"I have no idea why Cream broke up. Eric wanted to go solo maybe?"
Eric revealed why he ended Cream in his interview in The Last Waltz:
"Music had been going in the wrong direction for a long time. When I heard Music From Big Pink (The Band's debut album, of course), I thought: Well, someone has finally gone and done it right. The album made me excited, but also disturbed."
Somewhat paraphrased, but that's the gist of it. Eric bought a case of Music From Big Pink LP's, put them in the trunk of his car, and gave a copy to everyone he knew, telling them "You've GOT to hear this." He told Jack and Ginger he wasn't interested in continuing Cream, and went up to Saugerties, New York (where The Band lived) to hang with The Band, waiting, as he now laughs about, for them to ask him to join. It finally dawned on him they didn't require or desire his services, so he left, and started on the second phase of his musical career.
Think about that for a second. The leader of the biggest band in the world dissolves that band because he hears an album by another band, one that makes music he feels makes his own irrelevant. Music From Big Pink had that effect on every musician I knew, completely changing our idea of how music should be played, of what made a band good, of what superior musicianship was. I had to start over from the beginning, learning how to play all over again, but now at least knowing what really made a musician a "good" one.
For me (and a lot of musicians I knew), groups like The Beatles were over; their time had past. They made some great music, some pretty good music, some okay music, and some dreadful music. To critique them in terms of their individual technical abilities is so wrongheaded as to defy belief!
I realize the above could be interpreted as supporting the argument that the members of The Beatles weren't "the best" musicians around. So what? They were good enough to play the kind of music they were making REALLY well. Their music was not about the technical abilities of the individual musicians---they were a Pop Group, not a Jazz quartet. Horses for courses!
