Cream, Disraeli Gears (1967)
Weird – but this was my favourite album for a long time, or one of, before I’d even heard it. How does that work? Fucked if I know – but here goes, I’ll try take you back to how that played out…You see, I loved Cream (still do, some days at least). Don’t feel a huge need to listen to them all that often these days but hearing Cream was life-changing for me, the revelation – and other clichés too. But all I knew for the longest time was the half-dozen songs on The Cream of Eric Clapton – one of the most important records in my early childhood. Then there was The Best of Cream; I had to hear the band in its own context, separate from the Eric Clapton celebrations. For the longest time I didn’t know the small handful of Cream records – live and studio. I just knew the Cream of Clapton and Best of Cream comps. That was all I needed. But I liked the sound of Disraeli Gears (the title); it intrigued me enough to have to know what I meant, who and how – etc. And then I saw the songs on it – so many I knew from the compilations. It had to be their best album. I didn’t buy a copy of the album for a while but still talked about it as if it was a favourite record, felt like I knew it. I remember being in a high school history class and thinking it not only relevant but important to name-drop this Cream album when the name Benjamin Disraeli was mentioned. Well, I mean it is relevant – kinda. But one thing that is relevant – I fucking love that song Outside Woman Blues; it feels like an inverse riff, a strange turnaround inside the riff. And you don’t get that on the Cream compilations. So it was necessary to get hold of this album one day. And I did. And it is my favourite. Still.

Sample Track: Strange Brew

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown