The one band Eric Clapton called better than Cream
When Eric Clapton first got started with Cream, he didn’t have anything else to prove to the rest of the world.
He was the definition of a guitar god to many people, and even with guitarists like Jimi Hendrix coming out of the woodwork and taking his crown, you would be hard-pressed to find another group that had the same creative synergy that all of them had together. Their name was already a flex about being the best in the world, but after they broke up, ‘Slowhand’ realised there was a lot more talent out there than he bargained for.
For one thing, getting in many other supergroups during his lifetime was bound to give him a bit more perspective. Spending a day tracking with The Beatles is enough to show anyone what true greatness is supposed to look like, and even when Clapton left with Ginger Baker in tow to form Blind Faith, hearing Steve Winwood’s voice soaring over their tunes was as close to what Cream had done as anyone could have ever imagined.
But after someone like Hendrix passed away, Clapton seemed to be one of the only guitarists on that virtuoso level. Led Zeppelin definitely were gaining traction at the time, but when Clapton formed Derek and the Dominos, he had everything he could have asked for. He had been doing a pale imitation of what blues bands sounded like, and now he had people who had actually been to those same places that he had dreamed of back in the day.
The test run on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass was enough to give them a sense of camaraderie, but after having the idea to put together a group, ‘Slowhand’ wanted one more guitarist among their ranks. He had talked to future Journey shredder Neal Schon about taking the gig, but when listening to Duane Allman playing slide guitar on Wilson Pickett’s version of ‘Hey Jude’, he had already made his decision.
Allman could pull so many emotions out of his instrument without even trying too hard, and when listening to him play off Clapton, it was a match made in heaven on tunes like ‘Layla’. But even if Duane had a great foundation to work off of when playing with the Dominos, nothing was ever going to match what he did with the Allman Brothers Band. They were practically telepathic with each other, and when Clapton played with them, he realised that even his old bands couldn’t match up.
Cream was a lot of fun, but Clapton knew nothing would ever compare to what the Allmans could do, saying, “(Allman Brothers) influenced my music at the time. They made it okay for a band to be live all the time. Their thing was really more about live than [studio]. We (Cream) were really limited onstage. We could go into the studio and make great records by overdubbing.” But even with all that overdubbing, the sheer tenacity that every band member had was beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
There are many people who still consider Live at Fillmore East one of the greatest rock albums of all time, but when listening to them work off each other, it’s hard to even call their music purely rock and roll. Duane is definitely one of the finest guitarists in the genre, but since he was listening to a lot of jazz at the time, you can also hear influences from everyone from Miles Davis to John Coltrane in the way that he plays.
Jack Bruce and Baker might have known the ways of jazz when Cream were at their peak, but Clapton wasn’t looking to compete with what The Allmans could do. There are many avenues that he went down trying to become a better guitarist, but even some of the legends have to admit defeat and realise they are never going to reach a certain level.
