Cream Strange Brew

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 - Those Were The Days (1997) {4CD boxset Polydor 31453 9000-2 rec 1968-1972}
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© 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.

Cream teamed up with producer Felix Pappalardi for their second album, Disraeli Gears, a move that helped push the power trio toward psychedelia and also helped give the album a thematic coherence missing from the debut…

Cream - BBC Sessions (2003) {Polydor 076 048-2 rec 1966-1968}
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© 1966-68, 2003 Polydor Ltd. (UK) / BBC | 076 048-2
Rock / Blues Rock / Psychedelic

This compilation of 22 Cream BBC tracks from 1966-1968 marked a major addition to the group's discography, particularly as they released relatively little product during their actual lifetime. All of but two of these cuts ("Lawdy Mama" and the 1968 version of "Steppin' Out," which had appeared on Eric Clapton's Crossroads box) were previously unreleased, and although many of these had made the round on bootlegs, the sound and presentation here is unsurprisingly preferable. As for actual surprises, there aren't many. It's a good cross section of songs from their studio records, though a couple, "Steppin' Out" and "Traintime," only appeared on live releases, and some of these BBC takes actually predate the release and recording of the album versions, which makes them of historical interest for intense Cream fans.

There have been many compilations drawn from the four albums Cream originally released between 1966 and 1969. But the one most commonly available since the early '80s was the ten-track Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream (1983), a barebones collection focusing on the group's hit singles. Note, then, that this album, despite the similar title, is a newly compiled 1995 CD/cassette containing all of the recordings on Strange Brew, plus ten more. It is thus the most comprehensive Cream anthology on the market, and includes all the group's essential tracks on a single disc with superior sound in a package containing good annotations.

"Disraeli Gears" is the second album by the English rock band Cream. It was released in November 1967 and went on to reach number 5 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also their American breakthrough, becoming a massive seller there in 1968, reaching number 4 on the American charts. The album was #1 for two weeks on the Australian album chart and was listed as the #1 album of 1968 by Cash Box in the year-end album chart in the U.S. The album features the two singles "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine of Your Love".

Following the acclaimed release of Cream’s 10 UK and US 7” singles’ boxed-set package towards the end of last year comes this superb 4 album/5CD set celebrating the 50th anniversary of Cream’s inception in 1966. The Classic Album Selection features the band’s complete studio albums – Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, Wheels Of Fire and Goodbye; four incredible albums, which left an indelible mark in rock history. With Cream, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton, set the template for a whole new generation of rock music with their innate muscial virtuosity. Although they were only together for just over two years, Cream blazed an indelible trail through the latter half of the 1960s with their challenging and exquisite mélange of blues, pop and psychedelia; their influence at their peak, and in the years following their break-up, was immense.