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| ''Cream Farewell Concert'' on DVD; Image Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISK), a leading independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming in North America, today announced the October 4, 2005 release of the 1969 rock film "Cream Farewell Concert, " in a special Extended Edition DVD. Presented by producer and Cream's then-manager Robert Stigwood ("Tommy, " "Grease, " "Saturday Night Fever"), and directed by Tony Palmer ("200 Motels, " "Wagner"), "Cream Farewell Concert" was filmed at London's Royal Albert Hall on November 26, 1968, the same 8, 000-seat venue where the seminal '60's British super group reunited to play for capacity crowds in May of 2005, generally acknowledged as one of the "must-see" events of the decade. Image Entertainment's "Cream Farewell Concert" Extended Edition DVD contains the 80-minute version of the film -- a home video premiere -- which restores three songs cut from the previously available 48-minute broadcast version: "Crossroads, " "Sitting on Top of the World, " and "Stepping Out"; both versions are included on the DVD. In addition, the DVD offers three audio options: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS Digital Surround Sound, and the original monaural soundtrack. The film itself is a heady mix of concert footage and incisive interviews with the band, set to colorful lighting effects by UK underground artist Mark Boyle, who created lighting designs for such touring acts as The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Soft Machine during rock music's heyday of the late 1960's and 1970's. Between its formation in 1966 and breakup a mere two years later, the power trio of virtuosic British musicians -- drummer Ginger Baker, bassist Jack Bruce and guitarist Eric Clapton -- enjoyed immense popularity, releasing four albums and selling 35 million records. Their sound deftly mixed high-volume blues with psychedelic rock and improvisation, blazing a new path for every hard rock and progressive rock group that followed. Cream was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and classic songs such as "Sunshine of Your Love, " "Badge, " and "White Room" remain rock radio staples. British rock journalist Chris Welch, author of the Cream biography "Strange Brew, " writes of the group, "It seemed almost frightening ... there had been nothing like it heard on the planet. This was heavy rock at the instant of creation, a kind of super nova explosion which is still radiating outwards." As narrator Patrick Allen says in the film's introduction, "Their motto is simple: Forget the message. Forget the lyrics. And just play." write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |