoyed the gigs and the DVD, get musician and rock writer Chris Welch's fantastic book "Cream" from Backbeat Books. It's the best ever with fantastic quality printing, hundreds of reproduced curios and a story that's better than most novels. It even has some contributions from a funny old thing called TomThatch.

And buy this DVD. It's fantastic stuff and we can all shout, "We were right all along!"