ginger baker- a drummers tale

anyone else get this 2 cd career anthology? i just picked it up. here is the tracklisting and my comments

1. Wade in the Water (The Graham Bond Organization) good choice
2. Camels & Elephants (The Graham Bond Organization) good choice
3. Sunshine of Your Love (Cream) his drums are essential to the tune so nice to see it here
4. White Room (Cream) seems maybe this was included because its a hit
5. Pressed Rat & Warthog (Cream) an underrated tune written by ginger
6. What a Bringdown (Cream) maybe the best tune he wrote in cream
7. Can't Find My Way (2010 Remaster) Home (Blind Faith) no idea why this was chosen other than its well known
8. Do What You Like (Blind Faith) a baker highlight
9. Early in the Morning (Ginger Baker's Airforce) a good choice
10. Doin It (Ginger Baker's Airforce) rather have had "da da man" if they were using 2 tunes from the first airforce release but baker did write this one
11. Mad Jack (Baker Gurvitz Army) good but "memory lane" should be here too
12. Egbe Mio (Fela Kuti Featuring Ginger Baker') one song with fela is enough
13. Ye Ye de Smell (Fela Kuti, Featuring Ginger Baker) this is the one fela song that should be here
14. Ants in the Kitchen (Masters of Reality) everything from this album is great so no bones about this
15. Tusa (Masters of Reality) see above comment plus this was bakers showcase on the albu,
16. Coward of the County (DJQ20) nice song
17. Jesus Loves Me (DJQ20) nice song
18. Toad (Live) (Cream) nice to see the reunion version on here. odd baker likes this version more than the older live versions
19. Why? (Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion) title track of his newest studio album. i would have liked to see either "ginger spice" or "cyril davis" too


overall it shows bakers talent but it seems to overlook a lot of his work. nothing from the 2nd airforce release? pretty much nothing from his albums as an actual solo artist. "east timor" would have been a great song on here. nothing from BBM. seems too focused on his career prior to 1971 with only 6 tracks on here recorded after 1971

 

any one else have any thoughts? changes that should have been made to the tracklisting?

 

East Timor? Same as Robert Wyatt's?

 

Graham? Who's that?

*whack*

 

here is what i would have picked just to give it a little more diversity

1. Wade in the Water (The Graham Bond Organization)
2. Camels & Elephants (The Graham Bond Organization)
3. Sunshine of Your Love (Cream)
4. Pressed Rat & Warthog (Cream)
5. What a Bringdown (Cream)
6. Do What You Like (Blind Faith)
7. Early in the Morning (Ginger Baker's Airforce)
8. Doin It (Ginger Baker's Airforce)
9 we free kings (Ginger Baker's Airforce)
10 blood brothers 69
11. Mad Jack (Baker Gurvitz Army)
12. Ye Ye de Smell (Fela Kuti, Featuring Ginger Baker)
13 dust to dust
14. Ants in the Kitchen (Masters of Reality)
15. Tusa (Masters of Reality)
16 east timor
17 waiting in the wings (BBM)
18. Jesus Loves Me (DJQ20)
19. Toad (Live) (Cream)
20 Why? (Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion)

 

I agree. There should have at least been a couple tracks from Ginger Baker's Air Force 2.

 

considering its impossible to get on cd in the usa for cheap yeah. on my listing i added "we free kings"

 

We Free Kings was one I thought of right off. Why it was not on the compilation is a mystery.

 

and baker picked the tracks on this thing supposedly. there is stuff licensed from the labels that has his major work so obviously he could have picked stuff from about 90% of his catalog

 

The name is Bond. Graham Bond.

 

I've just thrown away 3 paragraphs worth of rant. I'll say instead that this is a good idea for a thread.

Truthfully I don't know how to throw away a post in preparation, that I decide to abandon. Once a reply is saved as a draft, it seems to hang around for days, no matter what I do to be rid of it.

 

was the rant about this cd ?

 

this is a song written by baker with spoken word about what was going on in east timor.

 

Indirectly. It was concerning your comments on the selected songs. You seemed to be apologetic or even embarrassed by the inclusion of White Room and Can't Find My Way Home, simply because they were popular songs, as if they should be devalued and passed over for having caught the common man's fancy in their day.

I realized what I had written was unbalanced, that you did go on to offer what you felt would have been an improved selection, and that you didn't deserve to take the blows for all those who engage in this practice - hit bashing, if you will.

So see.. you could have lived without that.

 

its ok. i just thought it was odd ginger hand picked these tunes and includes two songs that he doesn't have a writing credit on and don't really showcase his talent. true ginger says he deserves a credit for "white room", as well as "sunshine of your love", but at least "sunshine of your love" features drumming by ginger that is pretty integral to the song. the changes i made to the tracklisting was to get in more songs by ginger that he wrote and that showcased another side of his talent

 

Own it? I'm credited on this album!

This one was funded, at least in the USA, through PledgeMusic. I think I paid something like $35.00 for the set (which IS pricey for a 2-disc set) but in doing so I'm credited on the album. A fair trade off for me in this case.

 

Nice set but I could do without the more familiar Cream tracks. Ginger's playing on "A White Room" IS terrific but he doesn't deserve a credit anymore than Ringo does for his playing on "Rain" or Jimmy Miller for his playing in "You Can't Always Get What You Want".

 

Graham Bond was a fat guy!

 

I would love to have a boxset of Ginger Bakers music.

 

Speaking of Ginger Baker's Airforce, I recently picked up a worn but playable vinyl copy of Airforce 2. I hadn't heard any Airforce before. Man, what a great album! Why hasn't this been reissued on vinyl much and is so hard to find? I just ordered a German copy from Discogs I hope will be an upgrade. It would be great to see a well done box set compiling the albums and any other pertinent Airforce material.