Wheels of Fire

On "In the Studio" you get nine tracks that show Cream trying out new instrumentation and studio tricks. Unfortunately, this doesn't hide the fact that the material they have to work with doesn't have a whole lot to offer. If you strip away the impeccable playing, you aren't really left with much in the way of SONGS. Except for the blues numbers, the lyrics are pretty dated and meaningless (check out "Passing the Time" and "Pressed Rat and Warthog"). The production sounds hollow and sterile, taking away from the impact of the music (compare the production to that of the Jimi Hendrix Experience). Above all this, though, you get the remarkable "White Room" along with the solid "Politician."

"Live at the Fillmore" captures Cream in their element: Clapton, Bruce, and Baker onstage displaying their virtuosity on guitar, bass, and drums on blues numbers stretched to the limit. Simply put, "Crossroads" features some of the greatest guitar soloing caught on record with amazing interplay from Bruce and Baker topped off with exuberant vocals from Clapton. "Spoonful" is their magnum opus: nearly 17 fearsome minutes of dense, turbulent jamming. Although "Toad" proves why Ginger Baker makes the short list for greatest drummers, both "Toad" and "Traintime" (featuring Baker and Bruce, respectively) are ultimately dispensable.

Despite the fact that the album lacks cohesiveness, it's still an excellent one to get.


One of the All-Time Greatest Rock Albums   April 30, 1999
M. Phillips (Atlanta, GA United States)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Cream's last really deliberate effort in the studio, Wheels of Fire stands out as one of the all-time greatest rock albums, and one of the top ten albums of the sixties. Driven by the singles, "White Room" and "Crossroads," this was Cream's first and only number one album and the first album to be certified platinum, ever. Somewhat less coherent than Disraeli Gears, due to the increasing division between the band members, Wheels of Fire could be called Cream's White Album, showing the band moving off into separate directions with their respective writing partners and turning up with some surprisingly different, innovative and original songs. More melancholy and introspective than Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire jams less and grooves more, particularly on the ever topical "Politician" and the super precise "Sitting On Top of the World." Other songs seem like more of a throwback to Fresh Cream, the dreamy "As You Said" and "Those Were the Days" in particular. The cello-accented ballad, "Deserted Cities of the Heart," is one of Bruce and Brown's best, and there's more than a touch of strangeness in Baker's amusing and quaint recital of "Pressed Rat and Warthog." Eric, sitting out on the song-writing for a while, makes sure that no one completely forgets the blues, contributing arrangements of "Born Under A Bad Sign" and "Crossroads." On the second disc, the live material, as usual, is where Cream really shines. It seems as if they picked one song to showcase each band member, then chose the classic "Spoonful" to highlight them all. The instrumentation is even more magnificent than ever, showing incredible precision from all the members, especially Baker, whose drum solo on the live version of "Toad" is the only drum solo I've been able to tolerate, let only enjoy. "Crossroads" shows Clapton's soloing at its best, and "Traintime" features Bruce nearly passing out during a seven minute blues harp marathon. Listening to him gasp for breath near the end, yet keep on singing and playing, is to witness an inspiring sacrifice from an artist truly willing to suffer for his art. Cream's best album really could be considered a toss up between this one and Disraeli Gears, but I favor this one marginally because there's not a single slipup included.


Good transfer from vinyl to CD   December 10, 2006
B. Chandler (Arlington, Texas)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

I was amazed at the transfer quality as earlier works sound tinny. I forgot how divers Cream is. It is as if they were experimenting with different types of songs. This is better than having variations of the same thing across the whole CD. It did not take me long to fall in love with the individual songs again. Everyone is familiar with "White Room" which is what made me think of this first but few remember "Pressed Rat and Warthog" or "Those Were the Days".
Bottom line the album is worth discovering or rediscovering.




Thunder   May 13, 2001
David Bradley (Sterling, VA USA)
6 out of 16 found this review helpful

For all of Clapton's talent--and he is one of the 5 greatest guitar players of his generation, don't let anybody kid you about that--he displayed an amazing lack of ability to judge material.

For all the talk of his sticking to his "blues roots" when he jumped the Yardbirds ship, the tune they argued over wasn't much different than what they'd been doing for nearly a year, and every band he landed in for several years followed basically the same recipes.

As anyone wh has seen the film of Cream's live performances or saw the band in person can testify, they were a thundering group, three manic musicians who could really set a place afire, even if they did tend to take the late-60's penchant for endless solos to new lengths. Unfortunately, the power of those performances doesn't really transfer to an audio-format: the live stuff here is ponderous, at best.

The studio stuff is wild; the production is skewed in an effort--generally successful--to bring the bass and drums forward to an even keel with guitars and vocals. It takes a little getting used to , but it's a taste worth aquiring.

I've always loved "Pressed Rat & Warthog," though I wonder how the Clapton who turned up his nose at the Yardbirds allowed himself to appear on it.