Product Description

On guitar: Eric Clapton. Lead singer and bass guitarist: Jack Bruce. On drums: Ginger Baker. Their motto: "Forget the message, forget the lyrics, and just play." Their name: Cream. For two glorious years, Cream's high-volume blues, jamming and extended solos blazed a path into rock history. But the time to part had come, and all that remained was one wild, unforgettable concert. Now you are there, on November 26, 1968, inside London's illustrious Royal Albert Hall, jammed to its gilded rafters with rock fans ready for the final concert of what many still consider the greatest band that ever played. Includes rare off-stage interviews with the band members. BURST: Five Additional Songs! SONGS: Sunshine of Your Love • White Room • Politician • Improvisations • Stepping Out • Sitting on Top of the World • Spoonful • Toad • I'm So Glad • Improvisations • Crossroads Blues

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31159 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2005-10-04
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Live, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 50 minutes

Amazon.com
Cream's 2005 reunion (after a mere 37 years apart) was big news and a very hot ticket. But anyone wondering what the fuss was all about is unlikely to get much enlightenment from Cream - Farewell Concert. The trio's (guitarist Eric Clapton, bass player Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker) November 1968 gig at London's Royal Albert Hall, the same venue chosen for their reunion, may have been a spectacular display of their instrumental virtuosity and legendary improvisational skills, but you'd never know it from this sub-par document. The sound has been digitally remastered, but the audio is still 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). As for the music, well, it's apparent that these boys really could play; surprisingly, Baker's jazz-inflected drum solo is one of the highlights. But their reliance on extended blues jams ("Spoonful," "Sitting on Top of the World," etc.) belies the fact that despite their dismissal of commercial rock music (cf. Bruce's lofty claim in an accompanying interview that "we wouldn't dream" of trying to write a hit single), Cream's four studio albums contain some wonderful pop songs. Farewell Concert includes "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room," but for a much more satisfying taste of what they were all about, try the CD or DVD versions of Cream - Royal Albert Hall - London May 2-3-5-6 2005 instead. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

An Abysmal document of a great band
Cream was a great band. Their importance and influence in the rock world (and jazz and blues, too) can't be over-stated. I love these guys. Having said that, I must warn anybody who isn't aware of this movie - that it is one of the most horrible botch jobs in the history of rock documentaries. I think everybody from the director to the camera to the sound must have been awfully stoned. If you want to see a movie featuing Jack Bruce's acne scars with psych-ay-dell-ik sperm overlays crowding the frame, and almost unlistenable muddled sound in the background, then this film is for you. Or perhaps you'd like to see the camera zoom in and out on Clapton's nose to the movment of his wah-wah pedal.

I read in an interview that Clapton was so incensed when he saw this botch of a movie that he actually went looking for tony palmer. I can only hope he found him and soundly kicked his ass.

The only plus are the interviews with Clapton and Baker. Baker comes across as incredibly stupid (which he most certainly isn't), but it's funnier than hell. And his drumming speaks for itself.

Don't judge it by the film quality alone
I bought this along with the 2005 reunion concert DVD in order to flesh out my order for that free shipping thing. And even though I already own the ORIGINAL version of the 1968 Farewell Concert DVD, and am very happy that I bought this one. The interviews are greatly enhanced, as is the play set. Also, it's a great companion to the 2005 reunion DVD.

Honestly, the filming quality DOES leave much to be desired, but is not atypical for those times. This vintage Cream footage from "the day" is well worth having and should not be judged on the same basis that we might judge a modern day music video. It should be appreciated for what it is -- a historical document. In the less than 3 years that Cream was together, the group left a legacy that influcences music to this day, and the group still has millions of devoted fans. What else compares with the improvisational jazz/blues/rock style that was so uniquely Cream?

The real value of this video became clear to me the day I played it for three teenagers who all play music. They all knew who Eric Clapton is, but were shocked to see footage of him in his mid-20's. It was as if they believed he'd been born a middle-aged guitarist. I laughed until I cried.

Vastly superior to the original
I originally saw this film as a child on TV and then later on as a PBS special. I finally was able to find a copy of the VHS tape and then eventually I also bought the DVD. Yes I am a long time hard core Cream fan but spending more money on yet another version of this dated account of a truly incredible band gave me some pause. Let me just say it was money well spent. The original concert DVD was only 48 minutes long while this restored version is now 80 minutes in length. It also includes the original theatrical release as well. The sound quality is vastly superior and is now in both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround. The songs that were shown only as clips in the old version have now been restored to their full length and several new songs have been added. In particular, the song "Crossroads" which is a Cream staple has now been included in its entirety. Previously, this song was only availably in black and white on another Clapton compilation which had marginal sound quality. The sound on this version is much cleaner and now Clapton's solos can really be heard and appreciated.

This DVD should not be compared to a video of today in that it was filmed almost 40 years ago when filming styles and standards were different. It will not stand up to the quality of the 2005 Cream reunion DVD which is arguably the finest concert recording I have heard to date. It is a good companion to that concert in that you can see how Jack, Ginger, and Eric looked when the band was in their "prime" (see Jack and Eric's between song banter in the 2005 reunion DVD for an inside joke). Just as "How the West was Won" gives a good account of what Led Zeppelin was like in their prime, this DVD gives you the closest account of what a Cream concert would have been like. It is unfortunately the only account of a Cream concert that is currently available and unfortunately the only way to see why this trio of blues and jazzmen who were only together for three short years are still talked about and admired 40 years later. It also explains why "Ticket brokers" were getting over $4k per ticket for seats up close to the stage at MSG.

Let us just hope that some more archival footage of Cream can be discovered and restored just as Jimmy Page did for Led Zeppelin. And while we are at it, lets keep our fingers crossed that Jack, Ginger and Eric will stay together for a while and give us more of what we have been waiting almost 40 years to see and hear.