Bedecked with the eyecatching, trippy, day-glow cover art of Aussie counter-culturalist Martin Sharp, Cream’s second album Disraeli Gears was always going to turn heads when it hit the shelves. Its unique and formidable blend of blues riffing and psychedelic freak-out caught the ears of the world’s record-buying public, too, and made its tracks stand out like purple-red flashes on the radio.
Almost from the moment phenomenal jazz drummer Ginger Baker approached former Yardbird and Bluesbreaker Eric Clapton about starting a band back in mid-1966, Cream – whose line-up was completed by ace bassist, singer and songwriter Jack Bruce – were soon signed up by Robert Stigwood’s Reaction Records label in the UK and Atlantic’s Atco imprint in the US. Their debut Fresh Cream did well on home turf, but only just cracked the Top 40 over the pond.
