Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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Cream

  • Live Cream [Atco, 1970] C+
  • Live Cream Volume II [Atco, 1972] C+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Live Cream [Atco, 1970]
Clapton, Bruce, and Baker made their money (and names) and ruined their music (and fellowship) in concert. About forty percent of what they released on record during their career was live, so this posthumous product is unnecessary by definition; it's also preferable to the live disc of Wheels of Fire ("Toad" and "Spoonful" are their nadir), if not to the more shapely live cuts on Goodbye. The intensity of side one is unmistakable and attractive, but I'll take Clapton's graceful picking on Fresh Cream's "Sleepy Time Time" over the flat-out distortions here--Hendrix has all that amp stuff locked up solid. About the strings, we'll see. C+

Live Cream Volume II [Atco, 1972]
Another live album, and still Atlantic withholds the legendary twenty-minute "Anyone for Tennis" they did at Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum in Omaha on June 15, 1968! C+

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