Live Cream
Live album by
Cream
ReleasedApril 1970 (1970-04)[1]
RecordedMay 1967
7 March 1968
9 and 10 March 1968[2]
VenueAtlantic Studios, New York City
Fillmore West, San Francisco, California
Winterland, San Francisco, California
GenreBlues rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock
Length41:45
LabelAtco
ProducerFelix Pappalardi, Ahmet Ertegun, Robert Stigwood[2]
Cream chronology
Best of Cream
(1969) 		Live Cream
(1970) 		Live Cream Volume II
(1972)
Singles from Live Cream
  1. "Lawdy Mama"
    Released: July 1970[1]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Christgau's Record GuideC+[4]

Live Cream (also called Live Cream, Volume 1) is a live compilation album by the British rock band Cream, released in 1970. This album comprises four live tracks recorded in 1968 and one studio track "Lawdy Mama" from 1967. The instrumental track for "Lawdy Mama" is the same as heard on "Strange Brew" with a different vocal and guitar solo by Eric Clapton.

Live Cream hit No. 15 on the Billboard 200,[5] No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart,[6] and No. 10 on the Finnish Album Charts.[7]

Critical reception

In a 1970 review, Rolling Stone magazine called Live Cream "an excellent album" and "well-recorded, controlled, and tense; the timing of the band can capture the listener with an excitement that has nothing to do with nostalgia".[8] Paul Kresh of Stereo Review called it "a strangely uneven set of performances" highlighted by the "studio-made" "Lawdy Mama", which he called "three minutes of truly exciting music." He described the album as "disappointing jazz/rock" with excellent recording and stereo quality, particularly "superb" remixing by Adrian Barber, and felt that the longer tracks "suffer from interludes of aimlessness", but are generally "very good".[9]

In a retrospective review, Allmusic's Bruce Eder gave Live Cream four out of five stars and said that it "could well be their most consistently brilliant album for sheer musicianship", despite only featuring songs from Cream's "least ambitious and most rudimentary album" Fresh Cream (1966). Eder found the group's interplay throughout the jams "fascinating" and asserted that "performances like this single-handedly raised the stakes of musicianship in rock."[10] However, Robert Christgau said, despite side one's "unmistakable and attractive" intensity, he prefers "Clapton's graceful picking on Fresh Cream's 'Sleepy Time Time' over the flat-out distortions here".[4] J. D. Considine, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), gave it two out of five stars and wrote that both Live Cream and its second volume are "muddled leftovers released solely to cash in on the band's enduring popularity."[11] "Ultimate Classic Rock" rated the album in the "Top 100 Live Albums", and said the album found "cool new wrinkles in the old material".[12]

Track listing

Side 1
No.TitleRecording date and locationLength
1."N.S.U." (Jack Bruce)10 March 1968, Winterland10:13
2."Sleepy Time Time" (Bruce, Janet Godfrey)9 March 1968, Winterland6:50
3."Lawdy Mama" (Traditional, arr. Eric Clapton)May 1967, Atlantic Studios2:46
Side 2
No.TitleRecording date and locationLength
4."Sweet Wine" (Ginger Baker, Godfrey)10 March 1968, Winterland15:15
5."Rollin' and Tumblin'" (Hambone Willie Newbern)7 March 1968, The Fillmore6:42

CD version track listing

  1. "N.S.U." (Bruce) – 10:12
  2. "Sleepy Time Time" (Bruce, Godfrey) – 6:50
  3. "Sweet Wine" (Baker, Godfrey) – 15:15
  4. "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (Newbern) – 6:42
  5. "Lawdy Mama" (Traditional) – 2:46

Personnel

Per liner notes[2]

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[13] Platinum 300,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ a b Strong, Charles (2002) [Originally published in 1994]. The Great Rock Discography (Sixth ed.). United Kingdom: Canongate Books. p. 323. ISBN 1-84195-312-1.
  2. ^ a b c Live Cream (CD liner). Cream. Polydor Records. 1997. 531,816-2.((cite AV media notes)): CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ "Live Cream, Vol. 1 - Cream | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b Christgau, Robert. "Album: Cream: Live Cream". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Cream > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums" at AllMusic. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  6. ^ "Live Cream". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  7. ^ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. p. 100. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  8. ^ "Review: Live Cream". Rolling Stone. New York. 28 May 1970. p. 46.
  9. ^ Kresh, Paul (September 1970). "The Cream: Live Cream". Stereo Review. Chicago. 25: 129.
  10. ^ Eder, Bruce. "Live Cream, Vol. 1 – Cream". Allmusic. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  11. ^ Considine, J. D.; et al. (2 November 2004). Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 198–9. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  12. ^ "Top 100 Live Albums". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  13. ^ "Cream – Certified British platinum album presented to Jack Bruce for the record "Live Cream"". Archived from the original on 31 August 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.((cite web)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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