Cream - Fresh Cream

Fresh Cream is the sound of three virtuosos plugging in together for the first time, the 1966 debut from a band often hailed as rock's first supergroup, pressed here on 180 gram vinyl.

Eric Clapton arrived from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, while Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker came out of the Graham Bond Organisation, and together they had the chops to stretch blues forms into something louder, looser and far more adventurous. Their debut balances reverent covers of blues standards with Bruce's own offbeat songwriting, and that mix helped set the template for the heavy blues-rock that followed in the late 1960s.

N.S.U. kicks things off with a jittery, insistent Bruce original, and Sweet Wine rides a woozy, harmony-laden groove. I'm So Glad turns a Skip James tune into a joyous, galloping jam that hints at how the band would stretch out on stage. Then there is Toad, Ginger Baker's showcase, a drum feature that helped turn the extended solo into a rock concert ritual.

Clapton's tone is thick and stinging throughout, Bruce's bass and vocals carry real muscle, and Baker plays with a jazz drummer's swing.

Short-lived but hugely influential, Cream started here, and this debut still crackles with the thrill of discovery.