Wheels of Tire?
Overall Album Score: 8.5 out of 10 Okay. Cream's third (and last) complete studio album is another corker! Sure, it scored lower than any other Cream album before it, but that's because those complete losers put a bunch of weird old psychedelic stuff in the middle of the album as if they couldn't come up with anything better to waste our time with ... Oh wait, they did! A 15-minute live drum solo at the end of the album! OOOOOOH MAAAAAANNNNNNNN... This album comes in two parts. One is a studio disc. The second is a live disc. The 8.5 score applies only to the studio disc. I scored the live disc separately giving it a Live Album Score of a 1 (which is the highest score). Sure, the thing might contain only four songs and two of them are more than 15 minutes long chock-full of INSTRUMENTAL ROCK JAMS and a FREAKING DRUM SOLO, but it dang sure well proves to us what Cream was like live. And they do sound differently than they did in the studio. But let's talk about the studio disc, here. I go into more detail about the live disc DOWN THERE (scroll down if you don't believe me, dang it). The studio disc effectively contains one song: "White Room." That track is so freakingly awesome, that .............. dang. That's my favorite Cream song of all time, I reckon! Great great melody, great great instrumentals ..................... Yay!! Everyone's heard that song, by the way. Even YOU. But there's also other songs on this disc. There's the completely COOL "Deserted Cities of the Heart," there's the Led Zeppelin-esque "Politician" ... there's a lot of stuff on the album! The only songs that I don't care much for is the psychedelic/classical music trilogy that appears to infest the middle-part of the album. "Passing the Time" is just very bleak. Bleak. Bleak. Bleak. "As You Said" is alright, but it tries to be TOO psychedelic, when only The Beatles have the credentials for it. "Pressed Rat and Warthog" is wonderfully INSANE, but it's not exactly entertaining. Just spoken words put to a classical music backing. Other than that, however, this album is classic. Everyone must love this album. EVERYONE IN THE WOOOOORLDDDDDDD!!! Overall Album Score: 8.5 out of 10 (Again, the classical music/psychedelic stuff in the middle is just too much. But this is a classic album all the same. "White Room" kicks all buttocks.) Average Song Score: 8.6 (Marred quite a bit by those misfired classical-rock excursions or just trying to be TOOO psychedelic, but ... crap! There's a lot of CLASSICS on here!!!!) Album Tilt: 8.5 (I can ignore the soggy bit in the middle if you can. Besides, it's not all that bad.) Artist Rating: 8.5 (They're still great instrumentalists and stuff. And "White Room" is one of the best songs EVERRRRRR.) Track Reviews White Room 10plus/10 This song is so freaking awesome that I can't even begin to tell you about why. It's just so absolutely perfect that ... I can't make fun of it! Aaaaaaarggghhhh! I want to make fun of stuff, dang it! ... But this is PERFECT. It is PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT... The melody is as catchy as about anything, the instrumentation again proves why Cream is so well revered in the rock-and-roll community. This is one of the most well known songs from the psychedelic period, and there's dang good reason for it! FREAKING AWESOME!!!! Sitting on Top of the World 8.5/10 A bit of a disappointment after that awesome, rollicking album-opener. This is a mid-tempoed blues-rock song with a passable melody, but it features some really nice 'lectric guitar licks! LICK THEM 'LECTRIC............... It does get grittier and harder at the end of the song, though. It's the electric guitaring that makes this song good, though, no doubt about it. Passing the Time 7/10 This one sounds like a dying merry-go-round ride with a rock jam in the middle of it. B-L-E-A-K. As You Said 8/10 They're trying to be all Beatlesy if you ask me. The melody, dissonant. The music, classical-inspired. The atmosphere, weird. You aren't the freaking Beatles!! Now give me some more electric guitar!! On the bright side, this song is, without a doubt, interesting! It's even entertaining if you can forget that it's POUNDING ON YOUR BRAIN. Pressed Rat and Warthog 7.5/10 More of this weird classical stuff. It's not crap to be sure, but it's ... uhhhhhhhhhh ... psychedelic for psychedelic's sake? There's not even singing on this. It's just this really weird poem backed with classical music and drumming. And there's a rock jam at the end of this. ... As if we had a doubt that there wouldn't be one! ... It's entertaining in a weird way. Politician 9/10 Sounds like Led Zeppelin a year or so later! It has a nice but choppy power riff, a good melody, and excellllllent instrumental performances! ... These go all over the place, man, and just freak me out, baby!! Those Were the Days 8.5/10 Thooooooooseeeeee were the days my friend, I'd thought they'd neeeverrrrrrr end, we'd sing and daaaaaaance foreeeeeeever and aagainnnnnnnn... Oh wait. That's not that song. That's ... uhhhh ... this psychedelic song by Cream. This is another classical music inspired one, except it's not as misguided (I guess) as some of the previous ones. This one has a good melody and is highlighted by a very effective 'lectric guitar solo. Enjoyable, this. Born Under a Bad Sign 8.5/10 Another good song that rings of early Led Zeppelin. (Of course, ringing of early Led Zeppelin is a good thing ... I might not be a great fan of that band, but ...) And! Good guitars! Huahuhuuhhhaah! Deserted Cities of the Heart 9.5/10 More psycho-stuff from the CREAM-people. This is more of the hard-rock variety, fortunately! I like the melody and I realllllly like that rock jam thing at the end of this. It just EXPLODES ALL OVER YOU LIKE A ... heart exploding? And you get all this carnage on you, and ... whooooooahhhhhhhh. This song is awesome. 2ND DISC!!!!!!!!!!! Live Disc Score: 1 (It presents us a side of Cream that we would never ever conceivably get from the studio. And, if you're in the mood for LENGTHY instrumental improvisational jams, then this is your thing.) Okay, you weird people who is reading this freaking album review. The second disc here is LIVE and there are only FOUR songs on here. But each of these SONGS are VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VREH VERGHE VERYGE VERY GERVERH VERINH VERIHNOER VOREINGHO VOIERNMGH VOREINGOERIFNOH ORIHNOER LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah! That's pretty long. What makes it long, I bet you're asking. Why, it's because they contain utterly FREAKINGLY LONG "Crossroads" is EASILY the best song on the live disc and also my second favorite song on the entire album! I don't even think a studio version of this exists, so I guess there really is no good reason for me to apply my self-imposed rule for reviewing live stuff. This song isn't even long. It's like four minutes. (The long stuff comes AFTER this.) Indeed, it's not as awesome as "White Room," but this still is pretty danged awesome! This song has a freaking WONDERFUL riff and ... hiohiorieoneirngoeirnogkodfngnoeir ... All the coolness of the 60s pretty much wrapped up into one bundle. (Not that there aren't any other examples of coolness of the 60s, but ... this is a biggie.) The instrumental rock jam in this one I enjoy particularly. The bass-work is particularly great on this one!!! ... Not that the lead guitar isn't superb as well. The live version of "Spoonful" is SIXTEEN minutes long! It's great if you enjoy rock jams, but ... uhhhhhh ... I won't make a habit of listening to this. "Traintime" is another song that doesn't appear on a Cream studio album. It's not that great, but the performances, again, are absolutely wonderful! I love the harmonica work (which consists of the entire 7-minute duration of the song) and you'll even have to check out Baker's drumming. Any doubts that he isn't one of rock's greatest drummers? ... There's just so much danged energy in that! And, dang it, they repeat "Toad" again except that drum solo is FOREVERRRRRRRRR. The song, in total, is 16 minutes long. Can you take it???? ... I can take it. I really just don't want to. It's just show-offey stuff from a drummer who ... loves to show off! This thing must have worn the poor guy out, though, unless he was ... ummm ... Not that he isn't a great drummer, but .......... you know. Who really wants to listen to a 16-minute song consisting mostly of drum solo. If you do, YOU'RE A FREAK!!!!!! ... Or you're a genuine Cream fan. Those two things are probably interchangeable, actually. Wheels of FIRE ... and send some COMMENTS here. |
All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He parties with parties.
