CREAM - Cream Those Were The Days 1997 4CD Boxset FLAC

CREAM - Cream Those Were The Days 1997 4CD Boxset

Cream was the first of three supergroups spawned by the Yardbirds' three stellar axmen (they preceded the original Jeff Beck Group by a year and Jimmy Page's Led Zeppelin by two). The trio of guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer extraordinaire (and band founder) Ginger Baker earned a reputation for fiery live performances rife with improvised blues-based jams (epitomized by Willie Dixon's "Spoonful") that could last half an hour. Two of this set's four discs are devoted to live Cream, showcasing prowess and interplay so powerful as to overshadow its occasional lapses into self-indulgence. Clapton admirers more familiar with his latter-day laid-back persona may be shocked at the incendiary musician showcased on these live cuts. Cream progressed over the course of its three and a half studio records (included here in their entirety). Electric blues evolution was their forte, but they also captured sounds that were moody and acoustic-tinged ("As You Said," "Passing the Time"), music-hall-influenced ("Mother's Lament," "Wrapping Paper"), and progressively poetic ("Deserted Cities of the Heart," "Pressed Rat and Warthog"). The sound quality is superb, the 48-page booklet is informative.



CREAM - Cream Those Were The Days



Disc one: In the Studio (79:08)

Non-album single (1966)

01 - "Wrapping Paper" (Bruce, Brown) – 2.22

Tracks taken from Fresh Cream (1966)

02 - "I Feel Free" (Bruce, Brown) – 2.51

03 - "N.S.U." (Bruce) – 2.43

04 - "Sleepy Time Time" (Bruce, Godfrey) – 4.20

05 - "Dreaming" (Bruce) – 1.58

06 - "Sweet Wine" (Baker, Godfrey) – 3.17

07 - "Spoonful" (Dixon) – 6.30

08 - "Cat's Squirrel" (Traditional, arr. S. Splurge) – 3.03

09 - "Four Until Late" (Johnson, arr. Clapton) – 2.07

10 - "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (Waters) – 4.42

11 - "I'm So Glad" (James) – 3.57

12 - "Toad" (Baker) – 5.11

Studio out-take (1967)

13 - "Lawdy Mama" - version 1 (previously unreleased) (Traditional, arr. Clapton) – 2.00

Tracks taken from Disraeli Gears (1967)

14 - "Strange Brew" (Clapton, Collins, Pappalardi) – 2.46

15 - "Sunshine of Your Love" (Bruce, Brown, Clapton) – 4.10

16 - "World of Pain" (Collins, Pappalardi) – 3.02

17 - "Dance the Night Away" (Bruce, Brown) – 3.34

18 - "Blue Condition" (Baker) – 3.29

19 - "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (Clapton, Sharp) – 2.46

20 - "SWLABR" (Bruce, Brown) – 2.31

21 - "We're Going Wrong" (Bruce) – 3.26

22 - "Outside Woman Blues" (Reynolds, arr. Clapton) – 2.24

23 - "Take It Back" (Bruce, Brown) – 3.05

24 - "Mother's Lament" (Traditional, arr. Bruce, Brown, Clapton) – 1.47



Disc two: In the Studio (79:11)

Tracks taken from Wheels of Fire (1968)

01 - "White Room" (Bruce, Brown) – 4.58

02 - "Sitting on Top of the World" (Walter Vinson, Lonnie Chatmon; arr. Burnett) – 4.58

03 - "Passing the Time" - extended version (Baker, Taylor) – 5.53

04 - "As You Said" (Bruce, Brown) – 4.20

05 - "Pressed Rat and Warthog" (Baker, Taylor) – 3.13

06 - "Politician" (Bruce, Brown) – 4.12

07 - "Those Were the Days" (Baker, Taylor) – 2.53

08 - "Born Under a Bad Sign" (Jones, Bell) – 3.09

09 - "Deserted Cities of the Heart" (Bruce, Brown) – 3.38

Non-album single (1968)

10 - "Anyone for Tennis" (Clapton, Sharp) – 2.38

Tracks taken from Goodbye (1969)

11 - "Badge" (Clapton, Harrison) – 2.44

12 - "Doing That Scrapyard Thing" (Bruce, Brown) – 3.14

13 - "What a Bringdown" (Baker) – 3.58

Miscellaneous tracks

14 - "The Coffee Song" (Colton, Smith) – 2.44

15 - "Lawdy Mama" - version 2 (Traditional, arr. Clapton) – 2.46

16 - "You Make Me Feel" - demo version (previously unreleased) (Bruce, Brown) – 2.39

17 - "We're Going Wrong" - demo version (previously unreleased) (Bruce) – 3.49

18 - "Hey Now Princess" - demo version (previously unreleased) (Bruce, Brown) – 3.31

19 - "Swlabr" - demo version (previously unreleased) (Bruce, Brown) – 4.30

20 - "Weird of Hermiston" - demo version (previously unreleased) (Bruce, Brown) – 3.12

21 - "The Clearout" - demo version (previously unreleased) (Bruce, Brown) – 3.58

22 - "Falstaff Beer Commercial" (previously unreleased) (Baker, Bruce, Clapton) – 1.00



Disc three: Live (74:15)

01 - "N.S.U." (previously unreleased) (Bruce) – 12.38

Recorded 9 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco

02 - "Sleepy Time Time" 3 (Bruce, Godfrey) – 6.48

Recorded 9 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco

03 - "Rollin' and Tumblin'" 3 (Waters) – 6.29

Recorded 7 March 1968 at Fillmore West, San Francisco

04 - "Crossroads" (Johnson, arr. Clapton) – 4.24

Recorded 10 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco

05 - "Spoonful" (Dixon) – 16.39

Recorded 10 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco

06 - "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (Clapton, Sharp) – 4.43

Recorded 10 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco

07 - "Sunshine of Your Love" (Bruce, Brown, Clapton) – 7.25

Recorded 9 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco

08 - "Sweet Wine" (Baker, Godfrey) – 15.08

Recorded 10 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco



Disc four: Live (73:06)

01 - "White Room" (Bruce, Brown) – 6.21

Recorded 4 October 1968 at Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland

02 - "Politician" (Bruce, Brown) – 5.08

0Recorded 4 October 1968 at Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland

03 - "I'm So Glad" (James) – 9.32

0Recorded 19 October 1968 at The Forum, Los Angeles

04 - "Sitting on Top of the World" (Walter Vinson, Lonnie Chatmon; arr. Burnett) – 4.55

Recorded 19 October 1968 at The Forum, Los Angeles

05 - "Stepping Out" (Bracken) – 13.29

Recorded 10 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco

06 - "Traintime" (Bruce) – 7.02

Recorded 8 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco

07 - "Toad" (previously unreleased extended version) (Baker) – 17.35

Recorded March 7&8, 1968 at Fillmore West, San Francisco

08 - "Deserted Cities of the Heart" (Bruce, Brown) – 4.14

Recorded 4 October 1968 at Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland

09 - "Sunshine of Your Love" (previously unreleased) (Bruce, Brown, Clapton) – 4.44

Recorded May 1968 at CBS Studios, Los Angeles for the Glen Campbell Show



Cream has the distinction of being the world's first supergroup. Comprised of Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, vocals), and Ginger Baker (drums) they would reshape the rock landscape over the course of four studio albums between December 1966 and January 1969 forging a hybrid of hard rock, heavy metal and the blues.

This 4-CD box set includes Cream's four studio albums in their entirety, plus most of the live material from Wheels of Fire, Live Cream, Vol. 1 and 2, and a handful of non-album singles and previously unreleased live songs.

Disc 1 contains Cream's first U.K. single "Wrapping Paper" and a previously unreleased version of "Lawdy Mama"--the version that originally appeared on Live Cream is on disc-2.

Disc-2 contains the non-album single "Anyone for Tennis," "The Coffee Song" (which previously only appeared on the U.K. reissue of Fresh Cream), five previously unissued demos (of which only "SWLABR" eventually made it onto an album), and a Falstaff beer commercial(!) to round out the disc.

The first two discs represent the studio material. Jack Bruce with lyricist Pete Brown wrote much of the band's original material, although Clapton did make some contributions, including "Strange Brew," Tales of Brave Ulysses" and "Badge," the latter with George Harrison who also provided rhythm guitar.

Discs 3 and 4 are all live recordings. The newly released material includes a 12-minute version of "N.S.U.," an extended 17-minute version of "Toad" and a performance of "Sunshine of Your Love" taken from the Glen Campbell Show in May 1968.

This box set is so comprehensive as to make owning any other Cream albums unnecessary and (except for those on a tight budget) the purchase to make rather than the skimpy (by comparison) 20-track The Very Best of Cream.