{"id":955636,"date":"2026-11-02T15:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/955636\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T15:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:24:18","slug":"we-were-doing-an-all-night-session-at-my-place-in-hampstead-i-picked-up-my-double-bass-and-played-the-riff-of-sunshine-of-your-love-pete-looked-out-the-window-and-he-wrote-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/955636\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe were doing an all-night session at my place in Hampstead. I picked up my double bass and played the riff of Sunshine Of Your Love. Pete looked out the window and he wrote, \u2018It\u2019s getting near dawn\u2026\u2019\u201d: How Cream created their masterpiece Disraeli Gears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cream<\/a>\u2019s short but brilliant career \u2013 a masterpiece created by the legendary power trio of Eric Clapton<\/a> (guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, vocals) and Ginger Baker (drums).<\/p>\n

Epic in scope, Disraeli Gears fused the blues and jazz together in a searing, psychedelic blast of 100-watt Marshall<\/a> tone.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jack Bruce<\/a> passed away in 2014, but two years before his death he gave a detailed account of the album\u2019s making to Guitarist magazine. Here we collect those exclusive insights from Bruce and poet Pete Brown \u2013 who wrote classic tracks such as Sunshine of Your Love<\/a> together \u2013 about the making of the album.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos FromMusicRadar<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get them out there and make them play every toilet in the US for as long as they\u2019ll last before they go barmy or kill each other<\/p>\n

Jack Bruce<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the whole band was kind of misunderstood by everybody,\u201d Bruce said. \u201cAnd it gave us a sort of an edge, you know? I think Eric thought he was going to have this little blues trio and he would be sort of like Buddy Guy<\/a> standing out the front. And then I thought: great, I can be a composer and get some songs out there. And I think Ginger just wanted to conquer the world, basically, like Genghis Khan or somebody. We had different ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, the management \u2013 the dire management of Robert Stigwood \u2013 was thinking, \u2018Let\u2019s milk this for all it\u2019s worth because it ain\u2019t going to last. So let\u2019s get them out there and make them play every toilet in the US for as long as they\u2019ll last before they go barmy or kill each other.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

During Cream\u2019s brief two-year lifespan, they had it all: in Eric Clapton<\/a> a supremely talented guitarist whose only serious rival was Jimi Hendrix<\/a>; in Jack Bruce a star bassist with the chops and vision of a jazz maestro; and in Ginger Baker<\/a> a volatile but brilliant drummer capable of welding their contrasting talents together.<\/p>\n

Yet, initially, some doubted whether the band would produce anything more notable than a short-lived stream of cash.<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

They had absolutely no bloody idea. And when you look at it, it\u2019s a miracle that it happened<\/p>\n

Pete Brown <\/p>\n

Pete Brown, the visionary London poet who co-wrote some of Cream\u2019s greatest tracks, including Sunshine of Your Love and White Room, was the fourth key figure in the story of Disraeli Gears.<\/p>\n

Brown recalled: \u201cCream\u2019s management thought it was going to be an all-star band that would fill the blues clubs, and maybe be a nice festival attraction. They never thought it would spread; they never thought it would get to America; they never thought we\u2019d have hit songs. They had absolutely no bloody idea. And when you look at it, it\u2019s a miracle that it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Power trio<\/p>\n

When I was young. I always thought I could really change the world through music<\/p>\n

Jack Bruce<\/p>\n

As Clapton later noted, whatever tension existed between the trio \u201call just turned to magic\u201d as soon as they started to play.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

Jack Bruce was convinced that they had all the ingredients they needed to forge a new sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did have grandiose conversations with Eric at the very beginning of the band, trying to come up with a kind of musical philosophy,\u201d Bruce said. \u201cEric was really into the blues and he knew a lot of stuff that I didn\u2019t know. So I was being a bit presumptuous by saying, \u2018I love the blues, but I\u2019d want to take it a step further and use the language of the blues as a way to write music for us.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cEric understood, but he probably thought I was getting a lot on myself to say something like that,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut I was always like that anyway, when I was young. I always thought I could really change the world through music.\u201d<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t say to Eric, ‘You don\u2019t know enough about chords, or, You don\u2019t know enough about jazz to play with us.’<\/p>\n

Pete Brown <\/p>\n

Pete Brown argued that despite Clapton\u2019s abundant talent and ferocious chops, working with jazz-trained players such as Bruce and Baker helped take his playing to another level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing they never did, which I\u2019m sure they got from [Alexis Korner band leader] Graham Bond, was that they didn\u2019t put Eric down,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t say, \u2018You don\u2019t know enough about chords\u2019, or, \u2018You don\u2019t know enough about jazz to play with us.\u2019 What they did say was: \u2018You\u2019re a terrific player with terrific feeling, and if you play with us then this thing will happen \u2013 the magic will come.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And it did.<\/p>\n

Cream – I feel free (1967) – YouTube
\n\"Cream<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Cream\u2019s first album, Fresh Cream, was released in December 1966, reaching No 6 in the British charts and a single, I Feel Free, was picked up by ATCO \u2013 a subsidiary of US label Atlantic Records.<\/p>\n

Ahmet Ertegun, the head of Atlantic, was influential and had helped launch the careers of Ray Charles<\/a> and Aretha Franklin. A way to break into America beckoned, although as Jack Bruce ruefully recalls: \u201cIt\u2019s very important to remember that Cream were originally signed to Atlantic as a rider on the Bee Gees contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine chaotic dates at the RKO Theater in New York followed in March 1967, plus one day at Atlantic Studios, where they recorded a Buddy Guy track, Hey Lawdy Mama, that would later evolve into Strange Brew<\/a>. The next time Cream returned to New York, a month later, it would be to record Disraeli Gears.<\/p>\n

Midnight express\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bruce’s bass<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jack\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Susie Macdonald\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I switched to electric bass guitar in the mid-1960s, I didn\u2019t know anything about bass guitars, really,\u201d Bruce confessed. \u201cAnd at first I was kind of against them; I didn\u2019t like them. But then I quickly fell in love with the ease of playability and all that stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I just went in and tried a few, and I found this one that I liked, which turned out to be a Gibson EB3. I liked it because it was very compact and you could bend the strings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, well if you\u2019re going to play a bass guitar, it should be like a guitar, not an upright bass. So at that time I thought it was really great to have this short-scale bass. I thought Fenders had this one sound that I didn\u2019t want to go for.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the band returned to London, Jack Bruce and Pete Brown met up to write. With studio dates for Disraeli Gears just days away, the pressure was on to deliver new material.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were milking us for every penny, so we never had any time to rest, or write, or live,\u201d Bruce said. \u201cSo Pete and me had to come up with some material for what was to be the next record. But we didn\u2019t know what it was going to be. We were just desperately trying to find time to write songs, which usually entailed staying up all night in between gigs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruce had already worked with Brown on earlier Cream hits, such as the single I Feel Free, for which Bruce scored out the song\u2019s pop-rock melody on paper like a composer, while Brown provided the epic poetry of the lyrics.<\/p>\n

Brown recalled: \u201cI don\u2019t know why they needed me, because Jack and Ginger are both very, very intelligent people \u2013 and Eric too, though Eric wasn\u2019t writing, hardly. But then, I suppose I had a lot of chops as a writer by then. I was a well-known poet, and I wrote and practised a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruce and Brown resumed their writing partnership as preparations for Disraeli Gears hit full swing, with songs written in the small hours and road-tested at gigs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically you\u2019d come up with a song, then go into the studio and see if the guys liked it,\u201d Jack Bruce recalls. \u201cAnd if they did, it would go straight into the live act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working on Sunshine<\/p>\n

This high-intensity approach was how Cream\u2019s most famous track, Sunshine Of Your Love, came about.<\/p>\n

As Bruce explained: \u201cPete and me were doing an all-night session at my place in Hampstead, at the flat, and we hadn\u2019t really come up with anything. And I picked up my double bass, which was lying there, and played the riff of Sunshine.<\/p>\n

“Pete looked out the window and it was getting near dawn so he wrote, \u2018It\u2019s getting near dawn.\u2019 So there we had the first part, which is the part where the riff is, and we had the words of that. But we didn\u2019t have a song. So we took it into rehearsal and Eric came up with the turnaround. Pete wrote the words for that and we had a song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown stated: \u201cLater on our writing became more complex. But in that period of time it was a question of getting good alternatives: stuff that Jack felt happy singing. He had to feel good about the sounds of the words.<\/p>\n

\u201cSunshine Of Your Love really is a song about being on the road,\u201d he added, \u201ccoming home after you\u2019ve done a gig and arguing with your girlfriend, who\u2019s going to be in a receptive mood to have a nice little scene after you\u2019ve been doing your hard work. It\u2019s a gig song.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about sensuality, and the colours that come to mind when you\u2019re having great sex<\/p>\n

Pete Brown <\/p>\n

Some may be surprised by how workmanlike the writing process was, with gigs and deadlines driving the creativity more than the band\u2019s experiences. As Brown explained, even the more tripped-out tracks on Disraeli Gears, such as She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow, were not actually inspired by drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember this very psychedelic person saying to me when Disraeli Gears came out, \u2018Ah, that lyric, So many fantastic colours, on SWLABR. You must have been tripping when you wrote that.\u2019 And I said, \u2018No \u2013 actually, it\u2019s a completely sexual image to me. It\u2019s about sensuality, and the colours that come to mind when you\u2019re having great sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

Return to New York\u00a0<\/p>\n

The philosophy at Atlantic Studios was not, Let\u2019s have this really great song or, Let\u2019s have this riff,\u201d Jack Bruce says. \u201cIt was, Let\u2019s make a record<\/p>\n

When May came around, the band were exhausted, but otherwise ready to cut the album. Although Bruce and Brown had done the lion\u2019s share of the songwriting, Clapton had teamed up with Australian artist Martin Sharp to write Tales Of Brave Ulysses, which became a pillar of Cream\u2019s live set. Sharp also designed the striking cover art for Disraeli Gears, highlighting what a melting-pot of \u201960s counterculture the album was.<\/p>\n

When the band got to New York to record at Atlantic\u2019s studio there, they were joined by two studio professionals who would further shape the sound of Disraeli Gears \u2013 producer Felix Pappalardi, who would later play bass in Mountain, and crack sound engineer Tom Dowd. With just one week of studio time in which to cut the album, their contributions would prove vital.<\/p>\n

As Bruce said: \u201cThe philosophy at Atlantic Studios was not, \u2018Let\u2019s have this really great song\u2019 or, \u2018Let\u2019s have this riff.\u2019 It was, \u2018Let\u2019s make a record.\u2019 Tom Dowd was one of the all-time geniuses of recording and that\u2019s what you had to do: you had to convince him that what you had was a proper record.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Cream\"\n<\/p>\n

Eric Clapton and Disraeli Gears producer Felix Pappalardi chat between takes at Atlantic Recording Studios, NYC in April 1967 (Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Dowd and Pappalardi took the band\u2019s gig-focused song arrangements and helped sculpt them into something that was more complex and satisfying for album listeners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we played Sunshine Of Your Love live, before we went in the studio, it was much more of a straight-ahead rock feel,\u201d Bruce recalled. \u201cBut Tom Dowd came up with an idea. He said, \u2018Why don\u2019t you play it like in those Westerns where the Indians\u2019 drums go: Boom boom boom.\u2019 So Ginger tried that. Then it gave it a new life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brewing up trouble\u00a0<\/p>\n

The move to Atlantic Studios saw Cream\u2019s music evolve rapidly \u2013 it introduced record label politics. Bruce was dismayed to find that Clapton was viewed as the band leader by Atlantic executives, which influenced how another famous track from the album, Strange Brew, was recorded.<\/p>\n

It still pisses me off because it sounds like the bass is playing the wrong tune throughout <\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that came about was quite strange because we had already made a recording of a blues song called Hey Lawdy Mama,\u201d Bruce said. \u201cBut then Felix Pappalardi was told there had been an executive decision that Eric had to front the band and I was going to be the bass-player guy who stood in the background quietly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo all of my material was sort of \u2018non grata\u2019, and they had to come up with a song for Eric to sing. So Felix took Lawdy Mama home and came back the next day with Strange Brew, which he had co-written with his wife Gail. So that was how that came about. I was well pissed off, because the bass part that I had didn\u2019t fit the new structure of this new song, although it was used.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still pisses me off because it sounds like the bass is playing the wrong tune throughout \u2013 which it wasn\u2019t for the original thing. It was very much against my wishes, but I had absolutely no power in the band, in the studio \u2013 because Ahmet Ertegun was more or less in love with Eric. He thought Eric should be the frontman.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intervention by Atlantic executives was a reminder that, despite the obvious vision and talent of the band, Atlantic still had their eye on commercial hits driven by the fan-appeal of the band\u2019s star guitarist. Nonetheless, when the week\u2019s recording ended, it was clear to anyone with functioning ears that the band had cut a game-changing rock album.<\/p>\n

Hitting top gear<\/p>\n

Cream – Outside Woman Blues (Royal Albert Hall 2005) (3 of 22) – YouTube
\n\"Cream<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

When Disraeli Gears went on sale in late 1967, it was a hit in Britain \u2013 reaching No 5 in the charts \u2013 and an even bigger success in the States, where it went to No 4. This prompted a punishing round of touring in America that signalled the beginning of the end for the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was enjoyable until they broke the band\u2019s spirit by putting us on the one-nighters for seven months without anybody to help us,\u201d Bruce recalled. \u201cThat was what destroyed us \u2013 that and the lack of PA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band cut two more albums at a breakneck pace in 1968 \u2013 Wheels of Fire and their aptly named final recording, Goodbye. When Cream played their last British gigs at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 November, everyone in the band was exhausted and ready to move on.<\/p>\n

Cream – We’re Going Wrong \/ Alternate Take (Royal Albert Hall 2005) (21 of 22) – YouTube
\n\"Cream<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Disraeli Gears had undoubtedly been the highwater mark of the band\u2019s astonishing two-year career.<\/p>\n

Looking back, what did Bruce feel about the album?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you always would like another go,\u201d he concluded, philosophically. \u201cYou\u2019re never quite happy about it. There\u2019s definitely things that could be changed and obviously you only hear the mistakes. But once it\u2019s finished, it\u2019s finished.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Released on this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-955636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}