Cream Goodbye

Goodbye (also called Goodbye Cream) is the fourth and final studio album by Cream, with three tracks recorded live, and three recorded in the studio. It was released in Europe by Polydor Records and by Atco Records in the United States, debuting in Billboard on 15 February 1969. It reached #1 in the United Kingdom and # 2 in the United States. The album was released after Cream disbanded in November 1968. Goodbye was voted the 148th best rock album of all time in Paul Gambaccini's 1978 poll of 50 prominent American and English rock critics.

UMe has announced the release of a four-CD special edition of Cream’s Goodbye Tour Live 1968. Out on 7 February 2020, it will feature the first authorised appearance of three complete concerts on the band’s final US tour in October 1968, as well as the whole of their last UK date at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 26 November that year.

After a mere three albums in just under three years, Cream called it quits in 1969. Being proper gentlemen, they said their formal goodbyes with a tour and a farewell album called – what else? – Goodbye. As a slim, six-song single LP, it's far shorter than the rambling, out-of-control Wheels of Fire, but it boasts the same structure, evenly dividing its time between tracks cut on-stage and in the studio…

Although Cream were only together for a little more than two years, their influence was immense, both during their late-'60s peak and in the years following their breakup. Cream were the first top group to truly exploit the power trio format, in the process laying the foundation for much blues-rock and hard rock of the 1960s and 1970s…

Cream - Those Were The Days (1997) {4CD boxset Polydor 31453 9000-2 rec 1968-1972}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.84 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 713 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 210 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968-72, 1997 Polydor / PolyGram | 31453 9000-2
Rock / Blues Rock / Hard Rock / Psychedelic / British Blues

Those Were the Days is an ambitious four-disc, 63-track box set that divides Cream's career into two halves. The first two discs feature every studio track the group ever released, plus a handful of unreleased cuts, alternate takes, and rarities. The other two discs are devoted to live material, which is segued together in an attempt to recreate the "ideal" Cream concert. It's a remarkably comprehensive collection, complete with an extensive booklet and remastered sound, yet it doesn't reveal any new insights about Cream, nor does it offer any invaluable rarities. Therefore, it's only for die-hard collectors or listeners wanting to acquire the entire Cream catalog at once; casual fans will be satisfied with individual albums or greatest-hits collections.