My first thought upon hearing of the formation of BBM was, I guess, the same as everybody else's: that it was an attempt to revive the glory days of Cream, the 60's power trio formed by Bruce, Baker and Clapton, and that Clapton's unavailability due to his successful solo career drove the other two to search for a suitable substitute - and who better than Gary Moore, who had recently abandoned metal and reinvented himself as an electric blues guitarist following in Clapton's footsteps? In truth, it had apparently started life during sessions for a new solo Gary Moore album with Jack Bruce initially engaged as a co-writer. As time progressed, it became more and more a Cream-type album containing a number of songs that fitted Bruce's voice better than Moore's. At that point, Bruce mentioned Baker as a possible drummer. The three of them (Bruce, Baker and Moore) had recently played together really well at an all-star concert marking Bruce's 50th anniversary, but Bruce and Baker had a notoriously bad working relationship in the past. In the end the sessions went smoothly, with the erstwhile Cream members only intermittently displaying a kind of sibling rivalry rather than true enmity. So, rather than being a Cream reunion with Moore substituting Clapton, this is more of a Gary Moore & guests affair. Of course, such illustrious musicians could never be demoted to Moore's backing band so it had to be an egalitarian band thing. IMO equal billing is fair to Bruce -especially since he's handling most of the vocals- but Baker's contribution seems to be rather slight: he has only one shared writing credit and, while his drumming is spot-on, he often seems to be going through the motions. That becomes more evident in the straight "electric blues" numbers: there's nothing wrong with "Can’t Fool the Blues", "High Cost of Loving" and "I Wonder Why (Are You So Mean to Me?)" - but they could have come out of any Gary Moore solo album of the 90's or 00's. Opener "Waiting in the Wings" is a "White Room" soundalike, and "City Of Gold" another, bluesier, Cream-like number. They're probably sequenced first to appease those who came hoping for a Cream reunion and to reassure listeners that yes, Moore can ably substitute Clapton if he so wishes. Both feature Bruce on lead vocal, while the aforementioned pure blues numbers featured Moore. "Where in the World" is the album's lead single, which is strange because it's the only song not featuring Baker but a session drummer - so it's BM instead of BBM. An excellent ballad nevertheless, featuring both singers, with lyrical guitar playing instead of the more bombastic on other songs here. "Glory Days" is another highlight, a perfect mix of prog and hard rock. Even Baker's playing is as adventurous as it used to be. The momentum continues into "Why Does Love (Have to Go Wrong?)", a 9 minute prog-rocker that brings the best out of everyone: beautiful vocal from Bruce, amazing drumming, fantastic guitar. An absolutely killer track! Compared to that, "Naked Flame" has a paint-by-numbers feel: just a typical Gary Moore ballad - beautiful, but he's done it before again and again. At least closer "Wrong Side of Town" (another ballad written by Moore) has a retro sensibility reminiscent of the great jazz songbooks, and a suitably fragile vocal by Bruce. The album cover is a striking image of the battered and wrinkled Baker in a black overcoat and angel wings, smoking a cigarette. I quite like it, even if the smoking angel idea isn't that original, having been used before by the likes of Van Halen and Black Sabbath. Around the Next Dream did decently commercially, even if it didn't match the success of Moore's previous releases. But the chemistry wasn't there, and the band soon disintegrated. Moore went from playing Clapton to playing Peter Green on next year's Blues For Greeny, while Bruce and Baker went back into making low-key jazz records. In the end this is an underrated album, perhaps burdened by the inevitable Cream comparisons - as if any classic rockers could match their 60's heyday, 25 years later! Clapton, Baker and Bruce finally reunited for a last concert released on DVD and CD in 2005 - if they hadn't, this CD would make for a fine postscript to the Cream story. Only a postscript, mind you. Decent, but not standing up to comparison with the canonical Cream LPs.
**** for Waiting in the Wings, City of Gold, Where in the World, Glory Days, Why Does Love (Have to Go Wrong?)
*** for Can’t Fool the Blues, High Cost of Loving, Naked Flame, I Wonder Why (Are You So Mean to Me?), Wrong Side of Town
No comments:
Post a Comment