Wheels of Fire is the third album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in 1968 as a two-disc vinyl LP, with one disc recorded in the studio and the other recorded live. It reached #3 in the United Kingdom and #1 in the United States, becoming the first platinum-selling double album. In May 2012 it was ranked number 205 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. (More from Wikipedia)
As was often true throughout the British Invasion, the British and American releases of Fresh Cream were different. "I Feel Free" is not on the U.K. version even though it was the band's first single in Britain, while "Spoonful" is omitted from the original American release – happily it is included on my copy, since it is one of my favorite Cream tracks. "Spoonful" is also a standout, extended live track on Wheels of Fire.
Disraeli Gears marked the arrival of the man who became essentially a fourth bandmember in Cream, Felix Pappalardi. He was the record producer on this album and the next two, and Pappalardi plays many different instruments (often uncredited), particularly on Wheels of Fire.
The first "posthumous" album by Cream, Live Cream (later called Live Cream, Vol. 1) had just 5 tracks, mostly drawn from the songs on Fresh Cream; another live album was a natural due to the critical and public acclaim for Wheels of Fire (the first double-album to go platinum), where one of the two albums was recorded live. Bruce Eder calls Live Cream "their most consistently brilliant album for sheer musicianship".
(May 2014)
