Cream — Wheels of Fire

Astute readers may begin to wonder exactly what Cream albums I did have — because here’s another one, from 1968, that I only recently acquired. Never had it before, not even digitally, until I bought this vinyl copy last year. Somewhere, I have a 45 of “White Room.” Well, I mean, it’s not like it was one of the biggest albums of 1968 or anything. Oh, it went to #1 in the US, and sold well over a million copies, but, ya know . . .

This one’s a mix – disc one is studio work, including “White Room,” whereas disc two is live from the Fillmore in San Francisco (and perhaps Winterland as well). That seems like a chancy mix for an album, but it really works here, in part because their studio production was always pretty light-handed and natural sounding (especially for the ’60s).