Heavy Cream
Encyclopedia
Heavy Cream is a compilation album of music recorded by Cream
during 1966-68.
Although available in other territories as well, the album was largely released to address the North American market, in order for Polydor Records
to leverage Cream's back catalog; prior to 1972, Polydor had licensed Cream's recordings to Atco
/Atlantic Records
for North American distribution. Now out of print, Heavy Cream was available as a double album
during the years 1972-76, and was briefly reissued by Polydor's affiliated label RSO Records
in 1983.
With 22 tracks, Heavy Cream is one of the more comprehensive collections of Cream's work, containing over two-thirds of the band's studio recordings.
The album reached #135 on the Billboard Hot 200.
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
during 1966-68.
Although available in other territories as well, the album was largely released to address the North American market, in order for Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
to leverage Cream's back catalog; prior to 1972, Polydor had licensed Cream's recordings to Atco
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...
/Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
for North American distribution. Now out of print, Heavy Cream was available as a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
during the years 1972-76, and was briefly reissued by Polydor's affiliated label RSO Records
RSO Records
RSO Records was a record label, formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood in 1973. The "RSO" stands for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. The company's main headquarters were at 67 Brook Street, in London's Mayfair...
in 1983.
With 22 tracks, Heavy Cream is one of the more comprehensive collections of Cream's work, containing over two-thirds of the band's studio recordings.
The album reached #135 on the Billboard Hot 200.
Side one
- 1. "Strange Brew" (ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
, CollinsGail Collins Pappalardi-Biography:She was wife of the late Felix Pappalardi. She contributed lyrics to many Mountain songs and co-wrote Cream's "World of Pain" with Pappalardi and "Strange Brew" with Pappalardi and Eric Clapton...
, PappalardiFelix PappalardiFelix A. Pappalardi Jr. was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass guitarist.- Early life :Pappalardi was born in the Bronx, New York...
) – 2:45-
- From Cream's second album Disraeli GearsDisraeli GearsDisraeli Gears is the second album by British supergroup Cream. It was released in November 1967 and went on to reach #5 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also their American breakthrough, becoming a massive seller there in 1968, reaching #4 on the American charts...
(1967), produced by Felix PappalardiFelix PappalardiFelix A. Pappalardi Jr. was an American music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bass guitarist.- Early life :Pappalardi was born in the Bronx, New York...
. - Released as a single
- From Cream's second album Disraeli Gears
-
- 2. "White RoomWhite Room"White Room" is a song by British "supergroup" Cream. The song was a psychedelic rock number written by bassist Jack Bruce and poet Pete Brown. It originally appeared on the US release of their double album, Wheels of Fire, by Atco Records in July 1968 and was released as a single in September 1968...
" (BruceJack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, BrownPete BrownPeter Ronald Brown is an English performance poet and lyricist.Best known for his collaborations with Jack Bruce, Brown also worked with The Battered Ornaments, formed his own group Pete Brown & Piblokto!, and worked with Graham Bond and Phil Ryan. Brown also writes film scores and formed a film...
) – 4:37-
- From Cream's third album Wheels of FireWheels of FireWheels of Fire is the name of a double album recorded by Cream. The release was largely successful, scoring the band a #3 peak in the United Kingdom and a #1 in the United States, and became the world's first platinum-selling double album....
(1968), produced by Felix Pappalardi. - Released as a single
- From Cream's third album Wheels of Fire
-
- 3. "BadgeBadge (song)"Badge" is a song performed by Cream, written by Eric Clapton and George Harrison. It was included as a track on Cream's final album, Goodbye. Peaking at number 60 on Billboard's Hot 100, "Badge" was a minor hit after its release as a single in April 1969...
" (Clapton, HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
) – 2:45-
- From Cream's fourth album Goodbye (1969), produced by Felix Pappalardi.
- Released as a single
-
- 4. "SpoonfulSpoonful"Spoonful" is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf. It is loosely based on "A Spoonful Blues", a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton , itself related to "All I Want Is A Spoonful" by Papa Charlie Jackson and "Cocaine Blues" by Luke Jordan...
" (DixonWillie DixonWilliam James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
) – 6:31-
- From Cream's first album Fresh CreamFresh CreamFresh Cream is the debut studio album by British supergroup Cream. It was the first LP release of producer Robert Stigwood's new "Independent" Reaction Records label, released in the United Kingdom as both a mono and stereo version on 9 December 1966, the same time as the single release of "I Feel...
(1966), produced by Robert StigwoodRobert StigwoodRobert Stigwood is an impresario and entertainment entrepreneur who relocated to England in 1954...
.
- From Cream's first album Fresh Cream
-
- 5. "Rollin' and Tumblin'Rollin' and Tumblin'"Rollin' and Tumblin" is a blues song that has been recorded hundreds of times by various artists. Considered as a traditional, it has been recorded with different lyrics and titles...
" (MorganfieldMuddy WatersMcKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
) – 4:41-
- From Fresh Cream.
-
Side two
- 1. "I Feel FreeI Feel Free"I Feel Free" is a song first recorded by British rock group Cream. The song's lyrics were written by Pete Brown, its music by Jack Bruce. It was the first track on the US issue of their debut album, Fresh Cream , and the band's second hit single...
" (Bruce, Brown) – 2:54-
- From Fresh Cream.
- Released as a single
-
- 2. "Born Under a Bad SignBorn Under a Bad Sign-Album reissues:In 1998 Sundazed Records reissued the album with two additional bonus tracks, namely the rare mono single sides "Funk-Shun" and "Overall Junction", both written by Albert King...
" (JonesBooker T. JonesBooker T. Jones is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. and the MGs. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, earning him a Grammy Award for lifetime...
, BellWilliam Bell (singer)William Bell is an American soul singer and songwriter, and one of the architects of the Stax-Volt sound. As a performer, he is probably best known for 1961's "You Don't Miss Your Water" ; 1968's "Private Number" ; and 1976's "Tryin' To Love Two", Bell's only US top 40 hit, which also hit #1 on the...
) – 3:08 - 3. "Passing the Time" (BakerGinger BakerPeter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
, Taylor) – 4:31 - 4. "As You Said" (Bruce, Brown) – 4:19
- 5. "Deserted Cities of the Heart" (Bruce, Brown) – 3:36
-
- Tracks 2-5 from Wheels of Fire.
-
Side three
- 1. "Cat's Squirrel" (Dr. Isaiah RossDoctor RossDoctor Ross , aka Doctor Ross, the harmonica boss, was an American blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player and drummer — a one-man band— who was born Charles Isaiah Ross, in Tunica, Mississippi....
, arr.ArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
Cream) – 3:05-
- From Fresh Cream.
- B-side of "Wrapping PaperWrapping Paper"Wrapping Paper" is a song with music composed by Jack Bruce and lyrics by Pete Brown, performed by Cream and originally released as a single in 1966 with "Cat's Squirrel" as the B side. It is featured on The Very Best of Cream...
"
-
- 2. "CrossroadsCross Road Blues"Cross Road Blues" is a song by Delta Blues singer Robert Johnson; released on a 78 rpm record in 1936 by Vocalion Records, catalogue 3519. The original version remained out of print after its initial release until the appearance of The Complete Recordings in 1990...
" (Johnson, arr. Clapton) – 4:13-
- From Wheels of Fire.
- Released as a single
-
- 3. "Sitting on Top of the WorldSitting on Top of the World"Sitting on Top of the World" is a folk-blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon, core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, a popular country blues band of the 1930s...
" (Vinson, Chatmon; arr. BurnettHowlin' WolfChester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
) – 4:56-
- From Wheels of Fire.
-
- 4. "SWLABRSWLABR"SWLABR" is a song by British rock band Cream from their 1967 album Disraeli Gears and later released as the B-side to the single "Sunshine of Your Love"...
" (Bruce, Brown) – 2:31-
- From Disraeli Gears.
- B-side of "Sunshine of Your Love"
-
- 5. "What a Bringdown" (Baker) – 3:54
-
- From Goodbye.
- B-side of "Badge"
-
- 6. "Tales of Brave UlyssesTales of Brave Ulysses"Tales of Brave Ulysses" is a song performed by the 1960s group Cream. The lyrics were written by artist Martin Sharp, and the music was composed by Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce. Arranged by Robert Stigwood, the song is featured on Cream's album Disraeli Gears. Sharp had written the words on the...
" (Clapton, SharpMartin SharpMartin Sharp is an Australian artist, underground cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker. Sharp has made contributions to Australian and international culture since the early 60s, and is hailed as Australia's foremost pop artist...
) – 2:45-
- From Disraeli Gears.
- B-side of "Strange Brew"
-
Side four
- 1. "Take It Back" (Bruce, Brown) – 3:04
-
- From Disraeli Gears.
-
- 2. "Politician" (Bruce, Brown) – 4:11
-
- From Wheels of Fire.
-
- 3. "I'm So Glad" (JamesSkip JamesNehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter, born in Bentonia, Mississippi, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
) – 3:55-
- From Fresh Cream.
-
- 4. "Sunshine of Your LoveSunshine of Your Love"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British supergroup Cream. The song was originally released on the album Disraeli Gears in November 1967, and was later released as a single in January 1968. It is Cream's only gold-selling single in the United States. It features a distinctive...
" (Bruce, Brown, Clapton) – 4:08-
- From Disraeli Gears.
- Released as a single
-
- 5. "Those Were the Days" (Baker, Taylor) – 2:52
-
- From Wheels of Fire.
-
- 6. "Doing That Scrapyard Thing" (Bruce, Brown) – 3:14
-
- From Goodbye.
-
Cream
- Jack BruceJack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
- Bass guitar, keyboards, vocals; acoustic guitar on "As You Said"; harmonica on "Spoonful", "Rollin' & Tumblin'" & "Take It Back" - Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
- Lead guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals - Ginger BakerGinger BakerPeter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
- Drums, percussion, vocals
Additional Personnel
- Felix Pappalardi - Viola on "White Room" and "Deserted Cities of the Heart"; organ pedals on "Passing the Time"; keyboards on "Badge"; Bass guitar on "What a Bringdown"
- George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
- Rhythm guitar on "Badge"