Rock

Cream Wheels Of Fire, 2CD, Remaster, EAC, FLAC

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Wheels of Fire
Studio album by Cream
Released July 1968
Recorded July 1967 – April 1968 at Atlantic Studios, New York City
Genre Blues-rock, psychedelic rock
Length 84:23
Label Polydor (UK)
Atco (US)

Wheels of Fire is the name of a double album recorded by Cream. The release was largely

successful, scoring the band a #3 peak in the UK and a #1 in the US, and became the world's

first platinum-selling double album.[1]

The album was also released as Wheels of Fire (In the Studio) and Wheels of Fire (Live at the

Fillmore) as two single albums, released together, with similar cover art except: In the UK, the

studio album was black print on aluminium foil, while the Live at the Fillmore album was a

negative image of the studio cover. In Japan, the studio album was black on gold foil, while the

live album was black on aluminium foil. In Australia, both covers were laminated copies of the

Japanese releases (it was never released as a double album in Australia). In 2003, the album

was ranked number 203 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all

time.[2]

The sleeve was designed by Australian pop artist and cartoonist Martin Sharp, and it won the

New York Art Directors Prize for Best Album Design in 1969.


Track listing

Disc one: In the Studio

Side 1

1. "White Room" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) – 4:58
2. "Sitting on Top of the World" (Chester Burnett) – 4:58
3. "Passing the Time" 1 (Ginger Baker, Mike Taylor) – 4:37
4. "As You Said" (Bruce, Brown) – 4:20

Side 2

1. "Pressed Rat and Warthog" (Baker, Taylor) – 3:13
2. "Politician" (Bruce, Brown) – 4:12
3. "Those Were the Days" (Baker, Taylor) – 2:53
4. "Born Under a Bad Sign" (Booker T. Jones, William Bell) – 3:09
5. "Deserted Cities of the Heart" 2 (Bruce, Brown) – 3:38

Performers are "the Cream quartet" consisting of Clapton, Baker, and Bruce together with Felix

Pappalardi, who plays many different instruments and is also credited with production.

^Note 1: Some pressings of this album contain an alternative version of "Passing the Time".

This "long version" is extended by 67 seconds, but also differs from the "extended version"

included on Those Were the Days, which is longer by a further 8 seconds.

^Note 2: Original U.S. pressings of Wheels of Fire incorrectly listed the running time of

"Deserted Cities of the Heart" at 4:36.

Disc two: Live at the Fillmore

Side 3

1. "Crossroads" (Robert Johnson, arr. Clapton) – 4:14 (recorded March 10, 1968 at Winterland,

San Francisco, CA. (1st show))
2. "Spoonful" (Willie Dixon) – 16:48 (recorded March 10, 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco, CA.

(1st show))

Side 4

1. "Traintime" 3 (Bruce) – 6:52 (recorded March 8, 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco, CA. (1st

show))
2. "Toad" (Baker) – 16:16 (recorded March 7, 1968 at Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA. (2nd

show))

During the original March 10 first set, "Spoonful" preceded "Crossroads", and though it seems

as though "Traintime" aurally precedes "Toad", "Traintime" was recorded a day later, and

expertly edited to seamlessly blend into the introduction to "Toad".

While the disc is labeled Live at the Fillmore, only "Toad" was recorded at Fillmore West. The

other tracks were recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.[3]

^Note 3: While "Traintime" was written by Jack Bruce, original album pressings list "John

Group" as the song's author. The "John Group" appellation dates back to Bruce's tenure with

the Graham Bond Organisation (with whom Bruce originally recorded the song in 1965), and was

used by that band to ensure that members other than Bond received songwriting royalties.[4]

Personnel

* Jack Bruce – lead vocals, bass, cello, harmonica, calliope, acoustic guitar, recorder
* Eric Clapton – guitar, lead vocals ("Crossroads"), backing vocals
* Ginger Baker – drums, percussion, bells, glockenspiel, lead vocals ("Pressed Rat and

Warthog")

Additional personnel

* Felix Pappalardi – viola, brass instruments, bells, organ

AMG Review
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 tearing off solos on a 17-minute "Spoonful" or goosing "White

Room" toward the heights of madness. But it's the architect of "White Room," bassist Jack

Bruce, who, along with his collaborator Peter Brown, reaches a peak as a songwriter. Aside

from the monumental "White Room," he has the lovely, wistful "As You Said," the cinematic

"Deserted Cities of the Heart," and the slow, cynical blues "Politician," all among Cream's very

best work. And in many ways Wheels of Fire is indeed filled with Cream's very best work, since

it also captures the fury and invention (and indulgence) of the band at its peak on the stage and

in the studio, but as it tries to find a delicate balance between these three titanic egos, it doesn't

quite add up to something greater than the sum of its parts. But taken alone, those individual

parts are often quite tremendous.

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