It was more or less approximately 50 years ago today

[Pies4shaw]

I was listening to my actual favourite piece of music - "Crossroads" by Cream - this morning and realised that - it having been recorded on 10 March 1968 - I'd missed it's 50th anniversary. So, happy fiftieth, Crossroads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xunvM1rknH8

Although it's a Clapton tour de force, the bass playing is also extraordinary (as, of course, is Ginger's drumming - but then Ginger always was), so if you haven't heard it, try listening on a device that will let you hear the bass, as well as the mids. Anyway, I find the two guitar solos endlessly fascinating - both melodically and structurally. Perhaps not the most jaw-dropping piece of guitar-playing, technically (in the sense that techniques have expanded considerably since 1968) but, in my opinion, the most musical. I hope they will plant me to this tune (if only so that both people present will have to listen to it, again). I have listened to this recording literally thousands of times and I ever never tire of it, even though I know exactly what's coming next.

Which led me to thinking about the rock and pop albums of 1968 more generally.

So, happy fiftieth also to all of the following (in no particular order):

Wheels of Fire (from which Crossroads is taken) - in addition to Crossroads, it contains a mesmerising extended version of Spoonful, as well as the classics White Room (the "how to guide" for playing wah-wah guitar), Sitting on Top of the World, Politician, Born Under a Bad Sign and Deserted Cities of the Heart. Here's a link to the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h66lp3gI7iQ If you've never heard it, give at least the first track a run.

The White Album - in addition to George Harrison's greatest moment as a lead-guitarist (stepping aside and letting Eric play While My Guitar Gently Weeps), it has Back in the USSR, Dear Prudence, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da (the "B" side of While My Guitar Gently Weeps!!!), Savoy Truffle, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, Happiness is a Warm Gun, I'm So Tired, Piggies, Rocky Raccoon, Blackbird and Yer Blues. It's a bit of a tragedy that Hey Jude and Revolution were not on the album, though it seems to have been a reasonable marketing strategy. Here's little Eric again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xiuVy0oFSI

Sweet Child: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU3Xeo0kabc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0TcoVzg39w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1l3_rUGxdY&list=PL94gOvpr5yt1oEABN-HpSa_kktkNT60PT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHjr91rnBoY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpkERaT-2zQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L_Uj9Pqaic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUIDgjpqflo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNZBwMrutg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhIX6EvBP3Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZT6mxVpHFA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfju4UNUH_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeFaiaSw54s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO98jTOXQUU

The Pentangle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlETEjtFDu0

Steppenwolf. Nothing more needs to be said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZk-4Vzrl4I&list=PLJiBoXYJ0Jzmw8Ny_NNAEgDY61ThD8JVh

The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7encWb7lNQ&list=PL8e6CWVLs2XR63l1Qt6c1c0DEdB7gcAN0&index=3

Bookends: Apart from Mrs Robinson, Hazy Shade of Winter, Fakin' It and At the Zoo, it had this - one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo2ZsAOlvEM

Jimi's Electric Ladyland. The "Slight Return" to Voodoo Chile and All Along the Watchtower are so good, it would not matter what else was on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZBlqcbpmxY

Beggars Banquet, with the fabulous Nicky Hopkins making Sympathy for the Devil and No Expectations, plus Salt of the Earth, Street Fighting Man, Jigsaw Puzzle, Dear Doctor and Prodigal Son: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luK1dQx5GR4

Music From Big Pink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CprDANYhC8

Cheap Thrills -"Four gentlemen and one great, great roar": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVX9mbCIXVM

Odyssey and Oracle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqkgEbmMhCY

Creedence Clearwater Revival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3o2mAXu3gY&list=PL0ryVRgv4iE0z4o5IecML9-XAm7GJGdu9

Sweetheart of the Rodeo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbLBbdQzEeE

Waiting for the Sun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOzpncIHCLs

White Light, White Heat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qkM7Tp3IvY

Ogden's Nut Gone Flake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRd6ZHmf2kk&list=PLYvuhF6_vkc1L2EPbAgMQE3QwXl2gSmIm

Donovan in Convcert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C377twhJxo

A Saucerful of Secrets - a small welcome to young Davey Gilmore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4dC9fi7-h4&list=PL2Qt9Ttwtjnx0FpE3cCWNzwzYoI1Rw1w7

Crown of Creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-z0PGDSVKs&t=4s

The Soft Machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy-V_9LT5_g

Gris Gris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWvdO3l4_P8&list=PLD8F09E69CC645A15&index=7

Shades of Deep Purple - hello to Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1PNvopXjbg

Anthem of the Sun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLPsZoF8q1U

Truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuj5toLeyY8

Blood, Sweat and Tears' debut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XvU-26A-_s&list=PL8a8cutYP7fr8Cf7e3TBEECAp7RCrCp02

Boogie with Canned Heat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRKNw477onU

Songs to a Seagull: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ePWwBtLEz0

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIVe-rZBcm4

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgQuVeMOyAk

Super Session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWkMMXgQohc

Hurdy Gurdy Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_muBohVl5Y

Livin' the Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eQMA_noRYQ

Bare Wires: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwKfePSvbkY

Magic Sam's Black Magic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYN1gB4alMk&list=PLYxnLx2k--pjsoSyInyaIbTOHw9pLEui1

Blood, Sweat and Tears' second album - you may have heard some of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKuqaZ0DQtk&list=RDEMz0vxYWmtk7EyF3GMvX8zIw

Blues from Laurel Canyon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbkoAhet2CQ&list=PLlIb2qlPXVbZT8yheIN3lvVQESAdxhwB5

The Cheerful Insanity of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aWBKZY4xwA&list=PL94gOvpr5yt2ziOdoCtk8bz04U0aSXlld

Cruisin with Ruebn and the Jets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX2wOtQMAIQ

Dance to the Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn2PNlhvy8E&list=PLy1iR6y8NWo5iKPb7KQVg6PLx8huXS-h3

For Once in My Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvvBOWI1-jY&list=PL-UWPlRIl68oKk4IDpl9jF-Q4z_78OAWW&index=7

I Heard it Through the Grapevine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7NObLk-aes

In My Own Dream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eedfsaJ7lOk

Large as Life and Twice as Natural: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW6DEtqWMHo&list=PLipvn5FV40kcYS7agt4aZH3bgEticWEyE

Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxfRj2TO0O4&list=PLWKVR1vjJD6FqZYStdEjvBnxvbx11ZUWT

Love Is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1UCx4Z6J_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs_FYcF5o3s

A Man and the Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1eexreF-_M&list=PL8a8cutYP7fqTYQbHALwamjlR9oXzMBuF

The Mason Williams Phonograph Record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mREi_Bb85Sk

Mass in F Minor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QnZn0I602I&list=PLcJVG8qNABBO17BfHetcTmu2OMSrRuEQE

Notorious Byrd Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmx3MgmLFg

A Portrait of Ray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH81RJtakRU

Sailor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2UhROPfRmw&list=PL26D7490216D45797&index=8

The Second: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tvfeb8fQDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iukVgAXWe2w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2k_gKyv8XM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCHXHVEFwIc

Traffic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8-EFlkVTok

The Tumbler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj8sQsoIrj8&list=PLxEbW1eWUaaKbXAYUzD3iKYYiK3xfEszr

Wee Tam and the Big Huge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHFonKzrBcM&list=PLkkVhQpGemX7OR53PKz-ZJC6WcUch4LZ6

Who Knows Where the Time Goes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJeLguRecYc

[think positive]

Sheesh! You weren’t watching the last quarter?!

[Pies4shaw]

I finished the post just before the first bounce, TP.

[think positive]

Oh **** yeah, I keep forgetting to change the time zone, sorry!

[stui magpie]

Nup.

Music to hang yourself by.

[Pies4shaw]

Did I link to Astral Weeks somewhere by mistake?

[Skids]

This one from the greatest ever band in the world is 50 this year too...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5AIisWNvM4

[Pies4shaw]

Yes, it’s a wonderful song. It was in the list, Skids. I linked to The Prodigal Son from Beggars Banquet because there’s no one left alive who doesn’t fully appreciate the magnificence of Sympathy for the Devil, No Expectations, street Fighting Man and Stray Cat Blues. That said, I have a vague recollection that I might have posted a link once to Nicky Hopkins’ isolated piano track taken from the master of that track.

As for “greatest ever band in the world”, that’s probably a matter of taste. I love their early singles and then the 4 tremendous albums they made, starting with BB and ending with Exile on Main Street. But, on a fair view, nothing they’ve done new in the last 46 years has been of the same standard. A few more good singles since but, even when I last saw them the most impressive thing was the late and irreplaceable Bobby Keyes reproducing his solos from the “great” period and the least impressive thing for me was a lineball between Ronnie Wood not being Mick Taylor and Chuck Leavell turning all of Hopkins’ and Stewart’s wonderful keyboard work into down home, southern half-kinda-blues cliche.

Alexis Corner, an incredibly influential musician iand producer n his own right, produced a phenomenal radio history of the Stones for the BBC many years ago. His view was that Beggars Banquet was their greatest achievement and, IIRC, Sympathy for the Devil their greatest recording. I like the Let It Bleed album slightly more - but I have worn out several vinyl copies of both.

[Pies4shaw]

A non-album single from 1968 - the video clip recalls a time when it was the second coolest thing in the world to wear a salmon-coloured shirt with a gold silk tie (the coolest thing in the world, of course, was whatever the other singer in that particular band was doing):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLRiGX3L-kw

[Pies4shaw]

Accidental post - so here's something different from the same year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3IgLncbDJ4

[HAL]

Are you telling the truth?

[Pies4shaw]

And from the Stones' Rock and Roll Circus of 1968 - a scratch band covers "Yer Blues" from the White Album. George, Paul and Ringo weren't available, so John got Eric to play the lead, Keith Richards to play bass and Mitch Mitchell (then Jimi Hendrix's drummer in the Experience) to help out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuy-10Ejck4

Anyway, fast forward 25 years and here's Eric, Jack and Ginger playing Crossroads at their induction into the Hall of Fame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEMlaIQsnVg

At the time, I saw this on TV and I was completely blown away. I thought that Cream were lost in the mists of time, done and I would never see Crossroads performed. "The band, Elwood, the band...."

And another two decades on, here's Eric getting the band back together for a second time. Jack Bruce, so ill and tired he has to sit down to play, Ginger doing his impersonation of a wring-wraith. Eric looking just a little like he's in his reading glasses and slippers - but the three of them still putting out that irresistible groove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX6J5-13c-0

[Skids]

[Pies4shaw]

"I am the God of Hellfire and I bring you ...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLG1ys2CGcI

[HAL]

Who made you the God of Hellfire ? You are not the boss of me, like it's going to pass under land about a block of me it starts to the west on an alignment parallel with Queensberry St and then seems to do a dog-leg north-ish to get to near the haymarket roundabout Flemington RdGrattan StRoyal Parade spot which is I assume the logical cheap place to put the Parkville station.