Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. White Room - Cream, Felix Pappalardi, Tom Dowd, Adrian Barber
2. Sitting On Top Of The World
3. Passing The Time
4. As You Said
5. Pressed Rat And Warthog
6. Politician - Cream, Felix Pappalardi, Adrian Barber, Tom Dowd
7. Those Were The Days
8. Born Under A Bad Sign
9. Deserted Cities Of The Heart

Disc 2:

1. Crossroads - Cream, Felix Pappalardi, Bill Halverson, Tom Dowd, Adrian Barber, Joseph. M Palmaccio
2. Spoonful - Cream, Felix Pappalardi, Tom Dowd, Bill Halverson, Adrian Barber
3. Traintime - Cream, Felix Pappalardi, Tom Dowd, Bill Halverson, Adrian Barber
4. Toad - Cream, Felix Pappalardi, Tom Dowd, Bill Halverson, Kevin Brady, Gene Paul

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8331 in Music
• Released on: 1998-06-01
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Double CD, Live, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 80 minutes

CD Description
When Cream released WHEELS OF FIRE, they had established themselves as the premier blues-rock band due to the success of their first two albums and the extraordinary chemistry between the band's members. As a result of this synergy, Cream also enjoyed a fiery live reputation. The double-album represented both sides of their musical persona. The first recordwas a studio job, where the band mixed in originals with covers of Howlin' Wolf ("Sitting On Top Of The World") and Albert King ("Born Under A Bad Sign"). The songs written by theband all contained unique touches. "As You Said" found JackBruce putting his bass down and picking up a cello, "Pressed Rat And Warthog" sounded like an English folk tale due to Ginger Baker's clipped recitation and the inclusion of baroque horns, and "White Room" overflowed with waves of Eric Clapton's wah-wah-drenched guitar.
The second record was recorded over a four-day span at San Francisco's Winterland andFillmore West. Extended versions of "Toad" and Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" demonstrate the band's intricate interplay, but most impressive is a blistering reading of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", in which all three members seem to be soloing simultaneously in a jaw-dropping display of fury and bravado.

Customer Reviews

The best...
Gifted, erratic and incredibly powerful, Cream were probably the most important band to emerge from London's mid 60's R&B scene. Faced with a peer group of brilliant guitarists including Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Peter Green & Jimi Hendrix, a host of other world-class musicians such as Rod Stewart, John Mayall, John McVie & Steve Winwood, and a huge number of other less well known but equally gifted back-up players - all touring the same small club circuit night after night - Cream exploded into this scene in mid 1966 as a group deliberately conceived, as their name implied, to be "the best".

To understand how good they were you had to see them live during the short period in which their lofty ambition came close to fruition. They were... "the best" and, after stamping their authority in the UK, they switched to the USA to blow their home-grown competition off stage. Imploding in well documented strife by mid 1968, those who saw them during this brief period were privileged indeed. For those who didn't there's little on offer. The group's recordings are at best a shadow of what they were live, with the few real gems spread across their four albums - "Fresh Cream" (a fair encapsulation of where they were in mid 1966); "Disraeli Gears" (a studio album with a couple of real highlights and much mediocre stuffing); "Goodbye" (even more so) and, "Wheels of Fire" (probably the closest you'll get). The subsequently released live albums add little more.

But... one track says it all. "Crossroads": possibly the best interaction of three musicians at the peak of their powers ever committed to tape. Eric Clapton's breathtaking guitar solos are matched, virtually note for note, by Jack Bruce's brilliant "lead guitar" bass lines and Ginger Baker's power drumming. Live, because it had to be to capture it. As DJ John Peel said after playing this track on its first UK broadcast: "now tell me they're human". It's here, surrounded by some of their best recorded music, and it's priceless!

An anthem to the greatest and most original rock band ever
The mixture of blues, jazz and rock played with the sheer brilliance of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Clapton with his classic fast blues style innovating on live tapes and his genius in playing set pieces on recordings, Bruce with his wonderful wailing blues voice and imaginative bass complimented with the thundering, intricate rhythms of Ginger Baker's drums makes for the most scintillating music of its time and is still relevant today. People forget that this first of the great super groups was hailed by classical and other musicians alike as being original and the best. Cream carved a niche in the annals of rock history and there will remain as a shining example to all for the future.

Phenonenal
This is most definately the Cream of the Cream's albums. It contains not only a studio disk packed with wonderfully creative and ingenious songs, but a live album containing 4 monster tracks which are absolutely astounding.

It is difficult to describe Cream's albums because there are not enough superlatives. My father first played me "white Room" when I was 4, and I have hailed it as one of the best rock songs ever recorded.

Because this was the band's third album, they were definately more experimental, introducing tympani, glocks and cellos, but still the album is fantastic. "Passing the time", "As you said" and "Pressed Rat and Warthog" are certainly not what you would expect from cream, judging by their first two albums but if you persevere, they become just as good.

The rest of the album contains their classics; White Room, Politician, Deserted Cities of the Heart, Born under a Bad sign and Sitting on top of the world. All of these are examples of some of the best blues paying ever recorded.

On the live album, their ability as a band to Jam and interact with each othe are showcased, with Crossroads and Spoonful being some of the greatest songs ever cut.

My advice is to get this album and prepare to be blown away. It is well worth it.