Cream - Wheels of Fire

For the Better Moments Worth the Price

The studio material veers from the inspired ("White Room," never mind that Jack Bruce and Pete Brown seemed to play a kind of see-and-raise on Eric Clapton's earlier "Tales of Brave Ulysses," though Clapton unfurls one of the finest rounds of controlled wah-wah fills and solos of its time; "Sitting on Top of the World," which sounds first too reverent until Clapton spins a spellbinding solo and Bruce supports him with a neatly climbing bass line; "Born Under a Bad Sign," in which Ginger Baker's Latinesque polyrhythm competes neatly with Clapton's stinging Albert King-like lines; "Those Were The Days," maybe the second-best song Baker wrote for the trio) to the modest ("Deserted Cities of the Heart," "Politician"), to the mundane. ("As You Said," which sounds still as though it were composed and executed on some particularly skittery controlled substances, though the cello lines save it from total disaster.)

The live recordings veer from the transcendent ("Crossroads") to the well-intentioned ("Spoonful," which tends to lag in a few places, in spite of several bursts of what made Cream so formidable as a freewheeling, improvisational concert unit), to the dubious (it's still hard to know whether "Traintime"---a superior take has since emerged on the BBC sessions---is inspired or exhausted, though the idea of chugging Bruce's harmonica to Baker's snare and hi-hat was a welcome relief, and the vocal is probably his most impassioned on the set), and to a combination of the three. ("Toad" was always more impressive for Baker's drumming---as colouristic as you'll find in rock of any era, never mind how many caterwauling inferiors it inadvertently inspired, than for its basic music bookends, the last of which you can barely hear through the mix under the crowd sound, anyway.)

As a whole, "Wheels of Fire" isn't quite the master blend of eclectic blues and pop adventurism "Disraeli Gears" was, and you wouldn't lose a thing if you skipped "Passing the Time" or "As You Said" (both way better as ideas than as executed songs). But in the best moments Cream lives up to the better sides of its reputation. Maybe the sense that they were about to decide on packing it in pervades too greatly, but for the better moments it's still worth the price.

(As an historical note: "Wheels of Fire" was the first double-LP set to be awarded a gold record, an award presented to Cream before they kicked off the Madison Square Garden appearance that concluded their 1968 farewell tour.) January 28, 2008

Amazing Album...Harsh Remaster

Cream's best album combines studio and live material so you get the best of both. There are lots of reviews here and at allmusic and other places, I'm sure, that will go into detail about just what makes this album great. When I review something here, I am usually inclined to discuss the sound quality of particular classic rock releases in their various incarnations.

This is another case of the label's remaster actually sounding worse than the original release. It's got too much boost in the mid-frequency spectrum which causes a distinct lack of clarity on vocals and other details. In terms of loudness and compression, this one actually does a good job not brick walling everything to make it distorted like so many remasters tend to do. So, you have the good and the bad...but you can always choose to have only the good....

How, you say? First, if you can afford it, go for a used copy of the DCC gold disc version of this mastered by Steve Hoffman. It is the best version of this album on CD, period. The gold disc part really has nothing to do with that...it's the excellent and meticulous mastering by Mr. Hoffman that makes this shine. However, you'll pay well over $50 for one of these.

Your second choice would be a used copy of the original release on Polydor (amazon lists this as the 1990 version). This was done by Dennis Drake and sounds really good, too, and you can find it here in the marketplace for under $15 (just make sure to ask the seller if it's the original release in the wide or fatboy case with the silver discs). If you don't believe me, buy one of each and have your own shootout and find out for yourself. January 15, 2008

The apogee of a three-way partnership

Track for track, dollar for dollar, "Wheels of Fire" is one of the best, most influential and most representative albums of 60's pop rock. Served up under one cover, you get the best recorded output of guitar god Eric Clapton, the most entertaining and memorable songs of the quirky songwriting team Jack Bruce and Pete Brown, the best singing committed to vinyl by Mr. Bruce, whose blues-tinged alto voice mixed with occasional leaps into falsetto was an extremely sharp instrument for mining a lyric, whether a surrealistic twee poem like "As You Said," a double-entrendre-laden satire like "Politician," a rock anthem like "White Room," or a straight-ahead classic blues number like "Born Under a Bad Sign," the unique and overlooked jazz-into-rock drumming of Ginger Baker along with a few of his own forays into surreal poetry; all of that adding up to a 60s album par excellence, a crossroads where the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters and Nick Drake all meet.

I hadn't listened to this CD all the way through in a long time, but it gave me chills to hear it again. All three of its members, separately and together, put their career-best work on this album. For Clapton, there's room to argue that Derek and the Dominos is on the same level, but this was clearly a high point for Bruce and Baker, who were just as brilliant individual musicians, and the live tracks bring back the high level of improvisational brilliance the trio was capable of, for those of us who couldn't hear it in person. Listen to these live tracks, then listen to the comparable live recordings of the Stones, Led Zeppelin or the Who. Or even the Grateful Dead, said to be the pinnacle of live noodling. As great as those bands were, they didn't come close to Clapton-Bruce-Baker. Their studio career wasn't quite as brilliant, but this album is the best of the original collections (best-ofs are the way to go to get the best of the rest). One thing I notice. With all the diverse styles Cream tried, they never sounded ponderous. They were never "rock dinosaurs." Baker and Bruce kept them light on their feet, imbuing every track with the graceful drive of jazz no matter what else was going on. That and a sense of humor. January 14, 2008

Must have Cream disc

Had this on LP long ago, and I am really glad I got it on CD from Amazon. Never heard it sound so good! Check out the live Spoonful on disc 2, incredible jamming by three very talented musicians in 1968 in San Francisco, need I say more! Plus disc 1 has some jewels on it also! You should add it to your collection soon if you haven't already! December 3, 2007

cream on fire!!!

cream's wheels of fire is their 2nd best album after disreali gears - only because it has more material to contend with being a double album.

the first side is studio output. everybody knows "white room" - its classic opening chords and wah-wah solo. next follows a reworking of howlin wolf's 'sitting on top of the world' gives clapton an excuse to cut loose some fiery blues soloing. 'passing the time' thought a substandard track has some nice soloing at the end. 'as you said' sounds like a nursery rhyme. ginger baker has his turn at the vocals with 'pressed rat ...'. then there's 'politician' with its catchy riff and overdubbed/overlayed solos. jack bruce is in fine vocal form here. cream sizzles on a slightly faster version of albert king's 'born under a bad sign'. 'deserted cities' has energetic acoustic rhythm and stinging soloing from clapton.

the live side opens with a fiery version of robert johnson's 'crossroads' with the immortal twin solos by clapton. but the highlight of this double album is without doubt the 20 odd minute version of willie dixon/howlin wolf's spoonful. this is imo the penultimate cream jam track. superlative soloing by clapton with fantastic bass play by the lord of the low frequencies - jack bruce. i've never heard anything like it ever. traintime is bruce showing his harmonica skills and toad has baker pounding the hides in a bit too long solo.

though it shines in parts, those parts do overwhelm. nobody else, even they themselves today, can repeat such a feat. November 15, 2007

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