The album Eric Clapton said was better than anything Cream ever did: “The perfect session”
Anything that Eric Clapton played throughout the 1960s normally has a golden halo around it half the time. With the exception of maybe Jimi Hendrix, ‘Slowhand’ was one of the reigning kings of guitar for any rock and roll fan, and judging by the massive influence that he carried from his time in The Yardbirds up until now, he seemed to have earned every word of the label of ‘God’. But as any reigning king of rock and roll knows, no career is perfect from back to front.
When looking through his back catalogue, Clapton always seemed to see The Yardbirds as a breeding ground anyway for when he would eventually strike out on his own. It was a good space to practise his Albert King licks and become one of the most tasteful players of his generation, but when looking at them next to every other blues outfit, it’s not like they were breaking new ground. Clapton needed something new, and when he formed Cream, everyone heard the sound of blues if it were dipped in acid.
Although Cream fit somewhere in between jazz, blues, and rock and roll, there was never any doubt about their influence on an entire generation of hard rockers. Despite Ginger Baker saying that the entire concept of heavy metal should have been aborted before it even got off the ground, the room they had to stretch out was untouchable when they made their records, especially on songs like ‘Crossroads’ where each of them are soloing at the same time.
But for all of the great tunes that Clapton spat out with Cream over the few years of their existence, he would always have a special place in his heart for his session with John Mayall. If The Yardbirds was him studying at a blues university, this was the first time he got to show off his skills properly, even managing to give some of the blues giants a run for their money when playing some of the covers.
And for all of the magic he had with Cream, Clapton felt that nothing he did with the power trio came close to the Bluesbreakers, saying, “It was the perfect recording session. The great thing was, Mike Vernon, who was producing it and had arranged it with John, had no agenda. There was no one there saying: ‘We need a single’ or any of that. We just went into the studio and played our set. I thought the John Mayall album was better than the Cream stuff. I thought we were really weak, to be honest, on record.”
But that was probably because there wasn’t as much for Clapton to worry about in the Bluesbreakers. Like it or not, he was a journeyman in every sense of the word on that album, and considering he had to hold up a lot more pieces of Cream during his tenure, it was far easier for him to play a scorching solo with John McVie behind him than worry about Jack Bruce or Baker blowing his eardrums out.
Then again, to say that the band was weak on record feels insane listening to what they could do live. Wheels of Fire might be a partially live album in many regards, but even if they didn’t capture the same magic in the studio, hearing them play the massive riff in ‘Spoonful’ or Baker leading the charge on ‘Toad’ is still one of the greatest showcases of skill any power trio has ever done.
Cream is no doubt the more successful group in most regards, but for anyone who had been sleeping on this stop-gap in between Clapton’s career, do yourself a favour and throw on ‘Steppin’ Out’. He was about to achieve God-status at this point, but even without the signature tone of Cream, he was already a badass.
