I’ve been listening to Wheels of Fire by Cream this weekend. Love this album. Can anyone think of something that is similar to this. I own the entire Cream catalog as well as most of Clapton’s music.
This album has such a unique sound.
I’ve been listening to Wheels of Fire by Cream this weekend. Love this album. Can anyone think of something that is similar to this. I own the entire Cream catalog as well as most of Clapton’s music.
This album has such a unique sound.
Maybe some other classic jam albums from that era?
The Who, Live at Leeds.
Zep I
Single track, 1/2 the album:
Iron Butterfly, Ina Gadda da Vida
CCR, Suzy Q
Traffic, Low Spark of High Heeled Boys
Tough question.
The Who, “Who’s Next”
Dr. John, “Gumbo”
The Allman Brothers Band, “Brothers and Sisters”
…
??
I particularly like Cream because everone in it was a fantastic musician, and everyone led and soloed. You might try the two Mahavishnu Orchestra albums - Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire, with John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham Jan Hammer (before he wrote the Miami Vice music) Jerry Goodman and Rick Laird. No vocals, just music. I saw them once, and they were fantastic.
I’m not a big Mahavishnu fan, but I think you’re onto something with your recommendation.
What about something like Jeff Beck’s “Blow By Blow” (with Jan Hammer)? Even something in another genre, like Herbie Hancock’s “Thrust,” or early Patrice Rushen? I think the Jan Hammer tip is very “Cream”-ish.
To some degree, Cream were (was?) the inspiration for Gov’t Mule.
Until Allen Woody died, they were a straight-ahead, honest-to-by-god blues-power trio in the classic vein.
(Yeah, I’m a fan. How did you guess?)
Much of the Wheels of Fire “sound” is due to Cream’s legenderary producer, Felix Pappalardi.
To that end, you’d probably enjoy Mountain’s first two albums, Mountain Climbing and Nantacket Sleighride.
To a lesser extent (simply because the material isn’t as strong), you might want to explore West, Bruce & Laing..
Most of these replies seem to be considering mainly the stretched-out, jamming half of the album. For something more akin to the psychedelic, song-oriented first half, check out Jack Bruce’s early solo albums, Songs for a Tailor and Harmony Row.
And this may be too obvious to mention, but Jimi’s Electric Ladyland sits very nicely indeed alongside Wheels of Fire.
I agree with these. (And Bruce gets to mix the bass up!) The Bringdown, on Songs, appears in an incomplete version on the Cream box set, by the way. I would have loved to hear Baker’s completed drumming for this - the one on the boxset is clearly a work in progress.
I will just use this moderate hijack to state that if you love Cream, the Allman Brothers, etc., you should really see the documentary Tom Dowd: The Language of Music - while Tom didn’t produce WoF, per this thread, he did produce Disraeli Gears, Layla and other Assorted Love Songs and all the Allman Bros. Stuff. Add to that the fact that he produced Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Aretha Franklin (and the list goes on), invented or commercialized many of the techniques that go into modern recording today - oh, and worked on the Manhattan Project during WW2 and you got yourself an amazing documentary.
check it out.
I’ll second this, bigtime!
Mountain is what Cream wanted to be.
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