Disraeli Gears

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Disraeli Gears is the second album by British blues-rock group Cream. It was originally released in November 1967 and went on to reach #5 on the UK album chart. It was also their American breakthrough, becoming a massive seller there in 1968, reaching #4 on American charts. The album features the two singles "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine Of Your Love". By this time, the group was veering quite heavily away from their blues roots to indulge in more psychedelic sounds.

Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker all contributed songs with the help of lyricist Pete Brown and producer Felix Pappalardi. The track "Blue Condition" was unusual in that Baker, although by any account not a singer, took the lead vocal. The album was recorded in New York by their American label, the Atco division of Atlantic Records during the band's stay in the United States.

The lurid psychedelic cover art was created by Australian artist Martin Sharp, who lived in the same building as Clapton at the time of the Chelsea artists colony The Pheasantry. At their first meeting in a London club, Clapton mentioned that he had some music that needed lyrics, so Sharp wrote out a poem he had composed on a napkin and gave it to Clapton, who recorded it as "Tales Of Brave Ulysses".

In 2004, the album was released as a 2-disc Deluxe edition including the complete album in both mono and stereo, demos, alternate takes and tracks taken from the band's live sessions on BBC radio.

Track listing

Disraeli Gears (original 1967 release)

1. "Strange Brew" (Clapton, Collins, Pappalardi) - 2.46
2. "Sunshine of Your Love" (Bruce, Brown, Clapton) - 4.10
3. "World Of Pain" (Collins, Pappalardi) - 3.02
4. "Dance The Night Away" (Bruce, Brown) - 3.34
5. "Blue Condition" (Baker) - 3.29
6. "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (Clapton, Sharp) - 2.46
7. "SWLABR" (Bruce, Brown) - 2.31
8. "We're Going Wrong" (Bruce) - 3.26
9. "Outside Woman Blues" (Reynolds, arr. Clapton) - 2.24
10. "Take It Back" (Bruce, Brown) - 3.05
11. "Mother's Lament" (Traditional, arr. Bruce, Baker, Clapton) - 1.47

Disraeli Gears - Deluxe Edition (2004)

Disc one (stereo) Original album Tracks 1-11 Out-takes 12. "Lawdy Mama" - version 11 (Traditional, arr. Clapton) - 2.00 :Recorded April 3, 1967 at Atlantic Studios 13. "Blue Condition" - alternate version (Baker) :Eric Clapton vocal, previously unreleased Demos1 14. "We're Going Wrong" (Bruce) - 3.49 15. "Hey Now, Princess" (Bruce, Brown) - 3.31 16. "SWLABR" (Bruce, Brown) - 4.30 17. "Weird of Hermiston" (Bruce, Brown) - 3.12 18. "The Clearout" (Bruce, Brown) - 3.58 :Recorded March 15, 1967 at Ryemuse Studios, London

Disc two (mono) Original album and out-takes Tracks 1-13 BBC recordings2 14. "Strange Brew" (Clapton, Collins, Pappalardi) - 3.00 15. "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (Clapton, Sharp) - 2.55 16. "We're Going Wrong" (Bruce) - 3.25 :Recorded May 30, 1967, broadcast June 3 on BBC Light Programme 17. "Born Under a Bad Sign" (Jones, Bell) - 3.03 18. "Outside Woman Blues" (Reynolds) - 3.18 19. "Take It Back" (Bruce, Brown) - 2.17 :Recorded October 24, 1967, broadcast October 29 on BBC Radio 1 20. "Politician" (Bruce, Brown) - 3.59 21. "SWLABR" (Bruce, Brown) - 2.32 22. "Steppin' Out" (Bracken) - 3.37 :Recorded January 9, 1968, broadcast January 14 on BBC Radio 1

Note 1: Tracks previously released on the Those Were the Days box set.
Note 2: Tracks previously released on the BBC Sessions compilation album.

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1968	Pop Albums	4
1977	Pop Albums	165

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1968	"Sunshine of Your Love"	Pop Singles	5

Trivia

• The title of the album was an inside joke. Clapton had been thinking of getting a racing bike, and was discussing it with Baker, when Mick Turner, one of the roadies, commented on the performance of "those Disraeli gears", meaning to say "derailleur gears". The band thought this was hilarious and decided that it should be the title of their next album. Had it not been for the roadie's malapropism, the album would simply have been entitled Cream.
• The track title SWLABR is an acronym for "She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow"
• In 2003 the VH1 named Disraeli Gears the 87th greatest album of all time. It is number 112 on the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
• In 2006, a DVD (Cream: Disraeli Gears) was released that looked at what went into recording the album, and the impact the album had on the 1960s.

Cream
Ginger Baker - Jack Bruce - Eric Clapton Pete Brown - Felix Pappalardi - Martin Sharp Gail Collins - Janet Godfrey - George Harrison - Mike Taylor
Discography
Fresh Cream - Disraeli Gears - Wheels of Fire - Goodbye Live Cream - Live Cream Volume II - BBC Sessions - Royal Albert Hall 2005 Heavy Cream - [[Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream|Strange Brew]] - The Very Best of Cream - Those Were the Days - [[20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Cream|20th Century Masters]] - Cream Gold
Songwriters covered by Cream
William Bell - James Bracken - Howlin' Wolf - Tony Colton - Willie Dixon - Skip James Robert Johnson - Booker T. Jones - Blind Joe Reynolds - Ray Smith - T-Bone Walker - Muddy Waters
Related bands
	The G.B.O. (Baker/Bruce)	The Bluesbreakers (Bruce/Clapton)	The Powerhouse (Bruce/Clapton)	Blind Faith (Baker/Clapton)

 

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