The Rubber Band - Cream Songbook

Nine instrumental takes on Cream's finest moments - expect harpsichords, flutes and some bombast

Label: GRT
Year of Release: 1969

Regular readers will probably remember that back in December, I uploaded The Rubber Band's "Jimi Hendrix Songbook" for everyone's enjoyment - an instrumental tribute LP which included richly arranged and occasionally intriguing versions of the tongue-wiggling wonder's top tunes.

There was a long series of these LPs, and reader Arthur Van Daele very kindly got in touch sending me mp3s of the others, which I then stashed to one side for a convenient moment. The Cream LP still seems to have the heavy involvement of Michael Lloyd, who largely led on the Hendrix project. This time round, though, there are no uncredited 'celebrity' drop-ins from the likes of Warren Zevon, though I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

What you get is some thunderous orchestral takes on Cream's songbook, which don't take as many liberties with the original tracks as the Hendrix LP, though the puffing flutes and zinging harpsichords on "Sunshine Of Your Love" (mp3 sample available below) are somewhat unexpected, as is that track's hysterical ending.

The Rubber Band - Hendrix Songbook (LP)

Strange but oddly satisfying studio tribute to everyone's favourite guitar biter

Label: Major Minor

Year of Release: 1969

It would be tempting to cock a snook at this LP if you saw it in the racks of your local second hand record shop. It looks cheap, has a crap sleeve, and sixties tribute albums almost always tend to veer towards either bland easy listening arrangements or a group of hurried session musos trying to sound as much like their subject matter as possible. Buy enough of these things and you realise that most of them aren't even good for laughs.

This, however, is unexpected enough to be interesting. It consists almost entirely of uniquely arranged instrumental versions of respected Hendrix tunes, though the inclusion of "All Along The Watchtower" seems to indicate that all concerned were more concerned with whether Hendrix had ever performed, rather than penned, the tracks. It's not the kind of deluxe, carefully crafted culture clash you'd expect of such a project today, but there are enough puffing flutes and wailing guitars to prick up the average Hendrix fan's ears.

The Rubber Band were a Los Angeles based studio group consisting of Stan Ayeroff on guitar, Steve Baim on drums and Michael Lloyd on keyboards, bass and vocals. The player of most interest to "Left and to the Back" readers in that line-up is probably Ayeroff, who was originally in The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and subsequently moved into the world of jazz. As a session player  and arranger, he has also worked with Rod Stewart and Roger Daltrey.