Cream are often attributed as being the first Rock Super Group. The Cream (sic) of musicians joining together from famous previous bands. Wheels of Fire was their third album, a double vinyl album, with one Disc recorded in the studio the other live.
The studio recordings had been done in just under a year, squeezed in whenever the band could find time off from their frenetic touring schedule. These recordings started in the IBC Studios, London, in July 1967, and finished in Atlantic, February 1968. Always with Felix Pappalardi, who also added various pieces of music himself, whilst producing, adding his deft touch to the proceedings.
The Live disc was recorded over ten nights at the Fillmore, or the Winterland, San Francisco, where the band played two shows a day as a ten day residency, leaving lots of unused live recordings to fill out hundreds of posthumous albums.
Wheels Of Fire was the first double album to go Platinum – going number one in America, Australia, and Canada, whilst reaching number three in the United Kingdom.
The studio album has its, of the time, psychedelic splash. Don’t forget this was the time of Sergeant Pepper, Pet Sounds, and Electric Ladyland. But there are still plenty of down’n’dirty rock songs.
Jack Bruce contributes three of his finest songs in White Room, Deserted Cities of the Heart, and Politician. (Written in collaboration with Pete Brown.) Ginger Baker contributed three songs also. Thankfully, he only does vocals on one and the songs are saved by the playing of his partners.
Eric Clapton suggested two Blues classics, Sitting on Top of the World by Walter Vinson, and Born Under a Bad Sign by Albert King, both of which fitted the Cream Heavy Blues Rock agenda perfectly.
The Live album kicks off with a storming version of Crossroads by Robert Johnson without a shadow of a doubt the definitive version of this wonderful song. Cream at the Top of their game. Eric Clapton turns in an epic solo.
There is then a seventeen minute version of Willie Dixon’s Spoonful. This is Cream doing what they did best, taking a basic three minute song and stretching it out with mind boggling improvisation from these three talented musicians. The synergetic paths they follow are mesmerizing, quite brutal in parts, but played on the edge with dazzling brilliance.
Felix Pappalardi chose the following two pieces. The first to show off Jack Bruce’s skills as a vocalist, and harmonica player on Traintime, a harmless enough song but why it was thought necessary to show off Jack Bruce’s talents further than had already preceded is difficult to understand. The crime of this collection is last song Toad, the dreaded Ginger Baker drum solo stretching out over 16 minutes into the future. A drum solo was almost obligatory in live sets at the time, which could be quite exciting if you were actually there. Unless you are a connoisseur of the drums, this soon becomes very tiresome. I have seen Ginger Baker play his solo many times in such bands as the Airforce, Hawkwind, Atomic Rooster, etc. All a bit dated now. Still, it would give Jack and Eric a nice breather in the set, but unnecessary on this recording. When almost 20 minutes of 80 minutes are taken up by one guy thrashing away at a drum kit, no matter how good or who it is, it’s too much.
But even this cannot take away from the work that went before. But it does lose them one star.
Of course within a year the band had imploded. Too much talent in one place, especially with all the egos that needed soothing. Plus, of course, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker just simply could not stand the sight of each other, even though they had played together in previous bands. Eric Clapton also got fed up keeping the peace.
The Cream went sour.
But they left behind a fine legacy.
In the years that followed, separately they never hit these heights again. But their influence is still being felt today.
Their influence on Rock Music is up there with the Beatles, Stones and Hendrix.
Written by Mott The Dog, patiently rocking on Pattaya’s Darkside.
 |
 |
 |
