1967-11-02
Disraeli Gears
Cream
By Maeve C.
A roadie’s garbled question about racing-bike gears gave Cream’s second album its title. The music itself was cut in May 1967 at Atlantic Studios in New York over roughly three and a half days, with Felix Pappalardi producing and Tom Dowd engineering.
“Sunshine of Your Love” grew from a riff Jack Bruce wrote after seeing Jimi Hendrix, while “Strange Brew” puts Eric Clapton on lead vocal. Martin Sharp, the Australian artist who designed the cover, also wrote lyrics for “Tales of Brave Ulysses”. The record climbed to No. 5 in the UK and No. 4 in the US.
Sources
Universal-owned uDiscover: “Released on November 2, 1967, the album made the UK charts on November 18 and eventually climbed to No. 5.” Atlantic Studios sessions, Pappalardi, Dowd, title origin, Martin Sharp, Bruce/Hendrix riff story, “Strange Brew” vocal.Infobox release date 2 November 1967 (Reaction UK / Atco US); producer Felix Pappalardi, engineer Tom Dowd; UK No. 5, Billboard 200 No. 4.
Rights-holder metadata (℗ 1967 Universal International Music B.V.) lists release date 2 November 1967.
Catalogue master identifies the album; not used as date proof.