Cream - Disraeli Gears 1967
* Disraeli Gears 1967 / Cream, November 1967, single 33 1/3 12" LP. Issued by Polydor in the UK and ATCO (Atlantic) in the US. Recording in Atlantic Studios, New York, during April and May 1967. Sharp's art features on the front and rear cover, incorporating photographs taken by his friend and fellow Australian Bob Whitaker alongside various collage elements.
Australian artist Martin Sharp (1942-2013) is perhaps most famous for the record covers he produced for the rock supergroup Cream - Disraeli Gears (1967) and Wheels of Fire (1968). Both sold in large numbers throughout the world and sales continue to this day, as does the acclaim of both the music contained therein and the album covers. The classic nature of the band Cream and their two albums ensures that both Martin Sharp's artwork, and his two songs with the band - Tales of Brave Ulysses and Anyone for Tennis - will remain in the public mind for many years to come. For example, the Classic Album television series in 2006 featured Disreali Gears and the subsequent Bluray / DVD disc not only included Martin Sharp's art on the cover, but two sections in which he is interviewed and describes his involvement in the production of the cover artwork and also his co-writing with Eric Clapton of the song Tales of Brave Ulysses for that album. Clapton's interview as broadcast and a fuller outtake also referred to collaboration between the two young men.
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| Rear cover artwork by Martin Sharp and Robert Whitaker. |
According to Martin Sharp when interviewed in 2006: "The cover for Disraeli Gears is my best known work to date. Commissioned by Eric Clapton when we were sharing the studio at The Pheasantry, it is a collage coloured with fluorescent paints. I was aiming to reproduce visually the warm electric sound of Cream. Included in this album is the song I wrote down for Eric, Tales of Brave Ulysses." (Electric Banana, 48). The original cover art also featured in a box set of Cream music issued during 2006. Prior to his death in 2013 Sharp was associated with the production of lithographic copies of the original cover artwork in a series of signed and unsigned limited edition prints.
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Last updated: 12 August 2023
Michael Organ, Australia
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