portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Sunday, April 16, 2017

another in the occasional series of albums or singles bought when they came out and this is one. 
Somehow we had only just got our heads around the onslaught from the supergroup trio This was who we all wanted to be and the concert at the Royal Albert Hall being televised with the shock that set hit us with then no sooner had we got used to that then they were saying 'Goodbye!' . . . . . . 
discussed here over at the wonderful 


CREAM Goodbye (1969)

GoodbyeGoodbye (1969)
A Patchwork Farewell
In this age of box sets, bonus tracks, session outtakes and “complete” reissues, a lot of catalog releases these days are marketed more to have-it-all collectors than your casual music lover. Some LPs, however, sidestepped that re-tinkered fate simply by their very nature… like Cream’s final 1969 album, Goodbye. Released months after their split, Goodbye was a Frankenstein of bits and pieces – half live (hot on the heels of the half-live, Wheels Of Fire) with three studio tracks, one written by each member of the band. It was originally conceived as a double album, a grand farewell, but that idea quickly fell apart, so there wasn’t much in the way of extras or outtakes to fill out what became a stillborn project. But, that didn’t stop Goodbye from becoming a much beloved finale. It’s easy to critique it, but not so easy to shake the memories of the era that are still carried with it. Eric Clapton & George Harrison’s “Badge” was the standout studio track, but I’ve always been a fan of Ginger Baker’s unique compositions (“Pressed Rat And Warthog,” “Passing The Time” and, later, “Do What You Like”), and his “What A Bringdown” is a live-in-the-studio blast. Still a standout Cream track in my book. And… how can you not love that cover? Even the bonus soundtrack 45, “Anyone For Tennis,” now seems to fit in with this record’s scattershot approach. I’m posting this simply because I had a hankering to relive this LP in its original form, so… you get to, too. If nothing else, we’ll steer you to some of our very interesting archive posts, HERE, which include titles we really shouldn’t be mentioning. Find Goodbye at Amazon, HERE.

I’m So Glad (9:13) – Live At The L.A. Forum, Oct. 19, 1968
Politician (6:20) – Live At The L.A. Forum, Oct. 19, 1968
Sitting On Top Of The World (5:04) – Live At The L.A. Forum, Oct. 19, 1968
Badge (2:48) (Clapton/Harrison)
Doing That Scrapyard Thing (3:18) (Bruce/Brown)
What A Bringdown (3:58) (Baker)
Anyone For Tennis (2:36) (Clapton/Sharp) – Bonus Track


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