wheels of fire

Cream bubbled over with heavy blues and psychedelic poetry on this classic double helping of stage pyrotechnics and studio gimmickry.  The trio had developed their sound from the blues explorations of 'Fresh Cream' into the expansive strange brew of 'Disraeli Gears' before taking their audio experiments even further on 'Wheels of Fire'.  

The double album features one disk of studio material and one disk of live performances.  The studio sessions took place at IBC Studios in London and Atlantic Studios in New York with producer Felix Pappalardi featuring Jack Bruce on vocals, lead vocals, bass, cello, harmonica, calliope, acoustic guitar, and recorder; Eric Clapton on guitar and vocals; and Ginger Baker on drums, percussion, bells, glockenspiel, timpani, and spoken word; with Felix Pappalardi on viola, bells, organ, trumpet, and tonette.  Pappalardi remembers:    "'Wheels Of Fire' by Cream was never really a planned album. While Eric, Jack and Ginger talked about ideas in England, I discussed it with Ahmet Ertugen and Jerry Wexier at Atlantic. I wanted a double album right from the beginning and it was my job to sell that idea. Nobody was high on it. When I finally convinced everyone of the double album, Cream told me they had been wanting the same thing. Next step was helping choose material and arranging it for the final stages. With Cream this job is particularly important because most of their songs are never played until they come into the studio.  It’s very weird. The music is never discussed. It just happens. We cut the first things for the album in December 1967. We did the instrumental tracks for “White Room,” and “Born Under A Bad Sign.” They had a couple of days off during their U.S. tour so we booked studio time to get something down. Then they came back two months later for ten days and we completed the entire studio album...The whole studio album was completed before we did the live album. The more we got into the studio album the more necessary it became to do the live one. The studio stuff became very electric so I wanted the live Cream right there where you could get at it, Cream as a trio without the arranging and the electronics. I presented it to Atlantic in this exact way...I'd say we worked for a good two weeks on the studio album. Sometimes we’d work till four in the morning if It was cooking. Maybe only one guy was cooking so I’d send Jack and Eric home and just work with Ginger or percussion things."  

The live album was recorded in San Francisco at the Winterland Ballroom and The Fillmore.  'Wheels of Fire' went to number sixteen in Norway; three in the UK; and number one in Australia, Canada, and the US, becoming the first ever platinum selling double-album.   Despite the record's huge success, the band was ready to call it quits.  Baker reveals:   "It just got to the point where Eric said to me: 'I've had enough of this,' and I said so have I. I couldn't stand it. The last year with Cream was just agony. It damaged my hearing permanently, and today I've still got a hearing problem because of the sheer volume throughout the last year of Cream. But it didn't start off like that. In 1966, it was great. It was really a wonderful experience musically, and it just went into the realms of stupidity." 

Clapton says:  “Whistle stop touring America was the beginning of the end for Cream, because once we started constantly working in such an intense way, it became impossible to keep the music afloat and we began to drown.”

Bruce considers:   “I don’t know whether you could say I am proud of that legacy but I realise the value of the band.  Even now people still like the music we made. And I cannot distance myself from it, nor would I want to.  I’m Jack Bruce of Cream just like Paul McCartney is Paul McCartney of The Beatles. I’m not ashamed of what I did with that band.  Put it this way: we wrote some nifty little pop songs. That’s music that I wrote for Cream but I know people would be quite disappointed if I didn’t dip into it from time to time.”





http://www.ericclapton.com/



http://www.jackbruce.com/



http://www.gingerbaker.com/








'White Room' stationed itself at number twenty-eight in the UK and number six in the US.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKyGn_uxkPU





'Crossroads' flagged a ride to number twenty-eight in the US and thirteen in Canada.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=becWr0vc6cA





'Anyone for Tennis' appears on some versions of the album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB2f6-U72Zk











'Wheels of Fire' 
full album:



Disc One: In the Studio
01 00:00 "White Room" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) 4:58
02 04:59 "Sitting on Top of the World" (Walter Vinson, Lonnie Chatmon; arr. Chester Burnett) 4:58
03 09:57 "Passing the Time" (Ginger Baker, Mike Taylor) 4:37
04 14:29 "As You Said" (Bruce, Brown) 4:20
05 18:50 "Pressed Rat and Warthog" (Baker, Taylor) 3:13
06 22:05 "Politician" (Bruce, Brown) 4:12
07 26:18 "Those Were the Days" (Baker, Taylor) 2:53
08 29:13 "Born Under a Bad Sign" (Booker T. Jones, William Bell) 3:09
09 32:24 "Deserted Cities of the Heart" (Bruce, Brown) 3:38

Disc two: Live at the Fillmore
10 36:02 "Crossroads" (Robert Johnson, arr. Clapton) 10 March 1968 at Winterland  4:13
11 40:17 "Spoonful" (Willie Dixon) 10 March 1968 at Winterland  16:43
12 57:02 "Traintime" (Bruce) 8 March 1968 at Winterland  7:01
13 01:04:02 "Toad" (Baker) 7 March 1968 at The Fillmore 16:15

disraeli gears

Cream stirred things up with the heavy power rock of this psychedelic blues tour de force.  'Disraeli Gears' was recorded with producer Felix Pappalardi at Atlantic Studios in New York City over four days with Eric Clapton on lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and vocals; Jack Bruce on bass, piano, vocals, and harmonica; and Ginger Baker on drums, percussion, and vocals.  

Clapton considers:  “Everything I play is structurally blues. If you ask me to play baroque or Indian music, or something except blues, I wouldn’t be able to. Whether or not I’m playing pure blues isn’t the point, but whether or not I’m playing it good or bad is the point...Our music cannot be categorized because a lot of the material we play is not blues, it’s another thing completely, probably brand new...kind of a cross between what we are like in the studio and what we’re like on stage...Our sound is like an old blues sound, but heavily amplified."

Bruce admits:  “We don’t really know what songs we’re going to do when we go into the studio...We get a good sound track and then fool around with it...You can talk about the things that happen when you’re making music, but you can’t talk about the music itself because it’s a sound. It doesn’t translate the same way words do.”

Baker says: "My drums in Cream came about solely because of the volume the other two guys were playing at. You had to play heavy to hear yourself play. They were playing so loud! But, I mean, if you really listen to Cream, there's an awful lot of color involved in that. A lot of dynamics and stuff."

'Disraeli Gears' went to number twenty-nine in Greece, sixteen in Norway, ten in Canada, five in the UK, four in the US, and number one in Australia.  The title came from a comment from a roadie about a bicycle that Clapton was considering buying:  meaning "derailleur gears", he came up with the title, which the band found so hilarious that they used it for the album.  







http://www.jackbruce.com/

http://www.gingerbaker.com/

http://www.ericclapton.com/













'Sunshine of Your Love' went to number five in the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16h6vLy6n4A




'Tales of Brave Ulysses' travelled to number seventeen in the US.







'Disraeli Gears'
full album:




Side one
1. "Strange Brew"   (Eric Clapton, Felix Pappalardi, Gail Collins)  lead vocals:  Eric Clapton 2:46
2. "Sunshine of Your Love"   (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Clapton)  lead vocals:  Jack Bruce, Clapton 4:10
3. "World of Pain"   (Pappalardi, Collins)  lead vocals:  Clapton, Bruce 3:03
4. "Dance the Night Away"   (Bruce, Brown)  lead vocals:  Bruce, Clapton 3:34
5. "Blue Condition"   (Ginger Baker)  lead vocals:  Ginger Baker 3:29
Side two
1. "Tales of Brave Ulysses"   (Clapton, Martin Sharp)  lead vocals:    Bruce 2:46
2. "SWLABR"   (Bruce, Brown)  lead vocals:  Bruce 2:32
3. "We're Going Wrong"   (Bruce)  lead vocals:  Bruce 3:26
4. "Outside Woman Blues"   (Arthur Reynolds, arr. Clapton)   lead vocals:  Clapton 2:24
5. "Take It Back"   (Bruce, Brown)  lead vocals:  Bruce 3:05
6. "Mother's Lament"   (Traditional, arr. Clapton, Bruce, Baker)  lead vocals: Baker, Bruce, Clapton  1:47

fresh cream

These three guys were the cream of the crop in the world of blues and jazz musicians when they made their debut with this heavy psychedelic expansion of those forms. In the wake of his short stints with the Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Eric Clapton was ready for something new. Drummer Ginger Baker was tired of the drama in the Graham Bond Organisation and invited Clapton to join his new band that he was forming. Clapton agreed and insisted on bringing in bassist Jack Bruce, who had played with Clapton in the Bluesbreakers and with Baker in Graham Bond. Clapton did not know about the feuding between Baker and Bruce when they had worked together; but the rhythm section agreed to put their differences aside for this new collaborative supergroup. For their first album, they fell back on some blues standards for half of the songs. Their manager Robert Stigwood produced the recordings at Rayrik Studios and Ryemuse Studios in London for his new label Reaction Records. 'Fresh Cream' made it to number six on the British album chart and number thirty-nine in the US and its heavy jams proved a huge influence on rock music.





http://www.ericclapton.com/



http://www.jackbruce.com/


http://www.gingerbaker.com/

Written by Bruce and Pete Brown, "I Feel Free" was the band's biggest hit in the UK, reaching number eleven. It was only included on the US versions of the album.

Bruce also wrote "N.S.U."

"Toad" was composed by Baker.

'Fresh Cream'
full album:



Original U.S. version
Side one
1. "I Feel Free"   Bruce, Pete Brown 2:52
2. "N.S.U."   Bruce 2:44
3. "Sleepy Time Time"   Bruce, Godfrey 4:20
4. "Dreaming"   Bruce 2:00
5. "Sweet Wine"   Baker, Godfrey 3:18
Side two
1. "Cat's Squirrel" (Instrumental) Traditional, arr. by Baker, Bruce, Clapton 3:03
2. "Four Until Late" (Lead vocals: Clapton) Johnson, arr. Clapton 2:07
3. "Rollin' and Tumblin'"   Morganfield 4:42
4. "I'm So Glad"   James 3:57

5. "Toad" (Instrumental) Baker 5:11