The Room Where it Happened

Fresh Cream represents so many different firsts, it's difficult to keep count. Cream, of course, was the first supergroup, but their first album not only gave birth to the power trio, it also was instrumental in the birth of heavy metal and the birth of jam rock…

“We think it's our best work in a very, very long time,” Kian Egan of Irish pop legends Westlife tells Apple Music. Nine years after their last studio album, Gravity, Egan, Nicky Byrne, Mark Feehily, and Shane Filan have reunited. “We met as a band and said, ‘What should Westlife sound like in 2019?’” Filan says. “A lot has happened in music since our last tour.” They’re right that pop has moved in many directions since those 2012 “farewell” shows in Europe and China—and especially since their 1999 breakout hit “Flying Without Wings”—but Spectrum absorbs those changes into their sound. The 11 tracks showcase the quartet’s enduring chemistry through irresistible harmonies. “The Westlife sound is based on us as singers more than a type of song or a tempo,” says Egan. “We've managed to create a really cool new uptempo sound, but it still sounds like us, because at the end of the day, it's us singing that makes it a Westlife song.”

Fresh Cream represents so many different firsts, it's difficult to keep count. Cream, of course, was the first supergroup, but their first album not only gave birth to the power trio, it also was instrumental in the birth of heavy metal and the birth of jam rock…

Fresh Cream is the debut studio album by the British rock band Cream. The album was released in the UK on 9 December 1966, as the first LP on the Reaction Records label, owned by producer Robert Stigwood. The UK album was released in both mono and stereo versions, at the same time as the release of the single "I Feel Free". The album peaked at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart. The album was released in a slightly different form in January 1967 by Atco Records in the US, also in mono and stereo versions.

It took 53 years, but now, at last, The Beatles’ final public performance can be heard – with all the songs complete and uninterrupted. True, a split-screen sequence of the remarkable event on January 30, 1969, was the climax of Peter Jackson’s epic Get Back trilogy. But the film’s fascinating cutaways to the drama unfolding at ground level meant the music on the roof was not always in the foreground. Finally, a new mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell presents virtually every second from the two reels of tape containing the rooftop session. Listening to this historic audio is a thrilling experience. Although no one knew at the time, this was The Beatles’ last gig. But it’s a perfect live finale – original, humorous and unprecedented: elements that are forever associated with The Beatles.

Fresh Cream represents so many different firsts, it's difficult to keep count. Cream, of course, was the first supergroup, but their first album not only gave birth to the power trio, it also was instrumental in the birth of heavy metal and the birth of jam rock…