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Wheels of Fire

Cream - Wheels of Fire Audio CD

A fair review of the Cream "Wheels of Fire" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Cream reviews here, or go back to the Cream tabs.

Band: Cream
Title: Wheels of Fire
Rating:

Release Date: 1998-04-07
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: White Room 2: Sitting on Top of the World 3: Passing the Time 4: As You Said 5: Pressed Rat and Warthog 6: Politician 7: Those Were the Days 8: Born Under a Bad Sign 9: Deserted Cities of the Heart 10: Crossroads [Live] 11: Spoonful [Live] 12: Traintime [Live] 13: Toad [Live][Instrumental]

An album worthy of a super-group. Highly polished & very English
The first album by Cream did nothing to overturn my prejudice against this.
It was with a great deal of reluctance that I explored Cream's albums, seeing as I was never a huge fan of the songs that I did hear on commercial FM radio over here in Australia, plus the fact that only two of their songs ever get played here. Their second album wasn't bad. "Wheels of fire" is a five star album in my view. It's highly polished album orientated blues rock, with an endearing "English-ness" about it. . . something that "Disraeli gears" lacked, I think, despite it being their most lauded album, appearing on the tv series "Classic albums". Of Cream's first three albums, it is "Wheels of fire" which is most worthy of giving rise to the "super-group" moniker which the band usually gets attached to it.

Anyway, here are my picks as the best songs on the album, plus the rest:

The best:

White room - this is one of the two Cream songs that you will hear on classic pop/rock stations in Australia. The other song is "Sunshine of your love". This track has good, subtle drumming and a distorted, sort of heavy metalish guitar sound, and there is a good lead guitar solo too. The riff sort of reminds me of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet home Alabama", which came after it.

Pressed rat and warthog - to me, this song seems to be a natural progression from the last track, I think, on Disraeli Gears, "Mother's lament". I really like this song for the same reason that I really like the opening track on The Sex Pistols' "The great rock'n'roll swindle" album, which features Malcolm McLaren doing a spoken word fairytale on how he invented punk music. In other words, both songs appeal on a childish level. . . listening to a soothing bedtime story read by someone with a soothing voice. Here the story is of the absurd kind, which the English are fond of-perhaps you could also characterise the lyrics as 'psychedelic'. The brass in this song is pretty, and some of the sounds/instruments are intriguing. . . perhaps the flute is included, and there is a certain mediaeval qquality to the sound, though the track does have a light rock accompaniment.

Those were the days - has fantasy lyrics, a theme that Led Zeppelin would mine in its later works. This is a pop/rock song with good drumming and is bassy too. Also has pretty bell sounds too. . . not unlike that found the opening theme to the US cartoon series "Futurama". Lyrics feature the word "Ocharina", which looking it up now means a musical instrument, but I associated it with a video game of a fantasy nature, but even if this is not a fantasy reference, the rest of the song does have that quality to it though. . . a longing for times past.

Deserted cities of the heart - has a deep bass and some of the guitar work reminds me of Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the middle with you". Some of the vocal melody also reminds me of the song which features the lyrics "It's alright, well alright". . . but I can't remember the song act/title. . . might even be a Cream song, in which case that might be three Cream songs you hear on Australian radio where I live! Good drumming in this song and a violin also features. . . maybe a cello too. There is a squealy lead guitar solo too.

As you said - another song featuring the cello or similar bassy instrument (double bass perhaps?). Has accoustic guitar and steel string accoustic guita by the sounds of it. A mellow song with sparkling guitar work and an Indian style accent.

Passing the time - a pretty, mellow track for bookends, which works well as a lullaby kind of song (The Red Hot Chili Pepper's song "Porcelain" is also a song that works well as a lullaby, but not as a pop/rock song). The middle part of this song is more hard rock, with slapping drums and a driving rhythm with the bass guitar. Also features a glassy percussion effect and the vocal melody sounds familiar. . . perhaps from the Sesame St childrens' tv show, for the song "Inchworm".

Born under a bad sign - the above songs have been slowly getting weaker, and this is the weakest song of the ones I like. The lyrics are fun. . . a blues song which gently mocks the genre. Cream sort of does to the Blues, what Monty Python did to those pub stories which start with "I was so poor that. . . ". A deep bass sound with more squeaky, distorted lead guitar sounds featured. A good addition to the blues genre in any case.

The rest:

Politician - Cream get political on this song. It's a sleazy, bluesy, carnival type of song, with a cynical outlook towards those we elect. This song put to mind the story of "The Profumo Affair", which I had heard about when the movie "Scandal" was advertised some years back. Just looking up Wikipedia now, it does seem to have happened before this song was written, so perhaps 'inspiring' this song. Features dual lead guitars and a bassy drum. . . double bass drum, perhaps?

Sitting on top of the world - a laid back, bluesy track with squeaky and distorted lead guitar and a noticeably bass sound.

CD 2 -

I'm giving the first cd five stars. The second cd is a different animal, and if you enjoy it, you will probably like their first album, which this cd expands on. . . to gargantuan proportions. E. g. "Spoonful" and "Toad" are roughly tripled in length to over a quarter of an hour each. These four songs take up 44:22 minutes! If you like blues music by white guys, I think you will like this second cd. Personally, I drifted off for "Spoonful" on the two occasions that I listened to this song! It has an epic Moody Blues vibe to it. "Toad" didn't send me off to sleep, despite its similar length. If you are of the school of thought that says that the only thing better than a three minute drum solo is a 13 minute drum solo, then I think you are going to love "Toad"! Cream jams either side of Ginger Baker's gargantuan drum solo. In my notes for this song I state that I hear what sounds like Michael Jackson's "Beat it" guitar riff playing on the bass in this song (at around the 0:55 mark). Also familiar sounding to me: at around 0:52 minutes into this song, the guitar plays something akin to The Stooges "I wanna be your dog" riff or whatnot. Anyway, the sound quality of the live 2nd cd is excellent.

"Wheels of fire" is not just a great Cream album, it's a great album full stop. I'm not convinced that "Disraeli Gears" is anywhere in this album's league. A marvelously English album.

cream,s wheels of fire still burn somewhat!
wheels of fire was released in 1968 and once again the cover art was very cool. cream,s wheels of fire although great in some spots is kind of a mixed bag. by the time cream began recording this the band was on the fast track for a break up and by early 1969 they did. the best of it is;white room,desrted cities of the heart,those were the days,sitting on top of the world and crossroads from disc 2of a double album and disc 2 was live recordings. all in all this is very worthwhile double cd as it was cream,s last real effort in the studio and does contain some really fine tunes!! get it!!.

A Must Have
a must have for the Clapton collector. this is Cream's best, hard core 60-70s rock. . .

Yesterday they took me to the bank and flogged me with a hair net.
Some say he never felt his saddle jelly, others claim that he knew it was falsified from Tahoe, but if you ask me, well you should go soak your fat head city slicker cause the throng remains the game. Did you see it? The way that pill bug stared into the molasses vacuum? I bit a toe nail and it plunged eleven inches with the Cody brothers. I will agree to the plea bargain when you give in to the tranquilizer. Go ahead and work it out for yourself. I will be waiting in the oak tree in the park.

Wheels of Fire: Cream
Music is timeless, but the jewel case the CD came in was all smashed up.

You can see a complete list of all Cream discography, or go back to the Cream tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.