Cream's Farewell Concert

Cream: Farewell Concert
Directed by	Tony Palmer
Produced by	Robert Stigwood
Starring	Cream
Cinematography	Willy Kurant Gabor Pogany

Farewell Concert is the live recording of the Cream's final concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 November 1968. Aside from the band's reunion concert in 2005, it is Cream's only official full concert release on video. It was originally broadcast by the BBC on 5 January 1969. It was not released on video in the US until 1977. The opening act for the concert were future progressive rock stars Yes who were just starting out.

The band had performed two sets at the Albert Hall, but not every song was filmed. Director Tony Palmer incorporated pieces of six performances with narration by BBC announcer Patrick Allen. The film also incorporates interviews with the band members themselves showcasing their playing abilities.

The film has often been criticized for both its mediocre sound and visual effects:

The audio is a turgid sonic sludge. The visuals are even worse, with director Tony Palmer jerking the camera around as if this were an episode of NYPD Blue, layering the picture with dated and distracting psychedelic light effects, and providing far too many close-ups of Bruce's teeth (and almost no wide shots of the entire band).^[1]

Several times during the performance, it is apparent that the on-screen shot is not in sync with the audio. In fact, during Ginger Baker's drum solo, he seems to change clothes at lightning speed due to careless post-editing. Ginger Baker himself has lashed out in an interview against the Farewell Concert, claiming: "Cream was so much better than that." Nonetheless, most Cream fans regard the actual performance with great enthusiasm, discarding the poor quality of the video.

In 2005, a special extended edition of the concert appeared featuring full versions of all songs separated from the narration and interviews. The new version featured digitally remastered sound and video including three bonus songs.

Track listing

Original release

1. "Sunshine of Your Love"
2. "Politician"
3. "White Room"
4. "Spoonful"
5. "Toad"
6. "I'm So Glad"

Extended edition

1. "November 26, 1968"
2. "Sunshine of Your Love"
3. "Jack Bruce"
4. "White Room"
5. "Politician"
6. "Crossroads"
7. "Eric Clapton"
8. "Steppin' Out"
9. "Sitting on Top of the World"
10. "Spoonful"
11. "Ginger Baker"
12. "Toad"
13. "Behind the Music"
14. "I'm So Glad"

References

1. ^ Amazon.com: Cream - Farewell Concert: Movies & TV: Eric Clapton,Ginger Baker,Jack Bruce (II),Tony Palmer,Sandy Oliveri

External links