Cream Wheels Of Fire CD

Originally released as a 2-LP set, half live, half studio recordings.

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. This double album represents both sides of Cream's musical personality. The first record is a studio job, where the band mixes originals with covers of Howlin' Wolf ("Sitting on Top of the World") and Albert King ("Born Under a Bad Sign"). The songs written by the band all contain unique touches. "As You Said" finds Jack Bruce swapping his bass for a cello, "Pressed Rat and Warthog" sounds like an English folk tale courtesy of Ginger Baker's clipped recitation and the inclusion of baroque horns, and the classic "White Room" overflows 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 and Fillmore 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.

If Disraeli Gears was the album where Cream came into their own, its successor, Wheels of Fire, finds the trio in full fight, capturing every side of their multi-faceted personality, even hinting at the internal pressures that soon would tear the band asunder. A dense, unwieldy double album split into an LP of new studio material and an LP of live material, it's sprawling and scattered, at once awesome in its achievement and maddening in how it falls just short of greatness. It misses its goal not because one LP works and the other doesn't, but because both the live and studio sets suffer from strikingly similar flaws, deriving from the constant power struggle between the trio. Of the three, Ginger Baker comes up short, contributing the passable "Passing the Time" and "Those Were the Days," which are overshadowed by how he extends his solo drum showcase "Toad" to a numbing quarter of an hour and trips upon the Wind & the Willows whimsy of "Pressed Rat and Warthog," whose studied eccentricity pales next to Eric Clapton's nimble, eerily cheerful "Anyone for Tennis." In almost every regard, Wheels of Fire is a terrific showcase for Clapton as a guitarist, especially on the first side of the live album with "Crossroads," a mighty encapsulation of all of his strengths. Some of that is studio trickery, as producer Felix Pappalardi cut together the best bits of a winding improvisation to a tight four minutes, giving this track a relentless momentum that's exceptionally exciting, but there's no denying that Clapton is at a peak here, whether he's

Recorded at IBC Studios, London, England in July-August of 1967; Atlantic Studios, New York, New York from September 1967 to June 1968; The Fillmore West, San Francisco, California on March 7, 1968; Winterland, San Francisco, California on March 8-10, 1968.

Engineers: Adrian Barber, Bill Halverson, Tom Dowd.

Personnel: Eric Clapton (vocals, guitar); Jack Bruce (vocals, acoustic guitar, cello, harmonica, recorder, calliope); Ginger Baker (vocals, marimba, glockenspiel, drums, hi-hat, tambourine, timpani, tubular bells); Felix Pappalardi (viola, trumpet, organ).

Audio Remixer: Adrian Barber.

Recording information: Atlantic Studios, New York, NY; Atlantic Studios, NY; Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA; IBC Studios, London, England; Winterland, San Francisco, CA.

Arranger: Robert Stigwood.

Cream: Jack Bruce (vocals, guitar, cello, recorder, harmonica, bass, calliope); Eric Clapton (vocals, guitar); Ginger Baker (vocals, glockenspiel, marimba, drums, tympani, tubular bells).

Additional personnel: Felix Pappalardi (viola, organ pedals, trumpet, tonette, Swiss hand bells, tambourine).Musician (12/92, p.100) - "...Cream is the greatest power trio in rock history...These recordings remain the pinnacle of all three careers [Clapton, Bruce & Baker]...Finally remastered in a way that lets you hear why..."