Wheels of Fire Songs Ranked

Wheels of Fire is the third album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in the US June 1968 as a two-disc vinyl LP, with one disc recorded in the studio and the other recorded live. It was released in the UK August 9. It reached number three in the United Kingdom and number one in the United States, Canada and Australia, becoming the world’s first platinum-selling double album.^{[11][12][user-generated source?]} In May 2012, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 205 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was voted number 757 in the third edition of Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). It was also released as two single LPs, Wheels of Fire (In the Studio) and Wheels of Fire (Live at the Fillmore), released together with similar cover art. In the UK the studio album art was black print on aluminium foil while the live album art was a negative image of the studio cover. In Japan, the studio album art was black on gold foil, while the live album art was black on aluminium foil. In Australia, both covers were laminated copies of the Japanese releases. Here are all of Wheels of Fire songs ranked.

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13. Passing the Time

“A pretty, mellow track for bookends, which works well as a lullaby kind of song (The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s song “Porcelain” is also a song that works well as a lullaby, but not as a pop/rock song). The middle part of this song is more hard rock, with slapping drums and a driving rhythm with the bass guitar. Also features a glassy percussion effect and the vocal melody sounds familiar…perhaps from the Sesame St childrens’ tv show, for the song “Inchworm”.

12. Traintime

“Now, even though I love Cream like a family memember, let me explain why I gave the album only four stars. And I’ll be honest, Cream rocked, but also had a bad habit of putting in a few fillers. Now if you are familiar with the band, then you know what I’m talking about.”

11. As You Said

“Another song featuring the cello or similar bassy instrument (double bass perhaps?). Has accoustic guitar and steel string accoustic guita by the sounds of it. A mellow song with sparkling guitar work and an Indian style accent.”

10. Toad

“Toad” didn’t send me off to sleep, despite its similar length. If you are of the school of thought that says that the only thing better than a three minute drum solo is a 13 minute drum solo, then I think you are going to love “Toad”!”

See more: Cream Albums Ranked

9. Pressed Rat and Warthog

“I really like this song for the same reason that I really like the opening track on The Sex Pistols’ “The great rock’n’roll swindle” album, which features Malcolm McLaren doing a spoken word fairytale on how he invented punk music. In other words, both songs appeal on a childish level…listening to a soothing bedtime story read by someone with a soothing voice.”

8. Those Were the Days

“Has fantasy lyrics, a theme that Led Zeppelin would mine in its later works. This is a pop/rock song with good drumming and is bassy too. Also has pretty bell sounds too…not unlike that found the opening theme to the US cartoon series “Futurama”. “

7. Spoonful

“Personally, I drifted off for “Spoonful” on the two occasions that I listened to this song! It has an epic Moody Blues vibe to it.”

6. Deserted Cities of the Heart

“Has a deep bass and some of the guitar work reminds me of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the middle with you”. Some of the vocal melody also reminds me of the song which features the lyrics “It’s alright, well alright”…but I can’t remember the song act/title…might even be a Cream song, in which case that might be three Cream songs you hear on Australian radio where I live! Good drumming in this song and a violin also features…maybe a cello too. There is a squealy lead guitar solo too.”

5. Sitting on Top of the World

“A laid back, bluesy track with squeaky and distorted lead guitar and a noticeably bass sound. If you combined the best stuff from Disraeli Gears and the best studio stuff from Wheels of Fire, you’d have a 5 star album, and one of the best album ever made. “

See more: Cream Songs Ranked

4. Crossroads

“The live half kicks off with their legendary rocking arrangement of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads”- probably Cream’s most successful blues outing. Surprisingly, they keep this tune relatively concise at a modest 4 minutes”

3. Born Under a Bad Sign

“The lyrics are fun…a blues song which gently mocks the genre. Cream sort of does to the Blues, what Monty Python did to those pub stories which start with “I was so poor that…”. A deep bass sound with more squeaky, distorted lead guitar sounds featured. A good addition to the blues genre in any case.”

2. Politician

“Cream get political on this song. It’s a sleazy, bluesy, carnival type of song, with a cynical outlook towards those we elect. This song put to mind the story of “The Profumo Affair”, which I had heard about when the movie “Scandal” was advertised some years back.”

1. White Room

“This is one of the two Cream songs that you will hear on classic pop/rock stations in Australia. The other song is “Sunshine of your love”. This track has good, subtle drumming and a distorted, sort of heavy metalish guitar sound, and there is a good lead guitar solo too. The riff sort of reminds me of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet home Alabama”, which came after it.”