Wheels of Fire

Wheels of Fire
Studio album / Live album by Cream
Released August 1968 (1968-08)
Recorded
Genre
Length 82:24
Label
Producer Felix Pappalardi
Cream chronology
Disraeli Gears
(1967)		 Wheels of Fire
(1968)		 Goodbye
(1969)
Singles from Wheels of Fire
  1. "Crossroads" / "Passing the Time"
    Released: January 1969
  2. "White Room" / "Those Were the Days"
    Released: November 1968
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Rolling Stonemixed[2]
AllMusic[3]

Wheels of Fire is the third album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in 1968 as a two-disc vinyl LP, with one disc recorded in the studio and the other recorded live. It reached #3 in the United Kingdom and #1 in the United States, becoming the first platinum-selling double album.[4] In May 2012 it was ranked number 205 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[5] It was the world's first double album to be certified with a Platinum disc.

It was also released as two single long-players, Wheels of Fire (In the Studio) and Wheels of Fire (Live at the Fillmore), released together with similar cover art. In the UK the studio album art was black print on aluminium foil while the live album art was a negative image of the studio cover. In Japan the studio album art was black on gold foil while the live album art was black on aluminium foil. In Australia both covers were laminated copies of the Japanese releases (the double album was never released in Australia).

Background

Cream's third album was planned to be a double album on which Atco Records' producer Felix Pappalardi and the group would include several live performances.[6]

Recording

The group and Pappalardi had, in July and August 1967, recorded studio material at IBC Studios in London, and at Atlantic Studios in New York City during September and October of the same year.[1] Additional studio material was recorded at Atlantic Studios in January and February 1968, during a break from the band's heavy tour schedule.[1][6] The following month,[1] Pappalardi ordered for a mobile recording studio in Los Angeles to be shipped to the Fillmore auditorium and the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.[6] Six shows were recorded in San Francisco by Pappalardi and recording engineer Bill Halverson,[1] and extra performances not included on Wheels of Fire ended up on Live Cream, and Live Cream Volume II.[6]

Production and artwork

The recording engineers on disc one were Tom Dowd and Adrian Barber, the songs on disc two were recorded by Bill Halverson and the performances on the second disc were mixed by Adrian Barber. The artwork for the album was by Martin Sharp[1] who had also done the artwork for Disraeli Gears. The photography was by Jim Marshall.[1]

Songs

The band's drummer Ginger Baker co-wrote three songs for the album with pianist Mike Taylor. Bassist Jack Bruce co-wrote four songs with poet Pete Brown. Guitarist Eric Clapton contributed to the album by choosing two cover songs.

For the second disc Felix Pappalardi chose "Traintime" because it featured Jack Bruce performing a harmonica solo, and "Toad" because it features Ginger Baker's drumming while "Spoonful" and "Crossroads" were used to showcase Eric Clapton's guitar-playing.[6]

Track listing

Disc one: In the Studio

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "White Room3" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) 4:58
2. "Sitting on Top of the World" (Walter Vinson, Lonnie Chatmon; arr. Chester Burnett) 4:58
3. "Passing the Time13" (Ginger Baker, Mike Taylor) 4:31
4. "As You Said" (Bruce, Brown) 4:20
Side 2
No. Title Length
1. "Pressed Rat and Warthog" (Baker, Taylor) 3:13
2. "Politician3" (Bruce, Brown) 4:12
3. "Those Were the Days3" (Baker, Taylor) 2:53
4. "Born Under a Bad Sign3" (Booker T. Jones, William Bell) 3:09
5. "Deserted Cities of the Heart23" (Bruce, Brown) 3:38

Disc two: Live at the Fillmore

Side three
No. TitleRecording date Length
1. "Crossroads" (Robert Johnson, arr. Clapton)10 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco, CA. (1st show) 4:13
2. "Spoonful" (Willie Dixon)10 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco, CA. (1st show) 16:43
Side 4
No. TitleRecording date Length
1. "Traintime4" (Bruce)8 March 1968 at Winterland, San Francisco, CA. (1st show) 7:01
2. "Toad" (Baker)7 March 1968 at The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA. (2nd show) 16:15

Performers on disc one are "the Cream quartet" consisting of Clapton, Baker, and Bruce together with Felix Pappalardi, who plays many different instruments and is also credited with production.

^Note 1: Some pressings of this album contain an unedited version of "Passing the Time". This "long version" is extended by 73 seconds and was included on the gold CD issued by DCC Compact Classics. The "extended version" included on Those Were the Days was edited to be an additional 7 seconds longer.

^Note 2: Original U.S. pressings of Wheels of Fire incorrectly listed the running time of "Deserted Cities of the Heart" at 4:36.

^Note 3: Side 1 tracks 1 and 3 and Side 2 tracks 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the studio album were processed with the Haeco-CSG system. Also processed was "Anyone for Tennis", which was recorded at the same sessions and appears on some versions of the album. Haeco-CSG was intended to make stereo recordings that were fully compatible with mono playback equipment. The unfortunate side effect is that it "blurs" the stereo imaging of musical parts mixed to the phantom centre channel. Using modern digital audio processing software it is possible to reverse the Haeco-CSG effect.

During the 10 March first set, "Spoonful" preceded "Crossroads", and though it seems as though "Traintime" aurally precedes "Toad", "Traintime" was recorded a day later, and expertly edited to seamlessly blend into the introduction to "Toad".

While the disc is labelled Live at the Fillmore, only "Toad" was recorded at The Fillmore. The other tracks were recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.[7]

^Note 4: Original album pressings list "John Group" as the author of "Traintime". The "John Group" appellation dates back to Jack Bruce's tenure with the Graham Bond Organisation (with whom Bruce originally recorded the song in 1965), and was used by that band to ensure that members other than Bond received songwriting royalties.[8] The song is based on a vintage blues by Peter Chatman.

Personnel

Per liner notes[1]

Personnel for the studio recordings

"White Room"
"Sitting on Top of the World"
"Passing the Time"
"As You Said"
"Pressed Rat and Warthog"
"Politician"
"Those Were the Days"
"Born Under a Bad Sign"
"Deserted Cities of the Heart"

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (1968–2013) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[10] 1
Canadian Top 50 Albums (RPM)[11] 1
bgcolor="#efefef" Croatian Foreign Albums (HDU)[12] 25
French Albums (SNEP)[13] 2
bgcolor="#efefef" German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14] 15
bgcolor="#efefef" Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[15] 16
UK Albums (OCC)[16] 3
US Billboard 200[17] 1
US Top R&B Albums (Billboard)[18] 11

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[19] Platinum 70,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[20] Platinum 300,000
United States (RIAA)[21] Platinum 1,000,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Single releases

Year Title Chart position
AUT
[22]		 BEF
[23]		 GER
[24]		 NEL
[25]		 NZL
[26]		 UK
[27]		 US
[28]
1968 "White Room" 19 14 28 2 2 28 6
1969 "Crossroads" — — — — — — 28

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wheels of Fire (Billboard 6 July 1968). Cream. United States: Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1968.
  2. ↑ Wenner, Jann (20 July 1968). "Cream Wheels Of Fire". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  3. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Wheels of Fire". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Cream – the Band". BBC. 20 September 2000.
  5. ↑ Wheels of Fire, Rolling Stone.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Schumacher, Michael (1995). "Chapter 4: Power Trio (1966–68)". Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton (1st ed.). New York City, New York: Hyperion. pp. 96–100, 102. ISBN 0-7868-6074-X.
  7. ↑ The Very Best of Cream (liner notes).
  8. ↑ Liner notes to the CD version of the Graham Bond Organisation's The Sound of '65/There's a Bond Between Us, BGO Records, catalog no. BGOCD500, released in the UK 1999.
  9. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Cream-Wheels-Of-Fire/release/2906892
  10. ↑ Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1940–1969. ISBN 0-646-44439-5.
  11. ↑ "RPM – Item Display: Top Albums/CDs – Volume 10, No. 7, October 14, 1968" (.Php). Library and Archives Canada. 2004-03-31. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  12. ↑ "Top Stranih [Top Foreign]" (in Croatian). Top Foreign Albums. Hrvatska diskografska udruga. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  13. ↑ "Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > "Cream" > "Ok". InfoDisc.fr. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  14. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  15. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Cream – Wheels of Fire". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  16. ↑ "Top 40 Official UK Albums Archive: 14th September 1968". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  17. ↑ "Top LP's". Billboard Magazine: 57. 10 August 1968.
  18. ↑ "Wheels of Fire – Cream – Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  19. ↑ "Australian Fun Countdowns: Accreditation Awards". Warner Music Sales International. BMI Music International. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Made A Rock Culture". Billboard Magazine. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. November 16, 1968. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Facebook Pictues for Cream – Band". Facebook. Retrieved 2015-07-15. It was the first platinum selling double album, and worthy of its inclusion in uDiscover's list of their favourite double albums.
  22. ↑ "Austrian Single Chart Positions" (in German). Das österreichische Hitparaden- und Musik-Portal. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  23. ↑ "Belgian Single Chart Positions". Ultratop.be. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  24. ↑ "German Single Chart Positions" (in German). Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  25. ↑ "Dutch Single Chart Positions". Dutch Charts. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  26. ↑ "New Zealand Single Chart Positions". Flavour of New Zealand. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  27. ↑ "British Single Chart Positions". Ultimate Music Database. Retrieved 2015-07-15.
  28. ↑ "American Single Chart Positions – Billboard Hot 100". Ultimate Music Database. Retrieved 2015-07-15.

External links

Preceded by
The Beat of the Brass
by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass		 Billboard 200 number-one album
10 August – 6 September 1968 		Succeeded by
Waiting for the Sun by The Doors
Preceded by
The Graduate (soundtrack)
by Various artists		 Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
7–20 December 1968 		Succeeded by
The Beatles (The White Album)
by The Beatles
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