jingle jangle mornings, three

Today’s jingle jangle comes from an unlikely source.  Cream is not a band that comes to mind when you’re thinking about jangly guitars and intricate little pop songs.  They were a blooze-based sledge hammer of a power trio.  Anybody who’s listened to Live Cream, or to Live Cream II, or to a good portion of Wheels of Fire knows that Cream were all about full-on flatulence, stretching things out to the breaking point, powered by a guitar god and what may be the heaviest rhythm section of all time.  But there are actually a few touches of subtlety on Disraeli Gears, and it’s not just subtlety relative to Cream’s more typical M.O… I absolutely worshipped Cream when I was a kid.  I loved the way Jack Bruce wailed the words, and the way his thunderous bass lines would shake the room like an earthquake…loved Ginger Baker’s insane drumming…and loved Clapton’s guitar, of course.  I’ve probably heard Disraeli Gears all the way through 500 times, and I’d venture to guess that 90 percent of those listening sessions took place before I was 13 years old. I’ve since cultivated better taste, I think, I hope.  But Dance the Night Away is a strange anomaly for Cream.  The song is downright Beatles-ish if you can imagine Ginger sitting in for Ringo.  The pounding of the tom toms and the heavy bass drum are the only trace of Cream as Cream.  The rest of it jangles with ethereal lightness and grace…