CREAM – DISRAELI GEARS

 Review by Gil Israel

            Largely held as one of the greatest rock albums of all time, Cream’s Disraeli Gears certainly lives up to its hype. Released in 1967, the legendary summer of love, Disraeli Gears is a blues-rock psychedelic masterpiece that has clearly and deeply inspired nearly all psychedelic rock acts to follow.

            Of course, this album contains some of what we-would-considere-clichés throughout, namely the track “Sunshine of Your Love,” as well as tracks with that traditional blues rock structure. However, when one actually sits down and listens to this album all the way through, these “clichés” suddenly vanish. “Sunshine of Your Love” actually sounds original and powerful as the album’s second track, with its crunchy power chords and proto-stoner rock pentatonic riff, and sounds like three young dudes experimenting with traditional rock structures instead of rock-legends merely plying a “classic.” The blues structures too throughout the album, though still recognizable, still manage to sound original as the guitar tones are bathed in reverb and delay and the lyrics of psychedelic bliss are front and center. For example, tracks like “Blue Condition” though a simple blues, is one of the album’s most enjoyable and unique tracks, with Ginger Baker’s mellow voice and the distorted guitars expressing the blues in a modern way distinctly crafted for the psychedelic age.

            There are some moments however when the tracks come a little too close to that blues cliché. For example, “Take it Back” sounds like a very traditional blues based rock song and doesn’t seem to add anything especially new… However if all else, it’s still a well-executed blues-rock tune, albeit not the most groundbreaking or genre challenging.

            And we all must remember that though our cliché monitor may go off at certain points during this album, these are the guys that invented the hard-rock/psychedelic rock cliché in the first place! When they first created this album in the late 60’s, such a blend of the blues and psychedelia was downright progressive; for them, it wasn’t a cliché, it was true innovation! In fact it was so innovative, that there are still multiple bands who are ripping off that Cream sound! (looking at you Wolfmother and Temples…).

            Since this album is considered a classic, it would be pointless for me to go on highlighting all the great things about it that so many others have pointed out before me. However I will say that though it is considered a classic, I didn’t actually realize how good it really was until I extensively listened to it. At a brief 34 minutes, it’s a breezy, catchy, trippy, yet powerful album that presents those damned rock clichés in their most primordial and unhinged form – a form that somehow, and for once, makes them sound fresh.

OVERALL SCORE

9.7