Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I�m So Glad
2. Spoonful
3. Outside Woman Blues
4. Pressed Rat & Warthog
5. Sleepy Time Time
6. N.S.U.
7. Badge
8. Politician
9. Sweet Wine
10. Rollin� and Tumblin�
11. Stormy Monday
12. Deserted Cities of the Heart

Disc 2:

1. Born Under a Bad Sign
2. We�re Going Wrong
3. Crossroads
4. White Room
5. Toad
6. Sunshine of Your Love
7. Sleepy Time Time (Alternative)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20821 in Music
• Released on: 2005-10-03
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .27 pounds
• Running time: 150 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Cream were, as has been reasonably argued, the world's first supergroup. Less contestably, they remain the best-ever supergroup until this day. When guitar deity Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger (actually he's more silver these days) Baker reconvened for some box-office busting comeback shows at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005--some 37 years after the band had waved farewell at the very same venue--expectations ran high and the faithful weren't left short-changed.

Royal Albert Hall is a splendid souvenir of a band who got their vibe back together for love, self-satisfaction and nostalgia. Nowhere is there any attempt to compromise the band's integrity, redefine the formula or extend the hand of friendship to a younger generation by toning down some of the more indulgent extravagances of their original era. You get the blues (in the case of "Stormy Weather" gloriously so, Clapton's fretwork is electric), psychedelia ("NSU"), that leviathan nine minute drum solo (Ginger's "Toad"), a novelty tune (Ginger's Kenneth Grahame on acid ditty "Pressed Rat and Warthog") and anthems of the magnitude of "Badge" and "Sunshine Of Your Love".

For a more comprehensive assessment of Cream's legacy to rock, novices ought to start with the recent I Feel Free: UIltimate Cream compilation but as reunions go Royal Albert Hall gives longstanding fans of Cream plenty to lap up. --Kevin Maidment

From the Label
Legendary power-trio Cream--consisting of Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton--release both a live album and a DVD recorded live at their four Royal Albert Hall reunion gigs earlier this year. Tickets for the Royal Albert Hall shows were one of the hottest of the year as anticipation built for the trio’s first gigs in almost 37 years. The nineteen track double album features many Cream classics including "Sunshine Of Your Love", "N.S.U," "White Room" and "Badge".

The gigs drew an eclectic range of international fans varying from veterans who had attended the final 1968 shows at the venue to younger Cream fans eager to take their first opportunity to catch them live.

Despite having an initial lifespan of little more than two years, Cream’s fiery hybrid of blues, psychedelic and pop made them one of the most influential bands of their era. Fresh Cream (1966), Disraeli Gears (1967) and Wheels Of Fire (1968) established themselves as one of the world’s biggest bands whilst their renowned live performances represented the birth of stadium rock.

CD Description
In May 2005 Cream reunited to play a series of sell-out shows at London's Royal Albert Hall - four decades after their final show on the same stage. This two CD set brings together the highlights of their four concerts and features some oftheir greatest hits taken from the band's three acclaimed studio albums.

Customer Reviews

The power trio brings its material forward and leave us far from "What a Bringdown" territory

On this long-awaited live reunion, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker amply demonstrate that all that is required for great music making is talent and empathy.

Ginger Baker plays with mastery of time, while Eric Clapton demonstrates a consistent maturity in the construction of his solos that occasionally escaped him in the 1960s.

Only Jack Bruce sounds somewhat overshadowed by his playing of 37 years ago. This is not to say that he doesn't play superbly; he does and the sounds of his Hartke-amplified Warwick fretless and Gibson EB-1 basses are way better than those he coaxed out of the fuzzy, midrangey Marshall stacks he used to use at the end of the sixties. However, compared to his younger self, he tends to leave opportunities unexplored. His voice is powerful, his phrasing very good, although lower-pitched than way back when.

Still, this is a recording to cherish in view of the palpable chemistry between the musicians and the quality of the material.

This really is a great album
The reunion concerts are to be welcomed even if not for the music but just because these three men are talking to eachother again but the misic is great. I can only assume that the descenting voice (Ninian K Yule from Axminster, Devon United Kingdom) in the reviews of this album along with one or two newspaper reviewers of the concerts, are suffering from a mid-life crisis of their own. Youth is not the only virue in popular music as John Lee Hooker demonstrated in his late reflowering career. Jack Bruce looked a bit ill because he has been very ill, but he still played great the singing and harp playing on Rollin' and Tumblin' were magic. I saw the late great saxophonist Stanley Turrentine a couple of years back. During his solos he was magic, his playing was fluent and brilliant but in-between when the band played and he rested he looked like he might fall over and like he was having difficulty breathing age and failing health did not dim his light nor did it dim the light of any mamber of Cream. Sure there was far more self control in the playing but so there should be nearly forty years later, but if all they or we were after was a recreation of the 1960's Cream then there is the Farewell Concert avilable on DVD. The excesses of the 60's and the push to greater extemes was precisely what caused Cream to break up in the first place and was not of their choosing. There are few genuinely listenable live Cream recordings on CD the two live albums (Live Cream Vol. I & Vol. II) have some okay moments but as separate audio experiences devoid of the visual spectacle and being present at the live concert make them rather difficult to just stick on the CD player. Of the other live stuff the live part of Goodbye Cream is good. Crossroads from Wheels of Fire is often cited as the great live Clapton outing but as Eric has acknowledged several time over the years in that perfornce he was playing out of time with the other two, i.e. "wrongly", therefore that could not be recreated anyway. Let's hear a big three cheers for Cream and if they decide to do any more shows or record new songs (which I doubt they will) then I for one will not accuse them of flogging a dead horse these guys can still cut it. Same on anyone who thinks that just because a performenr is getting old they can not continue to have a right to perform.

too late?
Dear "a music fan" (january 20th 2006)

what exactly do you know about guitars? or amplifiers?

The band were fantastic, considering they are all pushing 60.

For your interest Eric was using a Fender Stratocastor with noiseless pickups and a maple neck (another black Strat with Lace Sensor pickups)and a Fender'57 tweed Twin amp,in a stack, with a spare on top (only used on "Sunshine Of Your Love") and a Leslie speaker.
The Leslie had a separate preamp, used to balance out tone and volumes with the amp when used together.

How you can say the guitar sounded badly is the talk of bedlam, it's blues not rock n roll. As quoted by Ginger Baker "cream was never rock and roll, two of us were jazz musicians and eric is a blues player" it's supposed to sound that way.

and as Clapton has performed for nearly 50 years now, whats good enough for him is good enough for me, and for someone to criticise his choice of instrument/amplifier (bearing in mind he has had alot of experience with both) is foolishness

on a brighter note, the album and reunion concert were excellent..let's hope we have time for just one more so I can get a ticket this time!