I like Cream.
But I also think that 35 years later it is ok for Clapton not to want to play in a power trio anymore. He made that decision in the late sixties when it was highly uncommercial and stuck to it. People laud Bruce for his artistic integrity, but it was him who has revisited the power trio format several times and to be frank I think it was everytime because he needed the money. I believe that to this day he prefers the more orchestral stuff of, say, Songs from a Taylor to anything he did with Cream, West, Bruce & Laing, Trower & Bruce and Baker, Bruce & Moore.
I've also never heard Clapton say anything disrespectful about either Bruce or Baker, all he ever says is that it is a pain in the ass for him hiw the two don't get along and that is ok in my book. With the Cream reunion, he paid their pensions, when he certainly didn't need the money or fame.
And finally, while most Clapton albums sound samey to me, I think he is a very tasteful and refined guitarist without sounding bland. No, he's no longer a 20 year old playing his Gibson over a Marshall stack in a blur of notes. But for his solo stuff, that terse Strat sound is just right. If you prefer a guitarist to stick to his original style forever and never change much less progress, then Yngwie J. Malmsteen will welcome you buying his albums. There's a man who stuck to his roots!
Grown-ups and other in the meantime listen to Eric.
Or Jeff Beck.
Did anybody say Ritchie Blackmore?
