Cream
The Ricky Tick, 236A High Street, Hounslow, UK TW3 1HB
22 April 1967 (incomplete show with cuts)
Fresh transfer from 2nd gen(?) 7" master reel copy
Master (or perhaps 1st gen copy - see below) 7" Reel -> WAV -> Audacity (track splitting) -> xACT (FLAC
conversion & tagging) -> Switch (16/44 downsample) -> BiglyBT (torrent creation) -> Dime
Contrast Clause:
This differs from the shows posted here:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=742923 - which is remastered from a bootleg with no
lineage
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=693367 - which is from a different bootleg with no
lineage
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=582227 - which is (apparently) sourced from Graeme
Pattingale's remaster with no lineage, and contains (uncredited) Graeme's notes on the show.
Set List
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01 Intro -> Sunshine Of You Love
02 Hey Lady Mama
03 Sweet Wine
04 Chatter
05 Rollin' And Tumblin'
06 Spoonful (end cut)
07 Sitting On Top Of The World (cuts in)
08 Toad (cut)
TT: 40:53
Cream were:
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Jack Bruce: Bass, Vocals & Harmonica
Ginger Baker: Drums
Eric Clapton: Guitars and Vocals
Notes:
Through a fellow Soulseek user, I was recently made aware of an Instagram user who had made available the
master reels for this, and for the 1967-05-29 Lincolnshire show "Tulip Bulb Auction Hall", which I will
post shortly. The best-sounding bootleg of this show - Hiwatt/Scorpio's Ricky Tick - which also features
material from other dates as well as, presumably, all other circulating copies of this show, are sourced
from this reel. The cuts found in the Hiwatt version are found on the master, sadly.
This was the last of Cream's four known appearances at the club, and the recording is incomplete. The
show was two sets (confirmed by Eric's comments introducing Spoonful as the last song of the set. NSU was
almost certainly played but not recorded: EC mentions it prior to Rollin' And Tumblin'. As we appear to
have five songs from the first set, the second set most likely also featured NSU, I'm So Glad, Steppin'
Out and Traintime, all of which feature in contemporary set lists, and possibly Cat's Squirrel or I Feel
Free. Although the majority of the Disraeli Gears material had been demo'd a month earlier, apart from
the opening Sunshine, none of it features in this show, making it the last recording from the Fresh Cream
era in circulation. By the time of the Marquee Club show some four weeks later, DG material was
well-integrated into the set.
The reels were discovered by Clinton Heylin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Heylin) whilst
researching a book on bootleg recordings. The master transfer was done by Jeff Friedman
(https://dylan.utulsa.edu/dylan80-collectors-roundtable/). I received both recordings as single WAV
files, and have made no changes beyond down-sampling, tagging and FLAC conversion.
There is a hard cut at the end of Spoonful, which also loses the beginning of SOTOTW. Toad is cut at
10:05, but probably not too much is lost. These cuts are on the reel, so it IS possible that there is
earlier generation master somewhere: the waveforms show no interruption at the initial break, which leads
me to believe the true master is one generation earlier and would show the taper turning the machine off
and back on, but I am not enough of an electronics expert to say for certain.
I will post the Tulip Bulb show shortly, followed by the 24/96 versions of each for those who collect
such things
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From his authoritative Cream web site: http://gpatt.customer.netspace.net.au/cream/ here are Graeme
Pattingale's notes on the show. I have adjusted the timings to reflect those on this master.
"This bootleg was originally dated as 15th January 1967. I recognised that this could not be correct and
re-dated it as 22nd April which has now been confirmed by John Platt. At the end of March/early April
Cream had performed in New York on the Murray the K show. They had then moved to Atlantic studios to
record a single. But what was probably of more significance was that they dropped Acid at the "Be-In" in
Central Park on Sunday 2nd April. They were booked to record an album in New York during May. On their
return to England they began working up more original material.
The "Ricky Tick" was a circuit of various venues (pubs, clubs, halls, and cinemas) around UK. This gig
was well-recorded by a friend of the band. The balance is good with the bass relatively clear, though the
drums are drowned on occasions. Volume levels are very high but the quality of the recording equipment
was up to it.
A few interesting points: Eric swaps between Les Paul and 'SG', Jack is playing the Danelectro Longhorn
and they are in very fine humour.
Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 4.43 Clearly the arrangement is not yet completed: the drum
pattern yet to be developed, the riff still raw and at a faster tempo. Still it's fascinating.
Hey Lawdy Mama (Wells) 3.35 Standard arrangement with no significant variation to the Klook's version.
Shows why they ultimately dropped it - they couldn't do much more with it.
Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) 5.14 This version is tougher and harder as it is gradually evolving into a
heavy rock piece.
Rollin' and Tumblin' (Morganfield) 4.40 No significant variation from the studio recording.
Spoonful (Dixon) 7.13: (incomplete) Already this number is stretching out. It probably went on for
another couple of minutes. Jack starts with harp in the neck frame. EC uses extensive feedback and the
tremolo arm. All the elements of the later very extended jams are here including some of the 'reference
point' figures.
Sitting on Top of the World (Burnett) 4.11 (Incomplete) Of all their blues songs, this one kept evolving
right until the final tour when the definitive version was recorded. The start is missed but not much of
it.
Toad (Baker) 10.05 (Incomplete) The drumming extravaganza is beginning to appear - the full story is now
beginning to be told. Probably went on for another couple of minutes, at most."
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