Track Listing

1. Wrapping Paper
2. I Feel Free
3. N.S.U.
4. Sweet Wine
5. I'm So Glad
6. Strange Brew
7. Sunshine Of Your Love
8. Starange World
9. Tales of Brave Ulysses
10. Swlabr
11. We're Going Wrong
12. White Room
13. Sitting On Top Of The World
14. Passing The Time
15. Politician
16. Those Were The Days
17. Born Under A Bad Sign
18. Deserted Cities Of The Heart
19. Crossroads (Live At Winterland)
20. Anyone For Tennis
21. Badge
22. Doing That Scrapyard Thing
23. What A Bringdown

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15851 in Music
• Released on: 2005-05-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .23 pounds
• Running time: 79 minutes

Album Description
Coinciding with the Cream reunion of all the three original members, I Feel Free--Ultimate Cream collects the best of Cream's work. Cream--Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, vocals) and Ginger Baker (drums)--formed in 1966 and disbanded in 1968. In a little over two years, they released four groundbreaking albums, played over 300 gigs and secured worldwide acclaim and success with their unique take on electrified blues. They produced some of the most enduring rock anthems including Sunshine of Your Love, I Feel Free, Strange Brew and Crossroads.

This career-spanning collection spotlights both sides of the Cream catalogue--the wildly experimental studio outfit and the stripped-down live trio--combining newly re-mastered studio classics along with eight historic live performances.

Beginning as imaginative blues revivalists, Cream quickly evolved into a riskier unit, mining an audacious assortment of jazz, folk, pop, blues and psychedelic elements. Cream made adventurous, original music that reflected the restless energy of its era, yet continues to resonate nearly four decades later. This album comprises 22 studio tracks, plus "Crossroads" (live).

CD Description
This collection brings together some of Cream's finest studio and live moments committed to tape. Featuring the UK chart hits 'I Feel Free', 'Strange Brew', and 'Sunshine Of Your Love' this collection serves as a perfect introduction to Cream's experimental approach to blues led rock.

Customer Reviews

Another remaster but the same old unsatisfactory stereo sound stage
Although I've got all these tracks several times over I made a point of buying a copy of this in order to check out the most recent re-masters of the tracks from the first two Cream albums. The reason, as I have explained in several other reviews, is the unsatisfactory stereo engineering or sound-stage of most of those tracks.
This latest re-mastering of the material from 'Fresh Cream' and 'Disraeli Gears' seems to be much the same as it was before and the sound stage has been left the way it was. Disastrously, with the first album, just as before the drums are on the extreme right and don't relate to the guitar on the extreme left; and equally disastrously the bass sits right on top of the drums and as a result most of the time can't be distinguished from the bass drum.
The stereo sound stage of 'Disraeli Gears' leaves a lot to be desired too.
The studio tracks from 'Wheels Of Fire' have better stereo positioning but the tracks still sound over produced and artificial.
On the other hand they seem to have done some real work on 'Politician' (from the third studio album) not only making it heavier but improving the sound of the guitars, which used to sound thin and brittle but now have a better Clapton sound. The other tracks from this third album have also been improved but 'Politician' gains most - and it needed to because it was a cacophony of unpleasant sounding overdubbed guitars.

But the really important things to have are (nearly all) the live recordings by Cream which I have also reviewed, and some of which are included on the 2nd disc of the 2disc version of this compilation with the same title. Cream's reputation rests on these live performances.

A great way to make Spaghetti Junction bearable .....
It's hard to know what to say about Cream that hasn't already been said a million times, folks. What this very good compilation does is to remind us just how varied they were in their approach, ability and style. Having just lived through the non-stop roaring of Fall Out Boy live (yes, folks, you cannot judge 'em if you don't listen to 'em), I was almost begging for something like Wrapping Paper by the end, so numb were my ears and every other part of my anatomy that hadn't been actually cauterised by the wall of noise. And Cream were not exactly shrinking violets live, either, with Marshall stacks about the size of a small semi in Ruislip and secret weapon Ginge in the background. What is missing nowadays is the light and shade, the variety, the colour, the little details that make music of any hue lasting and even meaningful.

Almost every track here is worth a good listen and some of them are legendary. The live Crossroads is quite rightly thought of by many as the best 4 minutes ever in world rock, and shows what made Clapton so fantastic - not his speed, not his tone, not his style but his TIMING. Ginger's drumming in White Room is just out of this world, as are Jack's vocals, bass and songwriting on We're going Wrong. Anyone lucky enough to have been at the Albert Hall last year will know that this song was an absolute standout. De blooze is represented by Clapton's Strange Brew, nice and understated, Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign and Crossroads (Robert Johnson, of course, just in case you're from The Crab Nebula). There is also a fair collection of oddities too - Wrapping Paper (odd, to say the least), Anyone for Tennis and scraggs from the end of their career. Classics like I Feel Free (anyone care to rewrite that solo?), Badge and Tales of Brave Ulysses still sound magical, and God, how we all gibbered with delight at Clapton's fills in SWLABR, which still inspire.

I just love Cream. I saw them as many times as I could in the sixties and once in the 05s. They were the most fantastic band on stage and on record, and I just cannot imagine what chemistry boughyt Messrs Clapton, Bruce and Baker together at all in the first place. All this happened in not much more than two years with a crazy tourinmg schedule too - today, Salisbury, next month, America. If I had nothing else on my desert island to listen to except Crossroads, White Room and We're going Wrong, I would be quite happy. I think that Ginger was and is the best rock crossover drummer ever, anywhere.

Now, if you haven't already done so, buy Chris Welch's fabulous book CREAM (Amazon have it), a real labour of love beautifully produced, and the Albert Hall concert from 2005. That should keep you busy for a weekend or two. Pray for rain or that the lawn mower explodes. Nothing should disturb Cream in full cry.

Cream Of Cream
This album contains digitally-remastered favourite tracks by Cream.
What a unique band they were. At home both with pop songs and playing the blues. Great rhythms and always so cool. Most of the tracks have aged well and don’t sound dated in their new digital versions.
There’s Jack Bruce’s powerful bass lines and Ginger Baker’s great stormy drumming and, of course, Eric Clapton, the living legend and probably the best British guitarist ever.
One surprising omission is Spoonful, which was always a highlight in their live act.
There have been many Cream compilations in the past. This is probably the best one so far