Omnibus Cream's Farewell Concert (1967–2003) Online

This film incorporates everything I hate about concert films and so-called "music video." Instead of a rare and valuable record of one of the most influential acts in the history of hard rock, we get a disjointed, fragmentary, and frankly idiotic set of moving images. During approximately a half hour of concert footage,only about one minute provides a view of what the musicians are actually doing. The rest alternates between extreme closeups of the musician's faces (mostly Jack Bruce), even more extreme closeups of Ginger Baker's hands (but not in a way that reveals his playing), and random shots of people in the crowd. Throw in some "psychedelic" effects, like rapidly jacking the zoom in and out (indeed "jacking" themselves is an apt description of what these filmmakers are doing), and you have one of the most egregious wastes of film and greatest missed opportunities in music history.

But what else could we expect? Even before this film, music video producers were adopting the elements that have come to define the genre's style (one song sequence from the Beatles movie "Help" contains almost every technique that has ever been used since). The overarching theme is that the camera -- and by extension the producer, director, or editor -- is the star of the show. To hell with the musicians. It's far too dull to just set up a static camera with a good viewpoint and let it capture the full performance and allow viewers to direct their attention to the parts of the action that most interests them. No, that doesn't require any talent or skill on the part of the filmmaker, and we must never forget that they are the real auteurs of the show.

And never, never, never expect them to have any knowledge of music in general or of a particular song in the program. Whatever is most musically important at a given moment -- a guitar solo, a drum fill, a crucial lyric -- they are almost certain to be focused elsewhere. And if their cameras should alight on a particular individual at a particular time, they will almost never stay there long enough to allow viewers to see a musically significant interval -- like a complete riff or full measure. It is never about the music but always about their idea of a compelling visual.

One of the worst things ever to happen to popular music was the advent of MTV and the jump-cut, effects-laden, camera-as-star style it institutionalized once and for all. But MTV did not invent that style but only guaranteed its ubiquity. No, there were pretentious, talentless nabobs who knew a "better way" to present stage performances long before. If you watch this abortion of a film, you'll see some of the nabobs in action. My apologies to Misters Bruce, Baker, and Clapton. Only a few thousand people were lucky enough to see you perform during your short career together as Cream, but I was not among them. When I first encountered this program in the early 1970s, I thought I 'd been granted a gift from God. I soon learned it was a cruel, devilish joke. I hope it's keeping its creators warm somewhere.

Live footage of Cream - one of the greatest bands in the history of rock music - is rare stuff; that is really the only reason I'm giving this tape a 3 star rating. What is supposed to be documentation of Cream's historic final concert in the Royal Albert Hall in 1968 is in fact hardly 30 minutes of music plus ten minutes of interviews, and that, too, is badly edited and has terrible sound quality. The music is cut at every corner - the first song, and one of their best - Sunshine of Your Love - is cut almost completely and what's left is dubbed with stuffy, self-important narration that adds nothing, and is disrespectful and insulting to rock music in general - treating it as a low form of art, stating that the electric guitar is usually considered a 'noise machine', and so on.

Well, they say beggars can't be choosers. Should we be grateful for what crumbs we Cream fans manage to get our hands on? Is this what we have to go through in order to enjoy this great music? I suppose it is. If you are a fan then you'd probably want to watch this for the music - even though there's so little of it. I do hope someone has the common sense to release a complete version of this concert.

The version I just watched was the cinema print which I hadn't seen since 1974 at the maximum 79 DVD minutes and is the version to watch if possible, but my opinion remains the same as it was then. How could 3 slightly odd and weedy 1960's British blokes produce such an incredible noise, both derivative and still sounding futuristic at the same time. How our naked ears were tortured, with pleasure! Such a sound and the skill that went with it came from out of blue(s) - can you imagine a band like Cream flourishing in 1963?

Additionally, can you imagine a band like Cream, even if American being allowed to flourish to such an extent by the record industry now?

The music may have been superb, but the documentary narration was dated and cringe-worthy in 1974 - probably in 1969 when it was made too - and totally irritates and detracts from the rest of it. How our naked ears were tortured, with embarrassment! The rest of it shows a three piece band playing intelligent and loud rock music for a huge intelligent and loud crowd in the Albert Hall and will have to represent the irrefutable evidence for future generations of all this happening in the UK in the 1960's: it was a different world. My marks are for the music of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker only and definitely not for Tony Palmer's laughably deferential and puerile commentary.

In Cream's Farewell Concert at Royal Albert Hall, we as an audience are allowed to get a glimpse of three master musicians, the sum of whom adds up to more than just three individuals. It was my first time in which I saw the band jam, proving improvisational skills that few can touch. The interviews with the band are a touch of brilliance, with the very square interviewer contrasting against the less-than-square band mates. Eric Clapton is my favorite artist, when I watched this band it was not at all about watching Eric Clapton. Cream rules forever baby!

This concert must have been fantastic. Creams hard-blues rocking live sound is an experience every music fan should get, and there's a whole lot of really magnificent solos, including a hurricane-style Ginger Baker solo for about ten minutes. If you are a Blues or Rock lover, listen and tremble. Watching is a different thing. The editing of the concert footage is very poor for anyone who wants to see more than Jack Bruces bass guitar or Ginger Bakers open mouth. The movie makers obviously tried to capture the live experience by adding visual effects and using a lot of close-ups. It doesn't work. You want to see Eric Claptons hands running over his guitar? Get another movie, there's about ten seconds of this in here. Even Claptons solos are "invisible". The interviews are surely interesting, but I don't think it a good idea to insert them in the middle of songs - especially not the Ginger Baker interview; after it you are for the moment fed up with drum solos and can't really enjoy his great work. What's more, there really is footage from another concert in the movie; Bakers dress and Claptons guitar change for some shots. Therefore, this movie makes the record-book as first documentary to contain continuity errors.

But: Watch it nonetheless. With a big sound system and you ears open.

Cream were one of the most talented band ever formed. The disappointment at hearing they were splitting up was only tempered by the anticipation of the final farewell gig and the fact that it was due to be filmed. Eventually the gig happened - I never got to see it but some friends went and thought it was beyond marvellous. Imagine my and many other's disappointment when we saw the abortion that was meant to have recorded was shown. In my opinion Tony Palmer should have been hung, drawn and quartered for what he did to that film. All we needed to see was Cream playing, all we saw were travesties of film documentation. Closeups and editing cuts were just annoying and made me incandescent with anger. Possibly the worst rock film ever made.

Very disappointing. There actually isn't much music because far too much time is taken up with pointless and unrevealing interviews. And much of the music that is shown is Ginger Baker soloing. Clapton & Bruce were actually shown playing for barely 20 minutes. When they were, it was in extreme closeup, often with faux psychedelic effects. What do I want to see when a great guitarist or bass player plays? I want to see their hands. I want to see their technique. Instead, we got closeups of contorted faces. A total waste of time.

Apparently most of the other reviewers for this concert documentary saw limited footage of the concert. Watching the eighty minute version one comes away with a decent sampling of most of Cream's better regarded and recorded output. It opens with 'Sunshine of Your Love' and proceeds to well improvised versions of 'White Room', 'Sittin' on Top of the World' and 'Spoonful' among about a half dozen other songs. Oddly, Eric Clapton doesn't merit as much screen time as fellow musicians Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, although all of them have brief interviews conducted by narrator Patrick Allen. Where I agree with the other comments for this film have to do with Allen's insipid interview style, asking such trivial questions of Ginger Baker as what would I have to do to learn to play the drums. But all of the performers were so young at the time they were probably appreciative for the attention. Jack Bruce best describes Cream's improvisational style, indicating that except for the opening and closing of their songs, virtually anything in between was subject to how the guys were feeling that night. In this case, they were feeling pretty good, as the concert was met with the enthusiastic applause of hundred of fans who filled London's Royal Albert Hall. The concert took place on November 26th, 1968, so in a few months (as I write this), the event be a half century old in the history books. For younger viewers who weren't around in the Sixties, the lava lamp and strobe effects about midway through may look rather bizarre, but they were a staple of rock band performances on TV variety programs of the era. My sympathies go out to the male fan in the audience who was so thoroughly into Cream's performance that he might possibly have whiplashed himself.

Most of this video will be watched with your mouth open in awe. Not only do you get to see concert footage of Cream, but you get interviews with each member on a variety of subjects.

Jack Bruce (bass, vocals) talks about his formal training and how he had to "unlearn" it to become satisfied with music. Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals) explains how his guitar works and gives keen insight to his improvisational style. Ginger Baker (drums) discusses his drum set and demonstrates how he does what few other drummers can do.

In between the interviews, the viewer is treated to incredible concert footage and great video.

If not for the brevity of the video (about 40 minutes) and some disconcerting video cuts in the Ginger Baker drum solo, I would have given this video a 10.