Customer Reviews

Wheels of Fire

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you aren't familiar with Cream, this is where I would start. Its a truly superb album, marred by a few sub-par songs, but on the whole this record can go toe to toe with just about any rock 'n roll record ever made. Its that good! The album is a fabulous blend of blues and psychedelia, and if you don't know what that means buy this album and give yourself a treat. The only other record ever made that excedes Wheels of Fire in those categories is Jimi Hendrix's "Electric LadyLand" (but that album is one of the five best rock records ever made.)

Some of the outstanding songs include "White Room" a blistering, psychedlic blues that was the albums greatest hit. It combines Eric Clapton delicious whah-whah guitars with Ginger Baker thundering, polyrythmic drums, and Jack Bruce's great vocals. A masterpiece all by itself. But the album doesn't stop there. "Born Under a Bad Sign", an old blues number, is taken to the roof tops with Clapton's swirling, screaming, crying guitars. Then there's "Deserted Cities of the Heart" - a very fast number who's energy is only topped by its sense of desperation.

But the real killer songs on this album are the live recordings - Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", and another old blues number "Spoonful". "Crossroads" shows Cream at its manic best - they set out on a blistering pace and don't look back. The two guitar solos on this cut alone are worth buying the album - just a full scale rail against the heavens! Just when you think it can't get any better than that, along comes "Spoonful", a slow, blistering blues with gut wrenching singing and guitar playing. Both are just stunning!!

If you're a Cream fan, all you need to know is whether or not the GOLD CD is worth it. There are two versions of this CD available - the "remastered" version and the "Gold CD." I have both, plus several copies of the original vinyl.

The Gold version costs twice as much as the "re-mastered" version, but its worth it if you care about sound quality. The sound balance on the Gold version is both warmer and clearer. There's a little bit of a raspy edge to the "re-mastered" version that is absent from the Gold CD.

In addition, the GolD CD brings out lots of nice details, and a greatly improved stereo image. You'll hear Jack Bruce's bass more clearly. There are lots of little sonic treats that jump out - the glockenspiel sparkles on "Pressed Rat and Wharhog", the double bass drums that Ginger Baker was famous for really jump out on "White Room", and Clapton's guitars just sound so warm and clear throughout the whole album. If you're listening on an inexpensive hi-fi, Walkman, or something like that, its probably not worth buying the Gold CD. You won't be able to hear the difference. But on a good setup, this Gold CD really pays off - its a "show off" type of recording.

It's been said elsewhere...and it is worth repeating...This is an epitome of improvisational music from a group that was only in existence for a relatively short time. Although their musical differences and divergent directions that each took have been fairly well-documented, perhaps it was that same divergence that lent itself to their ability to stand on a stage and create at that given moment some pretty incredible music. Another one of those defining moment works...

If you play, or have ever wanted to play, improvisational rock and roll, you must have this album. From a musical standpoint, this ranks as among the handful of most influential rock records ever made. Even now, more than 35 years after its making, it is a breathtaking tour de force of musical power and creativity.

I can't think of any live rock recording that comes close to matching the quality of simultaneous improvisation captured on disc 2 of Wheels of Fire. Many people think of Cream as Eric Clapton's band, but disc 2 proves it was a trio of three equally superb musicians. The 16-minute long "Spoonful" jam features a brilliant interplay of guitar (Clapton), drums (Ginger Baker), and bass (Jack Bruce) that builds to climax after climax.

It's hard to communicate now how revolutionary Eric Clapton's guitar work was in the late 1960s. All I can say is, his live solos on "Spoonful" and "Crossroads" inspired and challenged a generation of rock guitarists. Other guitarists may be faster than Clapton, but no one could match his ability to build melodic climaxes one after another.

Disc 1 consists of nine studio recordings that don't measure up to the intensity of the live performances on disc 2, but there are several excellent cuts. "White Room" is probably the most popular cut, but there are several good blues rock numbers--my favorite is "Politician"--featuring strong vocals by Jack Bruce as well as piercing guitar work by Clapton. Overall, if you are a fan of Cream or of blues rock in general, this is an essential CD of historical as well as musical significance.

Cream's third album proved to be equally as good as their 1967 smash hit Disraeli Gears. Released in August of 1968 "Wheels Of Fire" was in some ways was Cream final finest hour. After this album the band basically went their seperate ways and issued out the disappointing "Goodbye" as a swan song album.

None the less Wheels Of Fire is considered by many as Cream's final album and maybe their finest. Like the previous Cream albums it contains several smash hits including WHITE ROOM, THOSE WERE THE DAYS and POLITICIAN three of my favourite Cream tracks ever. As well as the blues rock brilliance of SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD and BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN. Apart from the hits the other tracks are awesome on their own, AS YOU SAID and DESERTED CITIES OF THE HEART are both essential Cream tracks. PASSING THE TIME is a beautiful song and PRESSED RAT AND WARTHOG is a fun novelty tune.

The band was also kind enough to add an extra disc to make this a awesome double record. As disc 2 is live at the Fillmore featuring some great live tracks. CROSSROADS is essential and the 16 minute version of SPOONFUL is amazing. As for the other two tracks TRAINTIME is okay and TOAD is way too long however it proves that Baker is a brilliant drummer.

In conclusion Wheels Of Fire is essential Cream. The studio album is great on it's own but the live teacks are a bit
of a bonus. The album is one of their best and I'm sure you will agree! Highly recommended!

"Wheels of Fire" is Cream's best album. The follow-up to "Disraeli Gears", this offering reveals Cream at the peak of their studio and live powers. Their songwriting chops had improved significantly since "Disreali", and songs like "Those Were the Days", "Pressed Rat and Warthog" and "Deserted Cities of the Heart" were like nothing they had ever written or recorded previously. On the original album release, this was a double LP, with record one being the studio album and record two being a live album recorded at the Fillmore. "Wheels" seduces the listener with a great mix of Classical Rock, Psychedelic Power Pop Rock, Blues Rock and Instrumental Music. Great instrumentation on the studio cuts like Glockenspiel and Cornet and incredible improv on the live side make this one of the decade's (60's) great works. I recently heard Clapton say that when he heard the solos in "Crossroads" on the live side of the record, he winced at how bad he thought that they were. Don't believe it. Those two solos are still among the greatest live improvs dedicated to vinyl in all of rock history(Others that comes to mind are Jimi Hendrix's solos in "Little Wing" off of the "Hendrix in the West" release and Duane Allman's final solos in "Mountain Jam" on "The Allman Bros. Live at the Fillmore East." A must for 60's music lovers and truly a record of the era.

Wheels of Fire has two parts. A studio recording and a Live recording.
White Room opens the studio portion. Sitting on top of the World, Politician, Those were the Days and Undeserted cities of the Heart are included on the Studio portion.
On the live portion is where we get the real treat.
Crossroads is included here and to this day many think it is Claptons best performance on record with Cream
He takes the lyrics from Crossroads blues and adds a verse from Travelin Riverside Blues to come up with the lyrics to Crossroads.
Spoonful is also on the live portion. Spoonful lasts 16 minutes and features a very long guitar solo as well as some great bass solos.
It captures the pace that Clapton and Bruce had in those days with blistering solos and an orchestra of drums added by Ginger Baker.
Baker is featured on his song Toad where he does a very long drum solo featuring his bass drums. At that time he was one of very few if any who used 2 bass drums.
Ginger Baker was without question the best drummer at that time and possibly could still be.
Train time is a song that Jack Bruces uses a blues harp to capture the effect of a train moving.
What you have here are three superb musicians in their finest hour.
I can listen to the live recordings on this album and enjoy them as much as I did in the 60's

Please Note: This review is for the DCC Gold Edition of "Wheels of Fire" NOT for the regular edition.

Double albums were all the craze when Cream recorded "Wheels of Fire". Since this legendary and short lived band didn't have the material for two albums worth of material and their live shows were legendary, the trio of Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker elected to have the second disc of this set a live recording (much like The Byrds' "Untitled"). The Gold edition on DCC exists in TWO versions; a small number were initially manufactured in Japan and while the U.S. editions (manufactured later) have THREE secret bonus tracks that were put there by accident.

On disc one we get the original 9 song line up that made up the first disc and Steve Hoffman added "Anyone for Tennis". There are THREE tracks after that one--alternate mixes of "Sitting on Top of the World", "As You Said" and "Passing the Time". The edition that has the three bonus tracks (that were put there by accident it should be added) is the edition that was manufactured in the U.S. YOu'll have to inspect the discs to find out of course because unfortunately the outside packaging for the U.S. edition often had the artwork that says Made in Japan.

The packaging for the Gold edition is superb--the outside box replicates the silver foil colored cover of the original gatefold sleeve. Inside, the inserts for each disc does likewise. There is also a booklet with session dates, etc. and credits for the album.

The sound quality for the gold edition is the best out there and it is definitely worth hunting for!

'Spoonful' is the best guitar solo i have ever heard, this is incredible, i love Jimi Hendrix's guitar playing but i have never heard anything as powerful as 'Spoonful', most people tend to favour 'crossroads' on this CD but 'Spoonful' is by far the best track and really outstanding, i must add Ginger Baker sounds like an army of drummers on this track with an almost tribal rhythm and adds deepness to this song, i wouldn't forget Jack Bruce too, who is an excellent bassist with a sophisticated playing ; otherwise i give 4 stars and not five to the CD for the following reasons : on the studio side 'Those were the days', 'Politician' (good guitar solo, very haunting), 'Deserted cities of the heart' and 'white room' are good tracks but the others are not as good as these ones; Clapton is a better guitarist live than in the studio, the first two tracks of the live side are excellent, the two latter ones are less interesting (Toad and traintime).

I first had WoF on vinyl, many years ago,I recently added the CD to my collection and have rarly had it out of my player since. It is without a doubt one of the greatest albums of all time. Favourite tracks - Sitting on Top of the World, on the studio CD and the whole of the live CD. Jack, Bruce and Eric at their very best it doesn't get better.
Can't wait for the Albert Hall concerts to be released.

While flawed in places, this still ranks as a 5 star album. The studio work is odd at times but never boring or predictable. Even the traditional blues songs have little quirks that take them out of the normal 5-bar variety. Then there's the live part. There has never been a 3 piece band who could improvise/jam together like these guys. For the average listener these songs may sound like one long drone (and Baker's long drum solo and Bruce's harmonica rant may well qualify) but the interplay on "Spoonful" and "Crossroads" is amazing. This is where Clapton ascended to the throne of Guitar God. His live lead breaks on "Crossroads" are the best in rock and roll history. It's not the vocals, bass or drums that keep that song playing perpetually on classic rock stations the world over. It's that incredible flowing guitar.