Cream Album: “Inside Cream 1966 - 1969: A Critical Review [DVD]”

If I could, I would give this a zero star rating.

The really sad thing about this DVD is that the producers had the oportunity to interview Cream's chief lyricist, Pete Brown, a guy who, after the band members themselves, was probably in a better posistion than anybody to tell the true "inside" story of Cream. Brown does appear on this disc, but unfortunately he has to share screen time with "a leading team of music critics, musicologists and working musicians" whose "authoritative review[s]" are, at best, of dubious value. A far better use of the time and effort that went into the making of this "film" would have been to turn the cameras on Brown for an hour and let him talk about his personal experiences with the group; how he began working with them, the songwriting process, the personalities involved, etc. Instead, we mostly get the opinions of critics who, as far as I can tell, have no more "inside" information than does your average Cream fan, unless you want to call "inside information" one critics claims that Ginger Baker threw drumsticks at Eric Clapton's head onstage, that all three band members were so stoned during some concerts that it was a miracle that they could still play, or that Bruce, Baker and Clapton grew to hate each other. If Pete Brown said any of this on camera I would give these statements some creedence, but instead they come from a critic who seems eminently confident that they are true, and expects us to believe him on his word alone.

As far as I'm concerned a music critics opinion is of no more value than yours or mine or anybody else's, and what the critics on this video have to say isn't particularly well informed or informative. For example, one glaring oversight is the failure of any of them to mention that "Wheels Of Fire" was the first-ever Platinum-selling album. Unless you really care what non-musicians have to say about Cream's music then I suggest you pass on this video.

What influenced me to buy "Inside Cream" was the claim that I would find "rare film and television archive material". I didn't. All of the live footage on this disc is available elsewhere, none of the television clips are complete and all clips either have someone talking over them and/or very intrusive texts plastered over them indicating what album the songs originally appeared on. Rather than waste your money on this glop I suggest you buy the DVD of the 1968 Farewell Concert instead. All of the live footage and most of the interviews with Bruce, Baker and Clapton on "Inside Cream" come from this film. Also more worthy of your money and attention are the videos "Cream '05 Royal Albert Hall Concert", "Strane Brew" and "Fresh Live Cream" which feature complete archival footage, the band members telling their own stories, and MUSICIANS (like blues giant Buddy Guy)telling you that Cream was influential rater than some non-mucical pen jockey.

You want to know why I hate most rock critics? Buy this DVD and you'll understand my state of mind. This DVD consists almost entirely of clueless, jealous, failed musicians taking cheap shots at one of the finest rock bands ever. So why does this DVD exist then? The money, of course. Yeah, Pete Brown's on it, but so what? His total screen time is about 10-15 minutes or something...I don't know the exact amount of time because I could never finish the "film."

I got milked out of 15 dollars for this and though I was thinking of returning it for a refund, I figured that other people shouldn't catch a glimpse of this. I was also thinking about using the DVD as a coaster for wine and cheese parties, but the condensation tends to creep through that little hole in the center so that option was out. So I just threw it away. Let's put it this way: Steve Rosen should be glad that I don't know where he lives.