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"Toad" is an instrumental by British rock band Cream and was released on their 1966 debut album, Fresh Cream. The "song", composed by drummer Ginger Baker, is a five minute drum solo (with a brief guitar and bass introduction), and is notable because it features one of the earliest recorded drum solos in rock history. It can also be seen as an early example of hard rock.
Baker began developing "Toad" while he was still a member of the Graham Bond Organization, but it was not until he joined Cream that it was first recorded. The solo comprises a sequence of drum patterns that are built up, varied, and then dropped, giving way to a new pattern. The Cream website, Those Were the Days described "Toad" as "A coherent drums solo that remains unequalled in Rock Music. It influenced many contemporaries and innumerable budding drummers." [1]
An extended sixteen minute live version (of which 13 minutes is drum solo) appears on Cream's 1968 album Wheels of Fire. A slightly extended version of this recording, with some additional guitar and bass edited in from another performance, appears on Cream's four-disc compilation album Those Were the Days (1997). "Toad" was given a 10:06 minute rendition during Cream's reunion in May 2005 at the Royal Albert Hall.
"Toad" was also performed by Ginger Baker's Air Force, and a 13 minute live version appears on their 1970 album, Ginger Baker's Air Force.
The song was used on Boston Bruins telecasts on WSBK once every week for a Bruins highlight reel, which featured spectacular goals, saves, and the like.
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