EAST COAST, SEPT 1967
Brandeis Remastered Quality: Instruments better balanced with the bass much clearer and improved attack on the guitar. Vocals remain undermixed but clearer. Drums remain clear as the recording was centre stage. Volume variations and mike repositioning effects have been smoothed. Noise levels especially tape hiss significantly reduced. Final quality is not as good as Grande Ballroom but very listenable especially in conjunction with the excellence of the performance.
Psychedelic Supermarket Remastered Quality: Original recording quality was very low. The remaster has improved the balance but the bass remains dominant (much to the delight of Bruce fans!) but muddy. Noise levels are reduced but they remain noticeable. Final quality can only be classed as reasonable.
CD1 (44 min)
Brandeis University, Waltham Mass, 10th September 1967
1. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 4.52
2. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 12.04
3. NSU (Bruce) 19.20
4. Sitting on Top of the World (Chester Burnett) 6.55
CD2 (71 min)
Brandeis University, Waltham Mass, 10th September 1967
1. Stepping Out (Bracken) 14.38
2. Traintime (Bruce) 8.32
3. Toad (Baker) 17.02
Psychedelic Supermarket, Boston Mass, [10-16th] Sept. 1967
4. Spoonful (Willie Dixon) 11.44
5. Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey)- Inc 7.59
6. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 4.26
7. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 7.11
EAST COAST, USA - reviewed
September 1967
Leaving for USA, Heathrow Airport, London, 18th August
Note Janet with Jack, Eric with Charlotte and no Liz Baker (at home caring for the kids!)
When they had arrived in San Francisco, Cream had been touring heavily for over a year. They were jaded and also chagrined about Jimi Hendrix’s success in their homeland. If this tour had not been a success they may have broken up.
The response of the audiences in San Francisco drew forth a new performance approach. They had always improvised within the song forms as they never ‘memorised’ solos, like most lesser musicians. Here, the audiences demands for them to "just play" resulted in the instrumental breaks becoming increasingly extended with the songs just the start and end of the real meat – the jamming.
After their triumphant debut on the West Coast, they went to the more conservative East Coast. They mainly played in Boston and New York but on Saturday the 9th September they journeyed from Boston to Waltham.
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Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusets
10th September 1967
Brandeis is a small and relatively new University in Massachusetts and as such is not a member of the ‘Ivy League’. Due to transport problems they didn’t arrive until the early hours of Sunday morning. Few had left the gymnasium even by the 2.15am start. Clearly their reputation had spread through the ‘underground’ music scene. Cream responded to the enthusiasm of the young audience and continued to explore the facets of extemporisation. Ginger Baker is in dominating form providing a very powerful rendition of "Toad" plus a relatively short but potent solo on "NSU". One can only assume that he had achieved a high state of enthusiasm after an intake of the requisite chemicals. Notably, "Sunshine of Your Love" is given an extended and high powered work out.
Brandeis was recorded on a good quality stereo tape recorder at 3.75ips. Mikes were positioned centre stage resulting in clear drums and reasonably balanced guitars. Vocals are somewhat distant but clear. The reverberation of the gym is clearly obvious. I suspect that the recorder and his friends were drum freaks.
The audio quality is not as good as "The Grande Ballroom" but still quite good. The quality of performance once again overcomes the audio limitations.
Note: Times approximate and include between song breaks, intros, talk etc
Tales of Brave Ulysses (4:50)
A rough tape start. The warm up receives another excellent work out with a very strong ending coda containing some of Eric’s best wah-wah work. Strangely, it really does contain the seeds of heavy metal.
Jack thanks the audience for staying on .."one of the nicest things that’s happened to us.." The riff is played on the bass drum to call:
Sunshine of Your Love (12.00)
It’s a powerhouse and extended treatment. This is the best available version with Ginger absolutely powering it on. The middle solo has Jack doing endless variations on the riff. The final jam has all three in full solo-in-ensemble mode. Eric blasts the place.
NSU (19.00)
Launched with thunderous tom toms and moves into a ferocious jam. Baker, at times, plays with overwhelming power and speed. It’s one of those jams that has to be listened to to be believed. Just as they sound like they are moving to the final vocals with one of Eric’s trademark riffs, Ginger is left to solo. It is tight, structured and very different to Toad (barely 5 min). Guitar and bass rejoin for the transition to the vocals. NSU seems to always bring the best out of them.
Tape change
Sitting on Top of the World (6.50)
Eric and Jack produce another excellent version underpinned by superb drumming. The vocals are quite clear as the recording mikes directly pick up Jack - confirms the incredible power of his voice. Eric is up loud and soaring. Heavy rock blues doesn’t come any better than this.
Stepping Out (14.30)
Just a great performance with Eric and Ginger in symbiosis. In my review of the official released version I said that "this style of performance doesn’t really suit Eric’s sensibilities". Well, at this time it certainly did. He was fully exploring the potential of this approach. Ginger went with him: responding and prodding with brushes and bass drums. Clapton at his finest!
Traintime (8.30)
Another good version but one can only take this song and format so far. Unfortunately Jack is too technically limited as a harmonica player to really pull this off repeatedly, in terms of repeated recordings. Extending Stepping Out with a bass/drums duet would have ultimately been more satisfying. Though, for most of those in this young audience, a long harmonica solo was a new experience. To me, it’s the drums that keep it working.
Toad (17.00)
Baker is in such great form, what more really needs to be said? The instrumental intro has Jack taking the lead as Eric sounds like he’s lost an amp. Toad has been much criticised over the years but those carping critics should listen to this audience’s response!
Psychedelic Supermarket, Boston Massachusets
2 sets each night, 10th-16th September 1967
Boston was a very conservative city not taken to "hippies" resulting in them mainly staying in their hotel. The performance, perhaps, shows the impact of that atmosphere. While the playing is undeniably excellent, it is more restrained compared to Brandeis. This may have also been due to doing two shows each night. This recording sounds like it is from the first show of one of the nights.
Psychedelic Supermarket was recorded on a typical domestic recorder in mono. It was positioned left of stage giving dominance to the bass. Lead guitar and vocals are distant. It’s especially attractive to the Jack Bruce fans. Frequency range is limited and tape noise is high. It was tightly recorded onto a 30min tape, so there are tape start ups effecting each song.
PS – I’d appreciate any info on the Psychedelic Supermarket venue
Tales of Brave Ulysses (4.20)
Preceded by Jack and Ginger mucking around. Solid version with Eric using less wah-wah then usual on the coda.
Sunshine of Your Love (7.10)
A tight version with a quite intense final coda. Still, a better performance than the official release.
Spoonful (11.42)
A comparatively brief version with the vocal sections being fairly extended. Pretty similar to the early ’67 performances. Doesn’t hit a high plain but still shows they were still good even when not at their best. It is interesting to note the jam reference points that are common to all versions.
Sweet Wine (8.00) – Incomplete
Unfortunately the best performance is cut short by the tape running out. Baker and Clapton were, in particular, locking. They were really hiting their straps and …