Blind Faith – Blind Poll

I'm currently making my way through Cream's discography and can't see what the fuss is about, re: GB's drumming, including on disc #2 of Wheels of Fire (I don't want to hear 'Toad' ever again). Yet the switch to Blind Faith makes all the difference for reasons that escape me at the moment. And when the violins sweep in, 'Sea of Joy' almost sounds like a Van Morrison outtake ca. Astral Weeks. If there's a weak link on this record, it's the vocals – even Winwood sounds a bit off here.

Easy. "Can't Find My Way Home"

If there's a weak link on this record, it's the vocals – even Winwood sounds a bit off here.

Yes, the vocals aren't great, the drumming is worse though, the whole thing is a bit slapdash.

"can't find my way home"

i agree that the drums suck on this record

It still feels like a step up from Cream to me, which maybe isn't saying much. Are there any records where GB lives up to his reputation?

i don't know, i really like cream. i realize most people don't. but if you don't think GB was good in cream then i'm not sure you'll ever like his drumming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4tJiyU_gjY

I don't think it's a step up from Cream, it's just different. Cream's more about Jack Bruce imo.

baker gurvitch army does a solid job of showcasing the wild man. the first record is def worth checking out, more like santana than cream

*baker gurvitz army

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZOwrJzP5Z8

*and it turns out the record i was thinking of is elysian encounter, which is their second record, not their first

Tbc I enjoy a fair amount of Cream's music, I just don't find Baker's contributions all that meaningful. He's dece.

I'll check out the Baker Gurvitz Army – thanks, vc.

Sea of joy

heard this album millions of times growing up, no strong feeling about it in either direction

I think this is probably the first time I've ever listened to this. It might be my shitty laptop speakers but the production on Baker's drums is pretty ordinary. I actually think Winwood sounds decent!

I like Baker on the live album he did with Fela:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6W_07sxw-k

Never had the album, so all I know are the two songs collected on the '73 Polydor Clapton compilation. Just listened to "Can't Find My Way Home" on YouTube--excellent. If you scroll through, lots of sad YouTube comments from recovering addicts.

I like the opening track a lot too, although it's too long.

This album is great but totally excessive , especially Slothfingers’ warbly double tracked solo wanking on Had to Cry

Stevie's voice is a bit painful in their Hyde Park concert - it comes across like being yelled at by someone who is a bit gruff and earnest and who badly needs to lighten up.

Maybe they were a bit nervous and under-rehearsed at that point but they all look incredibly serious and holding back in that performance. There's a fairly joyless drum solo at one point.

That's pretty much what the album sounds like too.

A few more spins have endeared its sloppiness to my ears. It's not quite Neil Young/Crazy Horse territory, but I do enjoy its relative 'grunginess'.

every track is good until "Do What You Like" (though the "A Love Supreme" vocals on that are pretty funny)

I like the Allmans-style intro and outro on "Well All Right"

Really good album all the way through, but Can't Find My Way Home is one of the greatest songs of all time.

A few more spins have endeared its sloppiness to my ears. It's not quite Neil Young/Crazy Horse territory, but I do enjoy its relative 'grunginess'.

Sometimes I think Baker's approach to the drumset is so idiosyncratic that it might as well be a different instrument from the one played by e.g. Ringo or Watts or even Bonham. It's almost like someone saw a trumpet and said "what if I blow into the big end, instead of the small one?"

I don't love Baker's style, but I understand that he had a specific project, and pursued it doggedly.

I will not speak ill of Winwood.

The drums on this don't sound unusually muddy for a Jimmy Miller produced album.

oops don't

Not even sure it's the production! Part of my beef with Ginger is that if you're playing like he does - near-constant tom usage - you need to tune for it and have the right heads for it. I hear decent attack on "Sea of Joy," but no roundness. In other places there's low end, but little articulation. Of course the sound is notoriously uneven live, but that's to be expected.

Thought experiment: I wonder if you went back in time with a hygrometer, you'd be able to graph Ginger's drum sounds based on the ambient humidity of the spaces he was in. Correct for the age of the heads, and you could have a decently innovative physics dissertation.

If there's a weak link on this record, it's the vocals

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Presence of the Lord!

that's the answer I was looking for.

that winwood/clapton msg live thing from 10 years ago is pretty boring but winwood’s vocals on “presence of the lord” are heart wrenching

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Sea of Joy higher than Presence? Shame

Not as shameful as "Do What You Like" getting any votes at all.

After giving this album in spin back in June, it's really got its hooks into me. It's a shame Blind Faith didn't continue a bit longer.

The Blind Faith Hyde Park concert (available on YouTube) interests me. It looks like the 60s have turned into a grungy and unslinging heavy vibe, with everyone looking drab and depressed (the audience as well as the band).

*unswinging

In the concert footage there's a brief but really creepy shot of Kenneth Anger in the audience hissing and casting spells. What was he trying to do - inspire an Altamont?