''Farewell Concert'' is the live recording of the band

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

's final concert at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

on 26 November 1968. Aside from the band's reunion concert in 2005 it is Cream's only official full concert release on video. It was originally broadcast by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

on 5 January 1969. It was not released on video in the US until 1977. The opening acts for the concert were future

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

stars

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

, who were just starting out, and

Taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste. Taste is the perception stimulated when a substance in the mouth biochemistry, reacts chemically with taste receptor cells l ...

, an Irish trio led by

Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as "Ireland's first rock star", he is known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances. He has sometim ...

Versions

There are in fact several versions of this film. They are as follows - ''Original theatrical release'' * Created by Director

Tony Palmer Anthony or Tony Palmer may refer to: * Anthony Palmer (VC), English recipient of the Victoria Cross * Anthony Palmer (British Army officer) (born 1949), deputy chief of the Defence Staff * Tony Palmer (director) (born 1941), British film director ...

and distributed by manager

Robert Stigwood Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer, and impresario, best known for managing musicians such as Cream, Andy Gibb, and the Bee Gees; theatrical produc ...

, this was a documentary style film, incorporated live performances, narration by BBC announcer

Patrick Allen Patrick Allen may refer to: * Patrick Allen (actor) (1927–2006), British actor * Patrick Allen (music educator) (born 1955), English author * Patrick Allen (American football) (1961–2021), American football player * Patrick Allen (bowler) (born ...

, and interviews with the band members themselves showcasing their playing abilities (actually filmed in late 1967 or early 1968). Duration was 84 minutes. * In 1977, a shorter version of the above film, presenting the footage in edited form, now lasting 51 minutes, was released on home video. ''Television version'' * The first BBC Television broadcast - Containing the same songs as the 1977 version (and lasting the same length), but featuring narration from Radio One DJ

Pete Drummond Peter Drummond-Hay (born 29 July 1943), known professionally as Pete Drummond, is a British voice artist and former BBC and pirate radio disc jockey and announcer. Biography Early years and pirate radio He was born in Bangor, Wales. His par ...

, and a different introduction and BBC end credits. (Note - The narrations by both Drummond and Allen are virtually identical.) This was also on the official DVD release. * A music only version, shown by the BBC in 1980 (The end credits show "MCMLXXX"), which was 30 minutes long, featuring just five complete songs, with no narration or interviews. In 2005, a ''special extended edition'' of the concert appeared featuring full versions of all songs separated from the narration and interviews. Lasting 80 minutes, it was released on the official DVD reissue. The new version featured digitally remastered sound and video including three bonus songs. A short clip of White Room from the second set (the film used the version from the first show), together with D.J.

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

introducing the band onstage, was shown on the BBC1 programme "The Rock And Roll Years" in the late 1980s. In June 2014, it was given a Blu-ray / DVD release. ''Album release'' In March 2020, the concert was released as part of the live album ''Goodbye Tour - Live 1968'', being the first time the Royal Albert Hall concert was officially released via audio format. Sadly the sound of this Royal Albert hall concert is much worse than the sound of the other 3 shows of this box set.

Criticism

The original film has often been criticized for both its mediocre sound and visual effects:

The audio is a turgid sonic sludge. The visuals are even worse, with director Tony Palmer jerking the camera around as if this were an episode of NYPD Blue, layering the picture with dated and distracting psychedelic light effects, and providing far too many close-ups of Bruce's teeth (and almost no wide shots of the entire band).

The band had performed two sets at the Albert Hall, but it is believed only the second set was filmed in its entirety. Several times during the performance, it is apparent that the on-screen shot is not in sync with the audio. In fact, in several songs, including during

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

's drum solo, he seems to change clothes at lightning speed due to careless post-editing, as well as

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

playing two different guitars. This is because footage from both sets, with the band wearing different clothes and Clapton using a

Gibson Firebird The Gibson Firebird is a particularly distinctive solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson Guitar Corporation, Gibson beginning in 1963. It features several unusual features for a Gibson guitar. It has distinctive shape. It is made wit ...

for the first set, a

Gibson 335 The Gibson ES-335 is a semi-hollow body semi-acoustic guitar introduced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958. It has a solid maple wood block running through the center of its body with hollow upper ...

for the second, were edited together. The BBC used four static cameras and two hand held cams, all recording onto video tape, whilst Palmer himself filmed footage at the front of the stage, utilising a 16mm film camera. The difference in quality can be detected easily during the broadcast. However, the BBC "Pete Drummond" version was better quality overall, and is the only version that has these 16mm film clips removed – the remastered release on the 2005 DVD presents both audio and video in excellent quality. Ginger Baker himself has lashed out in an interview against the ''Farewell Concert'' video, stating: "Cream was so much better than that." Nonetheless, most Cream fans regard the actual performance with great enthusiasm, disregarding the poor quality of the video.

Track listing

Original video release (Both Patrick Allen narrated film & Pete Drummond narrated BBC broadcast)

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Sunshine of Your Love "Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band Cream. With elements of hard rock and psychedelia, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce based it on a distinctive bass riff h ...

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White Room "White Room" is a song by British rock band Cream, composed by bassist Jack Bruce with lyrics by poet Pete Brown. They recorded it for the studio half of the 1968 double album '' Wheels of Fire''. In September, a shorter US single edit (witho ...

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Spoonful "Spoonful" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf. Called "a stark and haunting work", it’s one of Dixon's best known and most interpreted songs. Etta James and Harvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B record ...

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I'm So Glad "I'm So Glad" is a Delta blues-style song originally recorded by American musician Skip James in 1931. Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft notes "This spiritual probably dates back to the beginning of the blues". Blues writer Stephen Calt describes ...

Extended DVD edition (Patrick Allen narrated film)

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Crossroads Crossroads is a junction where four roads meet. Crossroads, crossroad, cross road(s) or similar may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a ...

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Sitting on Top of the World "Sitting on Top of the World" (also "Sittin' on Top of the World") is a country blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon. They were core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, who first recorded it in 1930. Vinson claimed to have co ...

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BBC broadcast (1980 repeat, no narration)

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Sitting On Top Of The World "Sitting on Top of the World" (also "Sittin' on Top of the World") is a country blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon. They were core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, who first recorded it in 1930. Vinson claimed to have co ...

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Sunshine Of Your Love "Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band Cream. With elements of hard rock and psychedelia, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce based it on a distinctive bass riff h ...

Appearance on Goodbye Tour-Live 1968

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References

{{cream 1969 films Cream (band) live albums Live albums recorded at the Royal Albert Hall 2005 video albums Live video albums 2005 live albums Cream (band) video albums