Wheels of Fire
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| Wheels of Fire | ||
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| Studio album by Cream | ||
| Released | July 1968 | |
| Recorded | July 1967-April 1968 at Atlantic Studios, New York City | |
| Genre | Blues-rock/Psychedelic | |
| Length | 84:23 | |
| Label | Polydor | |
| Producer(s) | Felix Pappalardi | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cream chronology | ||
| Disraeli Gears (1967) |
Wheels of Fire (1968) |
Goodbye (1969) |
Wheels of Fire is the name of the double album recorded by Cream. It was a big success, scoring the band a #3 peak in the UK and a #1 in the US.
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 one was gold in color (Studio) and the other silver (Live).
In 2003, the album was ranked number 203 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. [1]
The cartoonist Martin Sharp who designed the sleeve won the New York Art Directors Prize for Best Album Design in 1969.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Disc one: In the Studio
- "White Room" (Bruce, Brown) – 4:58
- "Sitting on Top of the World" (Burnett) – 4:58
- "Passing the Time"1 (Baker, Taylor) – 4:37
- "As You Said" (Bruce, Brown) – 4:20
- "Pressed Rat and Warthog" (Baker, Taylor) – 3:13
- "Politician" (Bruce, Brown) – 4:12
- "Those Were the Days" (Baker, Taylor) – 2:53
- "Born Under a Bad Sign" (Jones, Bell) – 3:09
- "Deserted Cities of the Heart" (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.
[edit] Disc two: Live at the Fillmore
- "Crossroads" (Johnson, arr. Clapton) – 4:14
- "Spoonful" (Dixon) – 16:48
- "Traintime" (Bruce) – 6:52
- "Toad" (Baker) – 16:16
Although listed as four tracks and pressed with a track separation between the songs, this album consists of only two recordings, with the audio signal continuing intact between the tracks as the band segues between the songs.
While the disc is labeled Live at the Fillmore, only "Toad" was recorded there. The other tracks were recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.[1]
[edit] Personnel
- Jack Bruce – lead vocals, bass guitar, cello, harmonica, calliope, acoustic guitar, recorder
- Eric Clapton – electric guitar, vocals (lead vocals on "Crossroads")
- Ginger Baker – drums, percussion, bells, glockenspiel, vocals (lead vocals on "Pressed Rat and Warthog")
[edit] Additional personnel
- Felix Pappalardi – viola, brass instruments, bells, organ
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Very Best of Cream (liner notes).
[edit] External links
| Cream | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ginger Baker - Jack Bruce - Eric Clapton Pete Brown - Felix Pappalardi - Martin Sharp |
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| Discography | |||||
| Fresh Cream - Disraeli Gears - Wheels of Fire - Goodbye Live Cream - Live Cream Volume II - BBC Sessions - Royal Albert Hall 2005 |
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| Songwriters covered by Cream | |||||
| William Bell - James Bracken - Howlin' Wolf - Tony Colton - Willie Dixon - Skip James Robert Johnson - Booker T. Jones - Blind Joe Reynolds - Ray Smith - T-Bone Walker - Muddy Waters |
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| Related bands | |||||
| The G.B.O. (Baker/Bruce) |
The Bluesbreakers (Bruce/Clapton) |
The Powerhouse (Bruce/Clapton) |
Blind Faith (Baker/Clapton) |
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