Rock (2): Just the basics--drums, bass, and guitar: Cream, Hendrix, ZZTop, King Crimson and more

The Power Trio, from the 1960’s to now

The trio is a special configuration-it has enough voices to sound big and complex, yet still leaves the musicians completely exposed.  It is a common format in classical and jazz, where the bar to be taken seriously as a musician is extremely high to start with. It is not a common format in rock, because while basic competence is enough to get you in the game in rock, you need more than that to survive in a trio—you need extraordinarily skilled and tireless musicians. My list of great rock trios includes Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, King Crimson (Red version); Rush, ZZ Top and a few others.  (Feel free to suggest any of your favorites I missed!) These groups share certain characteristics:  They have almost telepathic musical chemistry; they are all virtuosos, and their material is catchy and memorable.

 

Cream

It is hard to overstate the importance of Cream in rock history.  The first great power trio.  The first supergroup. The first to meld blues, psychedelic and hard rock.  The first proto-metal band.  They were together for only two years, but in terms of impact per day, in my opinion there is no group, even the Beatles, that rivals them.  It started when Ginger Baker recruited a young, rising star named Eric Clapton, based on his blues work with John Mayall.  They brought Jack Bruce, a jazz-influenced bassist, on board, and things ignited.  Cream, along with Jimi Hendrix, rewrote the rulebook for rock, setting standards for intensity, virtuosity, and creativity that are still the bar for rock bands today.  And, if you appreciate heavy metal at all, you know that Cream (and Hendrix) essentially laid the groundwork for the entire genre. 

 

Cream reunited for special performances a couple of times, including this set at Royal Albert Hall in 2005.  Clapton is 60 in this video; Ginger Baker (drums) is 66; and Jack Bruce (bass, vocals), 63.  They turn in a seismic performance.  I could go on and on about the little details, but I won’t. Consider it a statement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyftaay-pFA

 

 

 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

This could easily have been posted under “guitar heroes”, given that Hendrix was obviously the center of attention.  But they were a legitimate power trio, and, like Cream, they obliterated conventional wisdom, weaving together psychedelia, extreme distortion, and complex rhythms and timings. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY

 

 

ZZ Top

Founded in 1969, they are still at it.  They experimented with a wide range of styles, but are best known for straight-ahead bad-boy rock (lots of cars, women and un-PC lyrics) and an outlandish image.  They never took themselves seriously, which probably helps explain why they have lasted 50+ years.  But make no mistake, these guys know their way around their instruments.  It is said that Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons’ beards have been willed to the Smithsonian.  The drummer, Frank Beard, doesn’t have a beard.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG2JtdUEMJU

 

King Crimson:  Red

Robert Fripp could never stay in one place for long.  His band, King Crimson, has gone through dozens of lineups, put out some 30 albums, and co-invented several genres of music.  For me, “Red” (1974) is one of the 10 best albums ever, in any genre.  They morphed from big prog-rock ensemble with string arrangements, grandiose lyrics and liberal use of the mellotron, to a brutally stripped down power trio, playing complex time signatures and jarring tritonic chord progressions influenced by Bartok and Stravinsky. Bill Bruford, previously with Yes, turns in a mesmerizing, epic performance on drums.  The whole thing is weirdly beautiful. Here is the title track. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_pDwv3tpug

 

 

 

Rush:  YYZ (In memory of the recently departed Neil Peart) 

Very few groups sound as good live as they do in the studio—Rush was one of them.  They made a lot of albums, won some Grammys, but were first and foremost a touring band.  Here is their live performance in Rio de Janeiro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSlvoO3Vw8

 

 

 

The Police

They’re a bit of an oddball here because much of their work was light and airy, infused with reggae, jazz and ska.  They didn’t hit you with a wall of sound, but still somehow filled the space around you.  Started in 1977, they became part of the New Wave movement of the 1980s, but they did a much wider variety of things than most New Wave bands.  One thing that always stood out was their spare arrangements, which rest on the perfect execution by all three members.  I picked this piece because it has more of a driving beat than some of their other hits, and shows off their talents as musicians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v2GDbEmjGE

 

 

 

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble

SRV and Double Trouble started off barnstorming Texas, then broke out nationally, and eventually globally. I think it’s not exaggerated to say these guys saved the blues in the U.S.  They used their platform and fame to bring attention back to the previous generation of blues musicians, whose obscurity in their home country is a shameful indictment of our music industry and culture.  I saw them live, twice, and they were incendiary.  Since SRV’s death in a helicopter crash, Double Trouble remain in high demand as session musicians with other big names.  Here is one of their live performances, doing a cover of Hendrix’ Voodoo Child:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe3G7p1Z-xU

 

 

 

Muse:  Supermassive Black Hole

With the deconstruction of rock in the West, the emphasis has been on minimalist arrangements without a lot of technical finesse.  This (English) band is not in the same mold as a classic power trio, but it’s the contemporary equivalent, and it’s currently my favorite alt-rock band.  They do a deceptively minimalist mash-up of different styles, with falsetto vocals layered on top.  This video has deliberately, almost absurdly low production values, which have spawned a whole genre of humor in the wake of the recent announcement of actual telescopic images of a black hole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsp3_a-PMTw

Here is the picture of the black hole:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/10/world/black-hole-photo-scn/index.html

 

 

 

Asterism:  Rising Moon

Here is my pick for the next great power trio. Despite being only 18, 16 and 15 at the time of this recording, they are already technically better than many of the preceding groups. Their sound is a throwback to Cream and Rush, with the intricate drum and bass work.  The guitarist is on another level altogether; she also writes most of their material.  Now they just need to produce a few years of interesting work to be considered among the greats.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfxMi0Bx4x0