In the end, I just went with the flow and I enjoyed it greatly, but it wasn't anything like I expected at all.”Īnd the group's debut single wasn't like anything the public were expecting, either. Jack and Ginger were the powerful, dominant personalities in the band they sort of ran the show and I just played. I just didn't have the assertiveness to take control. 'Once I stepped into the reality of trying to realise my musical vision with Cream, it just disappeared,' he explained. But although these were considered the UK's most talented Blues players of the day, Clapton failed to achieve his aspirations in the band. But Clapton wouldn't be swayed, if Ginger wanted him, then Jack had to be part of the package.Īnd so, once they'd dispensed with the suggestion of calling the band 'Sweet & Sour Rock'n'Roll,' Cream was born. But Eric remained blissfully unaware of the tremendous history of animosity between Bruce and Baker.Ĭlapton suggested Bruce as bassist for the new group, but Baker recoiled at the idea, saying, 'No, what did you have to go and mention him for?' Pressed further, Ginger explained, 'We don't get on very well at all,' which was something of a massive understatement, considering the rumour that he'd threatened to knife the bassist if he didn't leave the GBO. The two had played together when Jack did a short stint as bassist with Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and again in Powerhouse, a studio project for Elektra producer Joe Boyd which also included Manfred Mann's Paul Jones, and Stevie Winwood and Pete York from the Spencer Davis Group. There was only one fly in the ointment, Clapton wanted Jack Bruce as bass player. I told Eric I was getting a band together, and would he be interested? ' I was totally unaware that he had this huge following. (Wouldn't I like to have seen that! - Sneaky Stevie) I didn't realize who he was. Ginger Baker, then drummer and acting manager for the slowly disintegrating Graham Bond Organisation, remembered, ''Eric used to turn up at Graham Bond gigs and sit in. I was suffering from delusions of grandeur in that direction.' He was in total command, and I thought, 'This is it.' It seemed to me you could do anything with a trio – at least if you were a genius and a maestro like Buddy Guy. 'I'd seen Buddy live' he recalled, 'and it was unbelievable. 'Cream? Weren't they the psychedelic rock band who invented heavy metal? What are they doing here, despoiling my collection of British Blues Classics?' But strangely, however they might have turned out, Cream was intended to be a Blues Band, at least by founding member Eric Clapton.Īmerican Blues Legend Buddy Guy had been playing London gigs with a trio line-up, and young Eric was mightily impressed. 'What's this?' I hear you say, gentle reader.

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