"Disraeli Gears," by Cream (November, 1967)

Dad's Take:

This is one of those heavy sixties rock albums that every collection should include. You know any album that begins with the one-two punch of "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine of Your Love" is going to rock. Throw in songs like "Swalbr" and "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and you have a bona fide classic. Although it's still full of those sixties sounds, I have a feeling Brad will like this better than some of the other recent albums, especially the bluesier songs like "Outside Woman" and "Take It Back."

Being drenched with psychedelic sounds doesn't stop this album from rocking. It's full of great Clapton guitar work and classic riffs. "Sunshine Of Your Love" is the obvious killer track here, but there's plenty more where that came from. The epic "Tales of Brave Ulysses" is one of the great album-oriented rock tunes of the period, one I don't listen to enough. How can anyone resist a song with lyrics like "Tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers"?

It seems kind of fitting that I'm listening to this one in San Francisco, even though Cream was not a San Francisco band. You know this was played heavily in the Haight as the summer of love faded into the winter of...well, whatever.

"World of Pain" has cool psychedelic sounds as the singer contemplates a tree outside his window. "Dance The Night Away" also seems to be interested in what's outside the window, only with some heavier riffs mixed into the mellowed-out contemplation. I also like the Cockney stoner tune, "Blue Condition." It makes me laugh. But that's nothing compared to the album's closer, "Mother's Lament." That song doesn't quite fit the rest of the album, but what a fun little encore.

Classic albums attain that status for many reasons. Some are just so packed with hits that they can't be ignored. Others are just plain great music that transcends time and place and remains popular for decades. Others, like Disraeli Gears, are a time capsule of their time. Is it dated? Sure. Nobody makes music like this anymore unless they are paying tribute to that time. But "dated" isn't necessarily bad, especially when the record serves almost as a historical document of the time, and features one of the world's great guitarists and one of the great bass players.

Brad's Take:


"Strange Brew" kicks off the record with a fun little groove that you can't help but bob your head to immediately. This might be my favorite track off the album. And then it kicks right into the massively popular jam "Sunshine Of Your Love," which is undeniably one of the most recognizable rock guitar riffs. We can thank the great Eric Clapton for that one.

Eric Clapton definitely is the star on this album, and that goes without saying really. The dude shreds on the guitar and that's all there really is to it. 

It's got a little bit of filler, but this album is pretty great for the most part. The awesome songs help you look over the filler tracks. This isn't one of my favorite albums we've listened to, by any means, but it's definitely not one of the worst either. It's in the middle range somewhere.

"The Shadows" by The Shadows (September, 1961)

Dad's Take:

This is a milestone of sorts in our reviews: the first album on our list to be released after I was born.

The Shadows were popular in Great Britain, but they never caught on as well here in the United States. They are interesting because of the way they explored the new sounds that were possible with electric guitars. Like many guitar bands of the period, they chose the somewhat twangy sound delivered by Fender instruments.

At times their instrumental tunes remind me of the "fake" rock and roll heard in sitcoms and low-budget movies of the time. But that's not quite fair. They helped to establish the two guitars/bass/drum combo as the standard lineup. They brought together a certain light jazz and light rock feel, combined with a skiffle background, to create a sound that was fresh at the time. And on the occasional vocal song, like "Baby My Heart," they previewed the sound that took over the world with the British Invasion a couple years later. "All My Sorrows" could be the Kingston Trio gone electric. And "That's My Desire" reminds me of the great songs of Roy Orbison.

But the Shadows were mainly an instrumental group, and it's there that they shine. They coaxed new sounds from their Fenders, though reverb, palm muting, bending, and just plain fine playing. Something like "My Resistance Is Low" had never been heard before, and classics like "Sleepwalk" sparkle with the new sounds.

The Shadows are not well known these days, but if you like the early sixties music, and especially instrumental groups like The Ventures, give them a listen.

Brad's Take:


I feel like I've listened to this album before. To me, it sounds like a big salad made up of a lot of the music that we've listened to so far.

Like my dad already said, "All My Sorrows" sounds like it could  be on a Kingston Trio album. It's slow, country-tinged, and full of vocal harmonies. "Shadoogie" sounds very reminiscent of Duane Eddy's surf guitar style. Songs like "Nivram" and "Theme From A Filleted Place" sound like they're in the style of Chet Atkins. Lots of twangy finger-picking. But all the "shadowing" aside, I need to try and give this album a fair review...

The Shadows do a great job at writing diverse songs. They've got a nice mix of fast songs, slow songs, and instrumental songs. They're known for their guitar playing though. They experimented with a lot of different sounds that eventually became popular.

Although the album's songs don't sound very different from earlier ones we've listened to, it still has a lot of originality and experimentation. It's good, but not great, and it's a little too all over the place for me.