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White Room
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Wikipedia article
"'White Room'" is a song by British rock band Cream, composed by bassist Jack Bruce with lyrics by poet Pete Brown. They recorded it for the studio half of the 1968 double album 'Wheels of Fire'. In September, a shorter US single edit (without the third verse) was released for AM radio stations, although album-oriented FM radio stations played the full album version. The subsequent UK single release in January 1969 used the full-length album version of the track.
Recording and composition
In 1967, at the initial session for Cream's third album (then still unnamed), recording for "White Room" reportedly began in London. In December, work continued at Atlantic Studios in New York City and was completed during three sessions in February, April and June 1968, also at Atlantic.Felix Pappalardi interview, Hit Parader # 55, February 1969
Jack Bruce sang and played bass on the song, Eric Clapton overdubbed guitar parts, Ginger Baker played drums and timpani, and Felix Pappalardi the group's producer contributed violas. Clapton played his guitar through a wah-wah pedal to achieve a "talking-effect". The song has an identical chord progression to Cream's previous recording "Tales of Brave Ulysses". Both Bruce and Baker claimed to have added the distinctive or quintuple metre opening to what had been a or common time composition.
Recognition and other recordings
'Rolling Stone' magazine ranked "White Room" at number 376 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". A live recording appears on the group's 'Live Cream Volume II' album (1972). Clapton, along with Phil Collins, began his act at Live Aid in 1985 with the song. In 1990, Clapton performed the song at his Royal Albert Hall concert series and in 1999 with Sheryl Crow at Crow's 'Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live from Central Park' concert. In 2005, the reunited Cream played the song at the Royal Albert Hall, which was released on their 'Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005' album.
In a song review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that the song has been "covered frequently, and by a bizarre group of artists: Broadway star Joel Grey, the Finnish symphonic metal band Apocalyptica, fusion guitarist Frank Gambale, the Bluegrass-inspired Cache Valley Drifters, and heavy metal band Helloween. That wildly eclectic list proves that 'White Room' is a multi-faceted song, containing equal parts dramatic spectacle, intricate musicality, and hard rock menace. Other artists emphasize different elements in their interpretations, but the original Cream version wrapped it all up in one startling package".
'Billboard' described the single as a "solid, driving rocker."
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"!align="left"|Chart (19681969)
!align="left"|Peak
position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia ('Go-Set')
|align="center"|1
|-
!scope="row"|Austrian Singles Chart
|align="center"|19
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian 'RPM' Top Singles
|align="center"|2
|-
!scope="row"|Finnish Albums ('Soumen Virallinen')
|style="text-align:center;"|10
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand ('Listener')
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
!scope="row"|UK Singles Chart
|align="center"|28
|-
!scope="row"|US 'Billboard' Hot 100
|align="center"|6
|-
!scope="row"|US 'Cashbox' Top Singles
|style="text-align:center;"|5
|}
Year-end charts
Certifications
Deep Purple version
A version of the track was featured on Deep Purple's 2021 covers album 'Turning to Crime'.[https://www.guitarworld.com/news/deep-purple-turning-to-crime Deep Purple announce new covers album, Turning To Crime, premiere hard-rocking version of Love's 7 and 7 Is]. 'Guitar World'. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
Personnel
*Ian Gillan - lead and backing vocals*Roger Glover - bass
*Ian Paice - drums
*Steve Morse - guitar
*Don Airey - keyboards
References
Category:1968 singles
Category:Cream (band) songs
Category:Songs written by Jack Bruce
Category:Number-one singles in Australia
Category:Song recordings produced by Felix Pappalardi
Category:Atco Records singles
Category:Polydor Records singles
Category:1968 songs
Category:Songs with lyrics by Pete Brown
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