Customer Reviews

Those Were the Days

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Cream has the distinction of being the world's first supergroup. Comprised of Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, vocals), and Ginger Baker (drums) they would reshape the rock landscape over the course of four studio albums between December 1966 and January 1969 forging a hybrid of hard rock, heavy metal and the blues.

This 4-CD box set includes Cream's four studio albums in their entirety, plus most of the live material from Wheels of Fire, Live Cream, Vol. 1 and 2, and a handful of non-album singles and previously unreleased live songs.

Disc 1 contains Cream's first U.K. single "Wrapping Paper" and a previously unreleased version of "Lawdy Mama"--the version that originally appeared on Live Cream is on disc-2.

Disc-2 contains the non-album single "Anyone for Tennis," "The Coffee Song" (which previously only appeared on the U.K. reissue of Fresh Cream), five previously unissued demos (of which only "SWLABR" eventually made it onto an album), and a Falstaff beer commercial(!) to round out the disc.

The first two discs represent the studio material. Jack Bruce with lyricist Pete Brown wrote much of the band's original material, although Clapton did make some contributions, including "Strange Brew," Tales of Brave Ulysses" and "Badge," the latter with George Harrison who also provided rhythm guitar.

Discs 3 and 4 are all live recordings. The newly released material includes a 12-minute version of "N.S.U.," an extended 17-minute version of "Toad" and a performance of "Sunshine of Your Love" taken from the Glen Campbell Show in May 1968.

This box set is so comprehensive as to make owning any other Cream albums unnecessary and (except for those on a tight budget) the purchase to make rather than the skimpy (by comparison) 20-track The Very Best of Cream. The sound quality is superb, the 48-page booklet is informative, and the music will blow you away! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This is the real deal. If you want to hear one of the greatest bands of all time, in their entirety, get this box set. Every official release is on this set. You get Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire, Goodbye, The "Wrapping Paper" and "Anyone For Tennis" singles, an outtake from the Fresh Cream sessions, and several demos from the "Lost" sessions. And to top it all off, you get the "Falstaff Beer" song. Disc 1 and 2 are the studio sides, while 3 and 4 are devoted to the live recordings. These are perhaps the greatest live stuff ever recorded by a rock band. Some of these jams make Jimi look tame!!

I recommend this box set for anyone who wants to emmerse themselves in the orgy that is Cream. I recommend it to a new fan, but if this set is too much for the casual fan, there is the 20-track "The Very Best of Cream", which is much more affordable($16 compared to $53!!). But if you are a huge and obssessed fan like me, you won't mind spending $53 hard earned dollars on this. If something ever happened to my copy of this, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to get another copy. Get this as soon as you can, and please, for my sake(and a whole lot of others), don't let great music like this be overshadowed by s**t that is produced today!!!

It would be hard to identify another band that accomplished as much in as little time as Cream did. This 4 CD box set does perfect justice to them because it contains almost everything of value that they ever recorded. Disc 1 has the complete albums FRESH CREAM (1966) and DISRAELI GEARS (1967) plus the non-LP single "Wrapping Paper" and one demo track. Disc 2 contains all of the studio tracks from WHEELS OF FIRE (1968) and GOODBYE (1969) plus the non-LP single "Anyone for Tennis" and a slew of rare or previously unreleased tracks.

Anyone with an interest in this set is probably aware of the band's history and biggest songs. It might be best to call attention to the oddities or curiosities contained hererin. Their debut album FRESH CREAM has most of their least heralded music. Its best songs tend to be covers of American blues classics like "Spoonful," "Rollin' and Tumblin'," and "Cat's Squirrel." Their cover of Robert Johnson's "From Four Until Late" is a bit of a shock, because in retrospect it sounds more like a track from one of Eric Clapton's 1970s albums. "I Feel Free," written by Jack Bruce with guest lyricist Pete Brown, is probably the best of that album's original songs. (Belinda Carlisle did a fantastic cover version of that song in 1987.)

Cream achieved their biggest commercial and critical successes with DISRAELI GEARS and WHEELS OF FIRE, both of which formed the core of their repertoire. A favorite of mine is "Pressed Rat and Wart Hog," on which Ginger Baker achieves heights of surrealism that Syd Barrett would envy. Of the three studio tracks from GOODBYE, "Badge" is by far the best. George Harrison co-wrote the song and played rhythm guitar to pay Clapton back for playing lead guitar on the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Of the rare or previously unreleased tracks, "The Coffee Song" is the most fun. "Lawdy Mama" is an interesting early incarnation of "Strange Brew." Don't forget the Falstaff Beer Commercial!

Discs 3 and 4 are live concert performances from 1968, mostly at venues in the San Francisco bay area -- Winterland, Fillmore West, and the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Two are previously unreleased. The rest are culled from WHEELS OF FIRE, GOODBYE and LIVE CREAM Volumes 1 & 2. Here is where the band's jazz influence comes to the fore. The musicianship is always first-rate and at times the interplay among Clapton, Bruce and Baker is something to behold. But casual customers beware: Some of these tracks run in excess of 10 minutes -- like the 17 minute performance of "Toad," which is dominated by a 13 minute drum solo by Baker. Clearly, we're talking serious fans only. Newcomers should start with the more concise live tracks, particularly "Crossroads" (of course), "Tales of Brave Ulysses," "Sleepy Time Time," and the vastly underrated "Deserted Cities of the Heart." The final live track is a performance of "Sunshine of Your Love" from the old Glen Campbell Show! That alone says all you need to know about the depth and breadth of Cream's impact.

The Cream experience was always multifaceted and exciting, both visually and musically. There was nothing subtle or understated about this group. The music and the album cover art was always memorable, innovative and colorful (some would say florid). There has always been 2 Eric Clapton's; one which overflows with energy, passion & adrenaline and the other devoid of it. This CD collection captures the former EC in all of his blazing and colorful guitar slinging glory, wired to 300 watts of Marshall stack amplifiers. Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker will always be the ultimate power rhythm section, setting the standard for all of those who would follow, including Zeppelin and Rush. Any collection which includes Dance the night away, White Room, Badge, Sunshine, Scrapyard, Crossroads, Those were the days, Ulysses, SWALABR, Strange Brew, & World of Pain plus superb liner notes which fully documents the group from inception to demise, with superb photographs is well worth the investment. The tracks have been digitally remastered, enhancing the listening experience, especially for the live tracks. This box set is thoughtful, comprehensive and is the ultimate word on the first and foremost power trio of the late 60's. Cream is 1/3 of the 60's holy trinity; the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix comprise the other 2/3.

If you are a serious classic rock collector this set must be part of your personal collection. Cream short career of three years was one of the most influencias in rock history by being the first supergroup to appear as it was formed by already succesful artist (Clapton, Baker and Bruce). Cream provided the ground work of hard rock, heavy metal and other bands to come. As with many rock nbands, the tension within the group gave room for musical struggles that, fortunate for us, translated into great albums and songs. But, this tensions were to end this creative trio early in their career.

All this information and the music that resulted during those three yeras has been very well documented and putted together in this box set. All of the studio albums and live recordings commercialy available are here. The music was remastered very well and this provides greater listening pleasure. The set features great photos, essays and track and album information.

It's everything ever released by Cream, with one glaring exception. The superior, searing live version of NSU on Live Cream has been superseded on this collection by a new, unreleased and terribly confused version that simply decays into disarray (the band fails to find its way back at the completion of its 8-minute jam). If you really want everything by Cream, get this, and then get Live Cream. The original live version of NSU alone is worth the money.

There are other tremendous highlights here among the previously unreleased material, including the practice sessions for Disreali Gears. If you can suffer through the goofy lyrics on songs like Hey Princess, you can hear the band moving from the bluesy Fresh Cream era toward the psychedelic blockbuster Disreali Gears. Interesting novelties include Jack Bruce's totally over-the-top delivery of the Falstaff Beer Commercial, and the band's curious appearance on the prime time Glen Campbell Show. Too bad Glen didn't sit in.

You also can hear evolution in production value, as the mix progresses from the annoying full stereo separation on Fresh Cream (entire band on left channel, vocals on right channel) to the more enlightened modern approach (beginning with Disreali Gears) of distributing everything across the spectrum. Someday, someone will go back and correct these historical accidents. For the meantime, hit your mono button.

Be advised: if you are new to this band, the live material requires patience. The band is hugely self-indulgent. Jack Bruce keeps Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker in the same room during the solos, but only barely. After a few listens, for example, Spoonful becomes really interesting. Cream live is a different band from Cream in the studio.

"Those Were The Days" is a Cream box set containing 2 disks of their complete studio recordings with some unissued tracks and alternate takes, and 2 disks of live material. The live material contains a few alternate and unissued versions. The set contains virtually all of Cream's released material remastered bar a few BBC and live tracks. The band consisted of Eric Clapton on guitar, Jack Bruce on bass, and Ginger Baker on drums. The band was augmented by producer Felix Pappalardi (later the bass player/vocalist of Mountain) on a variety of instruments. Clapton, Bruce, and Baker shared the vocal duties with Bruce handling the majority. The liner notes by John McDermott give ample details of the band's short and turbulent history aided by many excellent photos.

The first two disks present the band as blues based psychedelic group. They composed a number of familiar songs such as "Sunshine Of Your Love", the beautiful "Badge" with George Harrison on guitar, "Strange Brew", "I Feel Free" and "White Room" among others. Jack Bruce was an good vocalist and songwriter and as a result was forced to contribute most of the band's material in collaboration with Pete Brown. Cream's material also featured their takes on a number of blues cover tunes. It is not surprising considering the blues based background of the band members playing with such people as John Mayall, Graham Bond, and Alexis Korner. Some of my favorite studio cuts not mentioned above include their covers of "Spoonful", "Cat's Squirrel", "I'm So Glad" "Born Under A Bad Sign", and their own tunes like "Tales Of Brave Ulysses", "Politician" and "Deserted Cities Of The Heart". Interesting rarities include an alternate take of "Lawdy Mama", "You Make Me Feel", "The Clearout", and a commercial the band cut for Falstaff Beer. The compilers much to my dismay elected not to include an alternate take of "Sweet Wine" from their first lp which contains a different guitar solo.

The last two disks illustrate why Cream is regarded as arguably the greatest power trio in rock music history. While the first two disks highlight Cream's abilties to write popular songs in the studio, the live disks highlight the musicianship and improvisational skills of the band members. While songs such as "N.S.U.", "Sleepy Time Time" and "Sweet Wine" were pleasant in the studio, they are molded into improvisational springboards for exploration in concert. Many argue that the live version of "Crossroads" contains some of Clapton's best soloing. The epic "Toad" (presented here in an extended version) shows why Ginger Baker is considered to be one of rock's best and most influential drummers. "Traintime" spotlights Bruce's virtuosity on harmonica while songs such as the wry "Politician" show how he can play some of rock's more complex bass patterns. Songs such as "Stepping Out" and "Spoonful" give each member time to show off their respective chops. During the live disks the music becomes so complex at times and it seems as if everyone is soloing at once. My only regret is that the compilers did not include live versions of "Cat's Squirrel" "We're Going Wrong", and "Passing The Time" which were recorded during these concerts and remain in the vaults.

Since they chose not to include material from their BBC recordings and material from their farewell concerts at Royal Albert Hall, I can only hope it will be released at some future time. During their short period of existence 1966-68 Cream released some of the best and most influential music of the time period. It is unfortunate that the explosive personalities of the band members caused the band to disband after such a short but creative time. Luckily with "Those Were The Days" this creative period is preserved for all to hear in its remastered glory!

This is the creme dela creme, the cream of the crop if you will for Cream fans. As a box set this does it all and then some. For Cream fans you couldnt want more, its all here everything you need or want, well basiccaly. Over the years Eric Clapton, Genger Baker, and Jack Bruce, have become legends as a band and this helped Eric Clapton go on to become a rock God.

All of the bands studio albums and live albums are here. Fresh Cream, Wheels Of Fire, Desreli Gears, and Goodbye, they are all here in there amazing fabulous glory. Every song the band ever created is here. Along with the amazing albums you get a lot of alternate versions, outtakes, and demos, all of which are fantastic. As I mentioned there is live material and lots of it whic is great because that is what the band was known for was there amazing live shows and amazing musical ability, so thats really cool for Cream fans. Probably the best thing about this collection is you get all of this and it is cheaper to buy it this way then all the albums sepperately and you still get all the individual album cases, so that is really cool as well. The only thing I wish they would have done is include the BBC sessions of the band because unlike other bands Creams BBC sessions are actually good, but I guess thats really not essential.

So for any Cream fan this is all you need so I woul recomend pcking this up and for any Eric Clapton fans this is a must have so do your record collection a favor and pick this box set up!

...is that you can do a boxed set that has it all. No feedback consisting of whining about "why wasn't such-and-such a number on it?" This has their whole discography, including UK single b-sides, Jack Bruce numbers that they didn't release so he put his own versions on his first solo album, an unreleased studio version of the epic jam "Spoonful" (which is just like the live cut except for being much shorter)--plus, would you believe, a beer commercial! With most box sets, you get a lot of filler (stuff you already have elsewhere, stuff you never did like, multiple versions of the same song, yadda-yadda), and you pay a whole lot of money to boot. This set is for the old Cream fan who wants to update his vinyls to CD. It costs about the same as any other set. But it's a lot cheaper than buying all six albums individually. And you still get the rarities as well.

this is for anyone wondering what the guy below is saying there is not only 4-5 tracks per cd there is about 22 on the studio and 9 on the live (some songs on there being well over 10 minutes) this has all the cream albums.