FIVE POWER TRIO ESSENTIALS
Cream, Disraeli Gears
Led by Eric Clapton and featuring drummer Ginger Baker and bassist and singer Jack Bruce, Cream established the power trio blueprint with 1966’s Fresh Cream. But their 1967 follow up, Disraeli Gears, confirmed their preeminence among Britain’s blues-rock upstarts. The group’s volatile chemistry sparked the genius in “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Strange Brew.”
ZZ Top, Tres Hombres
ZZ Top fully realized their boogie-rock vision on Tres Hombres, their smash 1973 set. Tres Hombres gave boogie-rock its first signature tune, “La Grange,” but opener “Waitin’ for the Bus” and the chugging “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” are every bit as infectious. Throughout the album, Billy Gibbons plays like a man possessed — exactly why Jimi Hendrix raved about him after his pre-ZZ band, the Moving Sidewalks, opened for the Experience.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced?
It almost feels like cheating to drop Are You Experienced? here, but there’s no way around it. On his 1967 debut album, Jimi Hendrix defined, demolished and rebuilt, sometimes within the same song, what a power trio can accomplish.
Grand Funk Railroad, Grand Funk (Red Album)
Detroit was not only a mecca for Motown soul; it was also a hotbed for raucous rockers like the MC5 and Iggy and the Stooges. Just up the road in Flint, Michigan, though, Grand Funk Railroad pioneered their own furious, powerful and primal sound. “We’re an American Band” came later, after the band expanded its lineup, but their 1969 sophomore album is where Grand Funk earned their stripes.
James Gang, Rides Again
James Gang was fronted by Joe Walsh on its first three albums — their only albums as a trio — and Rides Again, released in 1970, included their slinky signature hit, “Funk #49.” Like Gibbons, Walsh also benefited from a famous Brit singing his praises to the music press: Pete Townshend. Walsh left the Gang the following year and eventually joined the Eagles, but not before gifting Townshend the ’59 Gretsch he used on Who’s Next. — Jim Beaugez