Rock: well recorded bass...60s/70s

Ghost, are u not a fan of Derek and the Dominos?

I think one thing a lot of these latest posts prove is that at a certain point, the various genre categories fail. To me, the era when music changed from middle of the road pablum to psych, harder rock blues, and led to different strands- from changes in electric folk to prog-- was one of the most fertile- say from the mid-'60s to the early '70s. I'm not saying there weren't elements or recordings or bands of interest before or after, but that period was an incubator of change. And, we have to thank the Brits for an awful lot of it, from helping us rediscover blues to providing a launching pad for American musicians, from Hendrix to Garnet Mimms (whose work is as great as any of the other big name soul/gospel singers, but whose name is rarely mentioned, except to note that he is tragically forgotten). I listen to all of it- and tracing back the roots of any one band's influences takes you in many different directions. Or vice-versa (listen to the originators, like Elmore James or Skip James and hear how their songs and styles were reinterpreted by others).

I'll take the "blame" for Bdp thinking someone said Cream was a prog band - though that's not what I said. Certainly, they were not one of the "art rock" bands (defining art rock as a sub-genre of Prog Rock) like I would consider ELP, Genesis, King Crimson or Yes to be. BUT if you read the discussion about musical characteristics of Prog found at the link here, to my ear and mind, many of these same elements are present in some (not all) of Cream's songs (e.g., We're Going Wrong, White Room, Tales of Brave Ulysses seem like good examples and I think there are others. Those are the ones that come to mind).
Prog Defined

From that same Prog Archives site, if you read what the authors are calling Hard Prog
(see link here: Hard Prog ), hard rock/heavy blues as played by Cream (and others) is cited as an influence on the Hard Prog sub-genre. If you look up the Wikipedia entry on Cream they cite Rush as a prog rock band influenced by Cream's live shows. When you read the Cream bio in the AllMusicGuide I see a strong overlap in that discussion of the prog music characteristics in the definition previously mentioned.

I'm not claiming the idea is original with me but independent of those sources, given Jack's and Ginger's jazz resume, Jack's classical training and Pete Brown's lyrics, and based on what I hear in some of their music, I think they were seminal to progressive rock; seminal as in "strongly influencing later developments".

Loomis - I was going to name Layla/D&TD (along with maybe, Journeyman) as an exception to falling out of love with Eric after Blind Faith. In the interest of the point I was trying to make, didn't seem worth it. I guess I'm kinda lukewarm on that album. Some of the song writing is pretty strong but the sound always seemed really crappy to me. And while some songs are very strong it doesn't have the energy or drive for me that Cream had. D&TD was a totally different place that EC wanted to be in. I don't hate it but if that was the only work of Clapton's that I knew - I don't think I'd be in love. Hey I have an open mind on it. Just saw Music Direct has a Japanese SHM SACD version of it. Maybe that'll be the ticket.

Enjoying the discussion. Apologies for my lengthy reply. I try to be complete.

Whart - Agree with you whole heartedly. The music categories get blurry and the boundaries leak (bleed into one another). 60s/70s were a fantastic period for music. I definitely appreciate the influence Britain has had on our "American" music.

Ghost- my recollection is, I went through several different copies of Layla before I found one that sounded pretty good and had energy. I had always considered it to be a terrible recording. I can take a look when I get a minute- it's probably an early Atco, but I don't remember the details. Worth revisiting, as is the Delanie & Bonnie album he did, which I bought new when it came out- and was completely turned off at the time- country? WTF? Now, with age, distance, different expectations, and a more broad ranging interest in all kinds of music, it's pretty good as well. I loved Cream, and eventually bought good pressings of many of their records. Blind Faith was another one that was a mixed bag- some great songs, and some filler, plus what I considered to be a wooly, muffled sounding record. The first UK pressings are decent, and not nutty money. I'm just glad I'm not collecting 78's!