Cream - Farewell Concert [1968]

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Product Details:

Studio: Sony Bmg

Region: 0

Number of Discs: 1

Format: Dubbed, PAL

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Sales Rank: 12826

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Customer Reviews:

Brilliance (07 September 2007)
Although I tend to agree with previous reviewers over the production of this video/DVD of this seminal concert I still cannot give it less than 5 stars.I was there,18 years old and completely knocked out by the greatest rock band I have ever seen.Cream simply 'were'.The fact that the camera tends to focus on Bruce's mouth and the back of Clapton's head is pertinent but irrelevant.....you still hear Clapton's amazing guitar work.Baker's drumming is also majestic.
I too wish that this had been a straightforward filming of the concert but,alas, not to be.
Nevertheless...........what a great gig it was!!
That still shows through.

Ruined by mad egotist film director (05 September 2007)
As a piece of history this could be regarded as a must have and as it's quite cheap, it won't break the bank to get it.
However there are major flaws in the presentation here. The sound is actually pretty good and it is Cream so the music is broadly excellent. The video quality however is pretty poor, but the worst part is the camera direction. If you have epilepsy you will have to avoid this as each track involves shot/scene cuts at a faster rate than a strobe light. Really, there are sub-second cutaways all the time. The camera director must also have been related to or paid by Jack Bruce because even during brilliant Eric Clapton solos, the camera is usually on him and anywhere but on Clapton or god forbid his guitar. During Crossroads, one of EC's showcase solos you dont get even a glimse of the playing. (I've just watched the whole DVD again and the total time ECs guitar or his playing are actually in shot cannot amount to nore than a minute or so.(
The other "director's showpiece" is to overlay psychdelic images over everything, presumably to emphasise the then current hippy/druggy/psychodelic culture.
One thing you can tell from this DVD is how lacking in drive and energy the new Cream re-uniuon set is compared to this.
They must have been really something live....... but this is ultimately disappointing as it really doesn't show you that, mainly due to the cameraman/director believing he was part of the occasion. He should be strung up for ruining this little bit of history.
It must be possible to re-work the footage and release a better/cleaner version

Great music, shame about the production (25 May 2007)
Yep, it's pretty much down to that. I'm told that not all the footage on this DVD is actually from the final farewell show. Certainly, Eric must have nipped off sharply to change his shirt...However, the music is as good as it gets for someone who didn't get a chance to see Cream live.

And then there's the production; hmmm, well the sound quality is poor, the interviews interrupt the performances, there's voice-over, some "nice" lava-lamp effects and "psychedelic" camera-shake, much too little footage of the band as a whole - basically, it's rubbish. Oh, and was the final show ONLY 8 songs???

As a DVD of a live performance of any other band than Cream, I'd have given it 1 star at a push. For the performance only it's worth 3 stars but for Cream fans only. Shame, could have been brilliant.

I rented it to see if it was worth buying - it isn't.

A Better Version Of The Original TV Doc. (20 May 2006)
Like some fellow reviewers I attended this show at age 17. Cream had played Bournemouth's Pavilion Ballroom but I'd missed them. When the news broke of the Farewell show I was at Poole Tech studying 'O's. A flyer appeared on the noticeboards around college giving the Albert Hall box office address; 12/6d the ticket, I believe. 14 of us went up there in a 12 seat mini-bus, dropped outside the RAH, we hadn't heard about the matinee 'extra' show in the afternoon, had we, we may have tried attending both; but grateful for the one nevertheless. The show was fabulous despite the band's later statement that it "wasn't one of their best," and whilst charged with the adrenaline of seeing Cream live, it was also sad as they would never play together again.
In the January, the original of this DVD was shown on BBC2. With a reel-to-reel tape recorder, the microphone hanging in front of the TV speaker on a 12" wooden ruler held flat on the top of the TV by an ornament, I taped the show. Had to, I'd been there! Other than the memory, it was all I had as a legacy.
Eventually the same TV show was released on video, then on DVD, and now, this 'extended version.' It must be said I always had something of a grudge against Tony Palmer for not releasing ALL the footage from the show; after all, those of us whom attended are over 50 now, and I think it would be a great idea to do this whilst we're still alive and here as an audience to buy it. However, after watching the interview with Tony on the new 'Classic Artists Cream Authorised Story' DVD, I have a little more patience with the man as, it seems, his ride in filming the show was not an easy one.
However, this release is pretty good. We have the original TV Doc, plus another 'extended version' with complete songs rather than those edited down for the doc. Much better. But it'd still be great to see the whole show as it was filmed, or as much of the footage as possible, please, Tony.
You will notice and no doubt have, how Eric changes from the red shirt he wore for the show to wearing an orange jacket on the Farewell doc.; even the guitars change! In Tony's interview, he says they kind of 'robbed' another doc featuring Cream, titled 'All My Loving,' for the excerpts of the trio in longer-haired days explaining their instruments, and this same doc must've been the source of the orange jacket/different guitar clips cut into the Farewell footage.
For me, this is a great release as it's some more of the Farewell show, but again I emphasise, if Tony Palmer or Chris Welch happen to read this, let's get the whole show out for us old duffers to be charged up with euphoria and adrenaline once again before they lower us down the hole in the wooden box!

Don't believe the knockers! (09 November 2005)
It's fine - they play exceptionally well. A friend who saw the programme many years ago and remembered it not being very good was blown away by watching the DVD. As for the commentary: it's of its time in that it tries to challenge what it sees as the current establishment view of rock musicians - and I applaud this intention; all three are interviewed about their musicianship; and they all display an interest in being interviewed. Interesting to see the innocent character of Jack Bruce, the darker more knowing Clapton, and Ginger's shyness. If you don't like the sound, try fiddling with the presets on your DVD player or hifi - my cheap Yamada DVD player has a Rock preset that makes this concert really burst out and grab you. They have such an amazingly accomplished and dignified way of performing their music and what a beautiful pair of voices! It would be nice to see more people play this way - treating their audience as grown-ups but without lacking raw rock power.