CLASSIC TRACK
CREAM STRANGE BREW
Learn Eric Clapton’s blues phrasing tricks in the psych-blues stomper that kicked off Cream’s breakthrough ‘Disraeli Gears’ album
Guitars and backing Steve Allsworth Photo Getty
Released in 1967, Disraeli Gears, Cream’s second LP, would eclipse the moderate success of its predecessor, taking the band to new heights in the US and establishing Cream as one of the most important bands of the decade. According to Eric Clapton, Strange Brew “came from hearing an album that Buddy Guy and Junior Wells did together” – Hoodoo Man Blues, we assume. Explaining in the Classic Albums: Disraeli Gears documentary, Eric continued, “And he did Hey Lawdy Mama on that, but that riff is from another song, I think a Little Walter song called Everything’s Gonna Be Alright. What we did is we took it from shuffle to straight time... So we took that riff then just [put] the song over that.”