Gold

Performer: Cream
Engineer: Tom Dowd; Damon Lyon-Shaw; John Timperly; John Timperley; Adrian Barber; Bill Halverson
Producer: Felix Pappalardi; Robert Stigwood; Felix Pappalardi; Tom Dowd; Bill Levenson (Compilation)
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Cream: Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce. Personnel: Eric Clapton (vocals, guitar); Jack Bruce (vocals, acoustic guitar, cello, harmonica, piano, organ, bass guitar); Ginger Baker (vocals, drums, percussion); Felix Pappalardi (viola, trumpet, piano, organ, Mellotron). Additional personnel: George Harrison (guitar); Felix Pappalardi. Audio Remixer: Adrian Barber. Liner Note Author: Scott Schinder. Recording information: Atlantic Studios, NY (07/1966-03/1969); Chalk Farm Studios (07/1966-03/1969); Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (07/1966-03/1969); IBC Studios, London, England (07/1966-03/1969); Mayfair Studios, London, England (07/1966-03/1969); The Forum, Los Angeles, CA (07/1966-03/1969); Winterland, San Francisco, CA (07/1966-03/1969). Photographers: Barrie Wentzell; David Redfern; Chuck Stewart; Jim Marshall . Arranger: Eric Clapton. Singer/composer Michael Gira's 1980s band Swans, with their considerable darkness/bleakness quotient, were perhaps the only outfit that could make Joy Division and Leonard Cohen sound practically jolly. Gira's Angels of Light project, however, is another matter entirely. While the Angels' music is still somewhat grim in lyrical content and vocal timbre, the overwhelmingly intense Swans-like approach has largely given way to a bittersweet melodic presentation. The autumnal, reflective tone is enhanced by Gira's neo-folk proteges Akron/Family, who serve as the backing band. The title THE ANGELS OF LIGHT SING "OTHER PEOPLE" refers not to other songwriters, but rather songs about particular people who've inspired/affected Gira in one way or another. He must know some fascinating characters: "Michael's White Hands" is a tapestry of buzzing, jangling string instruments conveying a chant/rant about a disorienting parallel world, the likes of which the Doors' Jim Morrison used to visit. "To Live Through Someone" has a catchy lilt that recalls British Isles' folk music, and the sweetly sung background vocals provide a welcome contrast to Gira's chilly, yet strangely compassionate, old-hermit-of-the-forest delivery. For those feeling haunted the memory of someone (or some particular time), SING "OTHER PEOPLE" may be an ideal form of musical catharsis.

Without Cream, rock as we know it might sound very different today. The London-based band were only together for a brief couple years (1966-1968), but their success opened the door for subsequent generations of blues-rockers and power trios. The jazz-schooled chops of drummer Ginger Baker and bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce combined with the psychedelic heavy blues of Eric Clapton's stinging guitar for a level of improvisational skill never before heard in a rock context. After Baker and Clapton's reunion in Blind Faith, all three members of Cream went on to lengthy solo careers, ranging from Baker's experimental jazz and world music to Bruce's folk and jazz to Clapton's traditional blues and mainstream rock.

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