Gold

Traffic Gold Japanese only 2 x SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.	Blind Faith The short-lived classic-rock supergroup Blind Faith's sole album has aged remarkably well. In 1969, Blind Faith fused the psychedelic blues of Eric Clapton and the soulful vocals and keyboards of Steve Winwood with the polyrhythmic, Afrocentric leanings of drummer Ginger Baker. "...	The Who: The Ultimate Collection The Who's mighty catalog of beautiful, poignant, and often silly pop songs bashed out with Cassius Clay finesse has suffered in the past at the hands of multiple, butcher-shop best-ofs and horrible packaging. But this thrilling band--undeniably one of ye classicke rocke's greates...	Disraeli Gears Fresh Cream, the album that introduced this seminal super-blues trio to America, was perhaps a bit too blues-based to do the advance hype ("Clapton is God!") justice. Two of its three best-known tracks, after all, were blues covers. It was Disraeli Gears that turned Cream into a ...	Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix N
Kinks (The Ultimate Collection) Arguably the finest and most expansive Kinks collection on the market! The first disc of this double-disc begins with their third single and first No. 1, the insistent 'You Really Got Me', then races through the glory years with the absurdly infectious likes of 'Sunny Afternoon',...	Wheels of Fire	Fresh Cream	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band N	The Essential Jefferson Airplane Filling the double-disc void left by the excellent but sonically inferior and out-of-print 2400 Fulton Street: An Anthology, The Essential Jefferson Airplane digs deeper into the San Francisco band's catalog than the many single disc collections available. Less expansive, but w...

Great Value But .....
I sure can't complain about the amount of material and the easy price but .... no studio Spoonful? I remember that the US Fresh Cream didn't have Spoonful - it came out in the summer of 1967 as a two part single on Atco which I ravenously bought. What about Four Until Late, Dance the Night Away (which is truly psychedelic), Outside Woman Blues, and even Take It Back? The live version of Sleepy Time Time is preferable to the studio version and of course, Crossroads just smokes. But I would have put this set together with some different live stuff. Plus, do we really consider Doing That Scrapyard Thing, What a Bringdown and Anyone For Tennis essential? Is Passing the Time preferable to As You Said? Ginger is a great drummer, and I drum myself, but how many of us are seriously going to listen to the 16 minute version of Toad (a piss break)? I prefer the studio version which is more concise and bearable. Oh well, at least they spared us Blue Condition and Pressed Rat and Warthog. Hey Polygram, how about some complete shows from Winterland, The Forum and the Oakland Coliseum already???? We're not getting any younger!!!

Wish I had a better Spoonful!
Look! This is obviously an extraordinary compilation, but I'd just like to throw my 2 cents of negativity in here. I really, really miss the studio version of Spoonful. The live version included here is good (and long) but the sound produced in that studio was spot on. Oh well, so close to perfection!

Live Tracks Add to Value
Some live tracks just lack the quality to merit listening. Cream is an exception. All the live tracks are good to excellent. Toad remains my favorite. Traintime is an omission on this album, otherwise if you like Cream, you will like this.

The Best Cream Anthology Yet
GOLD is the best anthology of Cream available. It eliminates the trifling "Wrapping Paper", which marred THE VERY BEST OF CREAM, and gets straight to "I Feel Free", which is the true beginning of the band's incredible legacy. Disc One, which is devoted entirely to studio material, is consistent from soup to nuts, featuring such outstanding songs as "N.S.U.", "Strange Brew", "Sunshine Of Your Love", "Tales Of Brave Ulysses", "White Room", "Politician", and other heavy blues-rock classics which paved the way for the style that is today called heavy metal; the only lighthearted cut on this disc is the annoying "Anyone For Tennis", but that's made up for by the twenty other studio cuts here. Disc Two, on the other hand, which is all live material, is more of a mixed bag. Three songs here- "Crossroads", "Sunshine Of Your Love", and "I'm So Glad"- are incredible, but the rest do not hold up as well as the studio songs. Nevertheless, this anthology is a must-own for anyone serious about rock music.

CREAM GOLD
I WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT 5 STARS BUT FOR THE LACK OF THE STUDIO "SPOONFUL". THE VERSION THAT IS INCLUDED IS FROM "WHEELS OF FIRE" AND IS AT TIMES BLOATED AND OVER WROUGHT. HOW CAN ONE HAVE A CREAM BEST OF COLLECTION WITHOUT THE STUDIO VERSION OF "SPOONFUL"?????? SHAMEY-SHAME!