Today we have Cream's fourth studio album Goodbye. Released in 1969, it was the band's last album before they broke up. Clapton would go on to form Blind Faith with Steve Woodwind and Ginger Baker (whose singular album we will be covering next) and Jack Bruce would begin his solo career. The album has three live performances and three studio recordings.
Eric Clapton once said that the last leg of Cream's live existence mostly consisted of the band showing off and, although the live performances are certainly good, the extended solos on "I'm So Glad" and "Sitting on Top of the World" are perfect examples of that. In addition, all the live songs have studio counterparts which are much better--with the possible exception of "Politician," which comes off a little less heavy metal here. However, the studio songs are all superb--Clapton's "Badge" makes me excited for his songwriting on his next few projects, Bruce's "Doing That Scrapyard Thing" is a fun and eccentric piece that highlights the band's mastery of the studio, and Baker's "What a Bringdown" is his best composition for the band--and show how far the band has come since their debut, which was half covers. B
