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By July 1966, Eric Clapton's career with the Yardbirds and John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers had earned him a reputation as the premier blues guitarist in Britain. Clapton, however, found the environment of Mayall's band confining, and sought to expand his playing by forming a new outfit. Clapton had met Ginger Baker in late 1965, then the leader of the Graham Bond Organisation, which at one point had featured Jack Bruce on bass guitar, harmonica and piano. Baker likewise felt stifled in the Bond's group. Each was impressed with the other's playing abilities, prompting Baker to ask Clapton to join his new, then-unnamed group. Clapton immediately agreed, on the condition that Baker hired Jack Bruce as the group's bassist. The band was named Cream, as Clapton, Bruce, and Baker were already considered the 'cream of the crop' amongst blues and jazz musicians in the then exploding British music scene. Cream made their unofficial live debut at Manchester's Twisted Wheel club on 29th July 1966. The group's debut album, Fresh Cream, produced by Robert Stigwood, was recorded in London between August and November '66, and released in December on React ion, Starwood's short lived label. Rehearsals for the album also took place in London during three sessions in August, September and November. The follow-up Cream album, Disraeli Gears - named after a roadie mis-pronounced the transmission system on a racing bike (derailleur gears) - was a quickly assembled affair that became a massive seller particularly in the US where it was the group's breakthrough record. Recorded in New York in May of 1967 and this time produced by future Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi, who also co-wrote two of the record's tracks, the album came out less than a year after Cream's debut, in November 1967. Rehearsals again took place in London during March and April of '67. Six of the rehearsal sessions undertaken for Fresh Cream and Disraeli Gears were broadcast live on off-shore 'Pirate Radio' during 1966 and 1967, the first time any such occurrence had taken place. These broadcasts are now featured in edited versions on this CD, the first time these rare recordings have been released.

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