"...Those Were The Days..."
2016 saw the three-piece British
super-group’s 50th Anniversary celebrations – and while I’m loving the 1966 debut
"Fresh Cream" and it super sexy 1967 follow-up "Disraeli
Gears" – I suspect like many - our CREAM hearts go to the indulgent
splurge that is the 1968 double-album "Wheels Of Fire" – LP1 In The
Studio and LP2 Live At The Fillmore. Those were indeed the days…
It doesn’t state that these
are the 1997 discs done by Joseph M. Palmaccio s part of The Cream Remasters
Series – they sound way better. But as there is no mastering credits anywhere –
it’s anybody’s guess. All I know is that this 2CD reissue copyrighted to 2016
sounds stunning. There’s a lot to get through, so once more unto the White
Rooms and the geared-up Politicians standing at Crossroads...
UK/EUROPE released 29 April 2016 (6
May 2016 in the USA) - "Wheels Of Fire" is within the "Classic Album Collection" Box Set by CREAM on Universal/Polydor
473 456-1 (0602547345615). It's a 4-Album/5-Disc Mini Box Set with Gatefold Card Sleeves and plays out as
follows:
Disc 3 "Wheels Of
Fire" - Box Set Catalogue Number Polydor 474 789-9
(CD1 - In The Studio - 36:33 minutes):
1. White Room
2. Sitting On Top Of The
World
3. Passing The Time
4. As You Said
5. Pressed Rat And Warthog
[Side 2]
6. Politician
7. Those Were The Days
8. Born Under A Bad Sign
9. Deserted Cities Of The
Heart
Disc 3 "Wheels Of
Fire" (CD2 - Live At The Fillmore - 44:32 minutes):
1. Crossroads
2. Spoonful
3. Traintime [Side 2]
4. Toad
Both CDs of Disc 3 is the
double-album "Wheels Of Fire" - released August 1968 in the UK on
Polydor 582 031/2 (Mono) and Polydor 583 031/2 (Stereo) and in the USA on Atco
2-700 (Mono) and Atco SD 2-700 (Stereo) – the Stereo Mix is used for both
discs. Produced by Felix Pappalardi. On CD2 Tracks 1, 2 and 3 recorded live at
the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco 10 March 1968 and Track 4 recorded 7
March 1968 at the Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco 8 March 1968.
Fresh from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
and The Yardbirds – Eric Clapton had already amassed a rep as the primo UK
Bluesman - whilst both Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker had cut their teeth with the
legendary Graham Bond Organization - a
band that lived for American Rhythm 'n' Blues. Their first two albums had made
them the 1966 and 1967 Blues Rock band of the hour – but this 1968 twofer (combining
studio and live) made them superstars.
Double-albums have always
retained a cool for me that bring me back to them like a forlorn moth to a
musical flame and the adventurous "Wheels Of Fire" was one of my
first burns. A kicking remaster of "White Room" gives those up-front
drums and guitars huge presence and power. Unfortunately the audio wonderland
quickly evaporates as there's loads of hiss on their cover of Howlin' Wolf's
Chess Classic "Sittin' On Top Of The World" - a faithful version of a
great Blues song but one that never really ignites for me. Far better is Jazz
Pianist Mike Taylor's involvement in the Small Faces-sounding "Passing The
Time" - a great trippy tune Steve Marriott would have donned a Mod cap at
(a cold winter and gone is our traveller).
Playing all the Acoustic
Guitars, Cello and signing the vocals on "As You Said" (no EC
involvement) - Jack Bruce had clearly been absorbing huge dollops of "Magical
Mystery Tour" when he produced one of the "Wheels" best songs -
adventurous and melodic and so brilliantly 60ts (see what time it might have
been). Ginger Baker only plays Hi-Hat on the track and yet it feels like
Pentangle discovering some fantastic Incredible String Band groove. I’ve always
felt it had traces of Roy Harper in it too – or parts of Zeppelin III – only
two years prior.
As Ginger Baker recites the
ever-so-slightly loon-lyrics of "Pressed Rat And Warthog" that opens
Side 2 of the studio LP (I want to visit their shop in London) - Felix
Pappalardi gives us all those hectic trumpet bursts in the background. The
terribly well-dressed and right honourable "Politician" for
Sleaze-Upon-Sea wants a young lady to 'get into my big black car' to 'show you
what my politics are' - a great Jack Bruce and Pete Brown tune they'd return to
'live' for the "Goodbye" album. And the 'Studio' LP ends on a trio of
winners – first being their cover of Albert King's Stax gem "Born Under A
Bad Sign" written by soul legends Booker T Jones and William Bell (a song
Cream almost made their own). Two wicked originals follow – the city of
Atlantis emerging in "Those Were The Days" (the Cream Box Set was named
after this song) and the brilliant "Deserted Cities Of The Heart" a
sort of rockier run at the groove the band got in "As You Said".
I can't imagine the number
of young British and American bucks who must have stood in front of a mirror
with a tennis racket and pretended they were EC as he lays into the stunning
live cut of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads". You can look at the near
seventeen minutes of "Spoonful" – the wildly indulgent cover of the
Willie Dixon classic Dixon gifted Howlin’ Wolf. Over the top in terms of time
or not – EC’s playing is fantastic – and with Bruce’s impassioned vocals and
Baker lashing into his kit – you get a genuine feel of just how powerful and
Mountain-heavy Cream were in the live flesh. Side 2 of the Fillmore set gives
us the only wholly Cream-written tune on the double – seven minutes of the
hi-hat shuffling Harmonica wail that is "Traintime". Jack Bruce sets up
the whistle-blowing locomotive as he sings through his harp (by bye baby) and Ginger
Baker keeps that rattling sleepers rhythm. It’s fantastic old-time man-and-his-harp
boogie and actually reminds me of that Area Code 615 opening to "Stone Fox
Chase" – long used as the theme music to "The Old Grey Whistle Test".
That shuffle segues into the
huge 16:18 minute Rock riffage of Ginger Baker’s "Toad". Because its
essentially a vehicle for a drum solo, it has more than a "Moby Dick"
feel to it – big guitar start – elongated drum solo – back to the wallop. Cool
at the time, but a little hard to indulge in 2020.
Still - any band that can
pull off singing "...but the rainbow has a beard..." gets my vote. Those Were The Days indeed...
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