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Very Best of

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Here is the finest of Cream - the 60s' mythical trio which gave rock a new definition and took blues as far as it has ever been taken. Eric Clapton's virtuoso guitar, Jack Bruce's mesmerising musicianship, Ginger Baker's guru drumming - it's all in this album, all at its best! Included are epic tracks like "Sunshine of Your Love", "I Feel Free", "Spoonful", "Strange Brew", "White Room", "Badge"... a non-stop succession of the cream of Cream, the 19 best studio recordings, topped up by the legendary live rendition of "Crossroads". It is remarkable that, untypically, the producers have made an honest effort to include all the best songs in the compilation, not leaving ground for "The Vey Best, part 2". The only problem with this release is it's so good (and that includes, at least to my ears, the sound quality) it will instantly make you want to buy all of the original albums - and that might as well be a wise decision. However, if you're quite sure you only want one CD by Cream, then, undoubtedly, this is it!

Jack Bruce's thumping vocals, Clapton's legendary blues guitar & Ginger Baker's fine drumming made for the finest Rock trio ever. I "Feel Free," has stunning vocals, snare drumming & Eric Clapton at his improvising best. "Strange Brew," has simple delivery, Clapton's falsetto singing & multiple guitar licks made for a sinister trance like tune. In the "White Room," the large array of instruments used alone make this an amazing tune.

For me, Baker's drumming is what held this song together. In "Crossroads," Clapton demonstrates why he is a blues master. Robert Johnson would be proud. "Sunshine Of Your Love," is their most popular song for a reason. Here Rock, Blues & pop sparkle into a love song that most music fans of any generation could appreciate. Clapton's base is an octave lower, which gave great depth to his riffs. Simply, a great group.

I am 19 years old and therefore can not say I ever saw Cream Live on stage in person. However, I can say that this band, and I speak as a musician and a classic rock dj, is the most talented rock band ever who are only challenged by that of Rush. Eric Clapton, who I feel did nothing noteworthy after 1971 shines in this band. Jack Bruce, the bassist, is underrated. He sang and wrote most of the songs. Ginger Baker. Have you ever seen a crazier drummer. He took double bass rock drumming to where it is today. Now personally, I say that every Cream song is great and should be heard. Hwever, those who have only heard the legend and are curious should pick this cd up. It has all the best. "I Feel Free", which is currently a car commercial, is a great tune. It seems simple but there is far more than meets the eye. "N.S.U." speaks for so many people with just one line: "The only time I'm happy's when I play my guitar." How about the classic tunes from the Disraeli Gears album. "Strange Brew" is an interesting venture into a new realm for the band. And are any other ten bass hits(7 notes) in music more memorable than the intro to "Sunshine Of Your Love". The dueling vocals on this tune and Baker's odd drumming make this track still amazing to this day. "Tales Of Brave Ulysses" has become a recent favorite of mine. The lyrics and the melody(which will appear later in the album as well) just work too well together. "White Room" What many consider to be Cream's masterpiece. I love the intro. Bruce's voice never sounds as good. The melody from "...Ulysses" comes back for this tune. A true CLASSIC. I love "Crossroads". It is a great tune with a great repeating riff. "Anyone For Tennis" is at the end of the band's career. It is an odd song(drugs) but is fun to listen to nonetheless. Baker's conga playing and Clapton's accoustic set the scene on this one. Mind you, there are many more tunes on this cd that are worth listening to. After hearing this, you will want to buy all the Cream you can find. Box Set, live cds, anything. Well, i reccomend it all. But if you want the best on one cd or are a new fan, Pick this one up. If you are a metal or hard rock fan and want to see where it began, check out this cd. They were heavy before you could be heavy. Cream may have only been around for a little over 2 years, but the impact made will last forever.

How good were they?... I saw them play at a well known blues club - the Ricky Tick in Windsor (England) - several times in summer 1966. R&B was the scene at the time. A local UK group - Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band - covered US R&B and Soul numbers and were considered the business. Cream arrived and played music that few had heard before. In the middle of one number (NSU?) the crowd got agitated and started chanting Geno... Geno... Eric Clapton turned to Jack Bruce and said something along the lines of "they're booing". They then launched into the loudest, longest and most complicated guitar solo the small crowd had ever heard. The result... stunned silence for the rest of their set and several dozen instant Cream fans.

A great, innovative group.

Before going any further with this review I want you to just stop and look at everything that is in the room you are currently in. Even if you're not at home and you're on your laptop just look at everything that is in your view. Don't judge it. Just look at everything with a kind of detached attitude. Just observe everything that is in your sight and acknowledge that it is a part of your life. You put it there. You created it.

Common sense will tell you this is true. If it wasn't part of your life, it wouldn't be there. But it is there and that is why it's in your life at the moment...

"Uh, this is all very well and good, but what does this have to do with anything? I just came here to decide if whether or not I should buy the Very Best of Cream..."

Oh, my friend, it has everything to do with it. Because at this very moment you are about to make a decision that will affect your entire life and the lives of everyone on the planet. We are all interconnected. we are all One. What affects the individual, affects the collective.

"Dude, you are trippin' me out. I just wanna buy a flippin' CD..."

Of course you do...on a human level of things...but on a soul level, you want to buy something that you think will contribute to your overall enjoyment of Life. You think - and correctly, I might add - that this CD will cause you to feel good and when you feel good, you send these good feelings out into the universe affecting every single one of us.

Now, go back to the things that you observed in the room you are in. You created everything that is in your life up to this moment. You let certain things become a part of your existence. Even if you live in a room full of Salvation Army furniture, you let these things become a part of your life and if just one thing were different, you'd be different, and if you were different, the world would be, as well.

All of these tiny pieces, all these miniscule moments go into the making of a Whole and Holy Life.

You're pretty darn amazing, man, you are one heck of a creator.

So, now you want to get this CD. You're mulling it over in your mind. You or deciding if whether or not you should spend the money on yourself or on your Aunt Bess. Afterall, it is the Holiday Season. But then again, Aunt Bess has Alzheiner's. She thinks she's a tuna sandwich. Her mind is gone, man. You know it...I know it. Just give her a rock. Tell her it's from an African Priestess and that it will increase her libido. She won't know.

C'mon, it's Christmas...give the poor woman some hope!

So you go in the backyard and find a rock and then you go back online and order the Very Best of Cream. You order it because has some incredible music on it. You order it because the magical happened when Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker kept their Divine Appointment with destiny and created timeless music that awakens the mind, stirs the spirit, and frees the heart.

You know that Badge, Crossroads, Sunshine Of Your Love, I Feel free, and the Tales of Brave Ulysses' are not just classic 60s soundtracks, they are songs that the rock 'n roll gods breathed new life into causing music to roll back the stoneand ascend from the dead.

"Oh, man...I gotta get this!"

Of course you do, dude. Of course you do.

And in a few days, your Aunt will have her magic rock and you also will have Magic Rock. It will absorb itself into the very atoms of your existence causing you to feel lighter and happier and more at peace and not only will your life will change, but the entire world will, as well.

And it's all because you bought this incredible CD.

Can't you feel it, man? Wars will stop, peace will reign, love will reconnect us with Mother Earth and Father Sky, the stars will realign with the forces of good all because you bought this CD instead of that stupid ugly aqua-blue sweater you saw at the Salvation Army for your Aunt Bess. I, on behalf of the entire universe, thank you for such a wise, life altering decision.

Rock on....

Peace & Blessings, everyone!

John, "the Light Coach"

In 1966, some of the best young musicians (literally, the cream) of the British music scene put together the ultimate blues supergroup. From the Yardbirds and John Mayall: guitar prodigy Eric Clapton (who was inspired to put together a trio after hearing a blues threesome album by Buddy Guy and Junior Wells); from the Graham Bond organization: Jack Bruce, bass, and Ginger Baker, drums. Over the course of three years, this amazing group absolutely redefined British blues, mixing in elements of hard rock, jazz, and even classical music. This compilation does indeed represent the very best of Cream, with one or two exceptions. Of course, all the classic rock FM staples are here: Sunshine of Your Love, Badge, Crossroads, White Room, SWLABR (translation: She Walks Like a Bearded Rainbow---did I mention Cream had a psychedelic streak???) Also, it is worth noting that even though Cream was a superb live band, only one live cut (Crossroads) is included here. Smart move, considering that in almost every case, the studio recordings are better than their live counterparts. Too bad this album is not quite perfect: "We're Going Wrong," must be counted as a good, but failed, experimental number, and "Anyone for Tennis" can be dismissed as a silly trifle. However, "Wrapping Paper," though atypical Cream, still sounds as fresh today as the album it came from. On balance, though, the album is a superb overview for the experienced and novice listener alike. After this album, the listener will want to skim through Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, and Wheels of Fire (you would do well to ignore Goodbye, Cream, which is a patchwork monstrosity). Trust me, you'll be all the "butter" for it!

Back when he was with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton really rocked. The Very Best of Cream is a 20-track retrospective of the best of this amazing supergroup. Clapton has had some difficulties in his life since then, and he just doesn't rock like this any more. But back in '66 to '68, he made some great music with Cream. Just listen to Strange Brew, White Room or Sitting On Top of the World for a taste of Clapton's 60's guitar psychadelia. Clapton is an amazing guitar player, and this collection contains some of his finest works. Any Clapton fan, or rock and roll fan for that matter, should have this CD, or Cream's studio albums.

This is good intro to the band but once you have this & you know you dig the band, either burn a copy and sell it off, keep it as a compilation sampler or give it to a friend because you need to get all their essential albums: Fresh, Disraeil Gears, Wheels of Fire plus Live Cream volumes 1 & 2 & Live at the BBC(Goodbye is the weakest album & the only one you may skip, but hey if you're getting most of them, you might as well complete the colleciton). This is because, though you'll get a lot of repeats, any one great song of Cream in its famous 2 year late '60s heydey is easily worth the price of 2 albums & there are more than enough of these on the original albums. For example, the awesome live Drum solo "Toad" on WOFire. How can anyone who likes Cream do without that? Impossible! Or the incredible Live version of "Sleepy Time" with Clapton's best solo ever. forgeddaboutit! You gotta have it, it rules! Or the mind-fizzling live version of NSU with that amazing jam in the middle? Or the 3 great songs "World of Pain" "Dance the Night Away" & "Outside Woman Blues" on DGears, not on this comp? Gotta have it, they're each 3 minutes of the kind of musicianship & magical inspiration hardly ever duplicated by anyone else for 35 years.

Also, once you're done with the Cream albums, check out the solo Jack Bruce stuff which sounds a lot more like Cream than post-Cream Clapton. "Songs For A Tailor" has many awesome songs such as "Rope Ladder to the Moon" "Theme For An Imaginary Western" & "He the Richmond" that were written originally for Cream albums. "Harmony Row," Jack's masterpiece from 1971 sounds like a more progressive & folksy Cream album minus Clapton. I am amazed that all these Cream fans have not turned on to "Harmony Row" as great as that album is! Even as late as 1978 Jack was writing awesome Cream-like songs on his solo albums with Pete Brown: "Jet Set Jewel" & "The Best is Yest to Come" come to mind. Check all of those out, you won't be sorry.

As for Ginger Baker, his best post-Cream albums are a collaboration with Fela Kuti called Africa '70 & the great jazz fusio album "Going Home" with Bill Frisell & Charlie Haden.

peace out

This is truly the Best Of Cream. Some people say that you should get "Gold", but i say get this. first off, this CD is a lot less money than "gold". also, this CD has 20 songs while the other CD has 29, and 8 of them are live. So If you think about it, The Very best Of Cream has almost as many songs as "gold" for half the price.

This CD includes all the classic Cream Songs and it is a great buy for a great price

The history of electric blues would not be complete with mention of Eric Clapton, especially during his stint with Cream, which was in the vanguard of the British blues revival of the 1960's. Indeed, Cream, which also included drummer Ginger Baker and bassist/pianist/guitarist Jack Bruce, covered 30's blues legend Skip James' "I'm So Glad." The bulk of material on this very best of collection is taken from their two best albums, Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire, but there are some songs from Fresh Cream and Goodbye. And it's Clapton's guitar, sizzling and hard-edged one moment, wailing and bluesy the next, that really gave him and Cream their name.

The Stones and Led Zeppelin weren't alone in covering Willie Dixon. Cream covered "Spoonful" with a tempo and mood, and harmonica that owes a nod to traditional blues. Their live version of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" was their last Top 40 hit, peaking at #28 in 1969. And another cover is Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" with such pain-striking imagery: "been down since I began to crawl/if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all." I felt that way years ago.

What two songs are best associated with Cream? A no-brainer there. There's "Sunshine of Your Love," which hit #5, and the #6 "White Room," the former from Disraeli Gears and the latter from Wheels of Fire. The former scores with that familiar crunchy bluesy electric guitar that makes it a classical rock radio staple. "White Room" is one of those image-evoking songs that made Cream what it was, from the "White room with black curtains" to "silver horses run down moonbeams." This and other image songs were highlights of the psychedelic era.

But there are other famous tunes. There's an invigorating feeling in the lyrics of the fun romp of "I Feel Free." I first heard two artists cover this before hearing this original. They were Belinda Carlisle's poppified rendition on Heaven on Earth and David Bowie's quasi-techno on Black Tie & White Noise.

Cream really gets it right on the scathing satire of "Politician" Hearing "I support the left, though I'm leaning toward the right/but I'm just not there, when it's coming down to a fight" would've been ideal for Clinton when he embraced some of Gingrich's Contract on America platform. Other lyrics go to the clearly ironic. Since when do politicians practice what they preach?

Upbeat numbers include "I'm So Glad" and the metaphoric "Deserted Cities of the Heart." Some surreal lyrics are present in "SWLABR"-"you have a rainbow, but that rainbow has a beard." "N.S.U." has some rhythm and vocal stylings that recall early Pink Floyd, and a lyrical and image-invoking blues of "Tales of Brave Ulysses," with references to the Odyssey, are other highlights. But for some mood-invoking head-swaying blues, check out "Sitting on Top of the World," whose mood is akin to Led Zeppelin's "You Shook Me All Night Long."

"Anyone For Tennis" is an idyllic mellow summer number that peaked at #64 in 1968, while the final track here is "Badge" which peaked at #60 in 69, and which featured George Harrison on rhythm guitar. The bridge from where Clapton takes over seems a fitting valedictory to Cream's all-too-brief career.

Clapton had Blind Faith, brief stints with Ginger Baker's Airforce, Derek & The Dominoes, Delaney and Bonney, and his solo career awaiting him, but of the groups he was with, Cream put him on the path to fame, from which he has never veered.