Loading...
TCA's Collection

Cream   ??/??/1968

Compilation, San Diego & Oakland, CA
Source Digitally Remastered
Media SHN   2 discs
Notes Cream Remasters 9
Tech Notes

Thanks to Ron for this Behemoth, this is from the text file that came with the CDs.
Click on the thumbnails for full size image, the covers have been altered from the originals.

THE DIGITALLY REMASTERED BOOTLEGS

1966-68


Renovating the Blues (2 CDs)

CD1 (57 min)

Live at Klook's Kleek, London (15th Nov. 1966)

Klook's Kleek remastered quality: Klooks is dubbed from an LP record (that includes all bootleg versions on CD or tape). Original quality was reasonable but heavily clipped. The remaster needed only a modest rebalance, raising the bass slightly, but successfully reduced noise without loss of musical detail. Recording volume variations are corrected. Vocals are somewhat distant but clear , bass clear and present, drums clear and present but the guitar is dominant, which I feel is a realistic representation of their sound at the time. Sound quality is now good but naturally nothing could be done about the clipped sound.

Stepping Out (Bracken) 5.13
Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) 4.19
Meet Me in the Bottom (McGhee) 4.25
N.S.U. (Bruce) 4.33
Hey Lawdy Mama (Wells) 3.03
Sleepy Time Time (Bruce/Godfrey) 6.41
Crossroads (Johnson/arr. Clapton) 3.28

Live at the Konserthusert, Stockholm ( 7th March 1967)

Konserthusert remastered quality: This was a real enigma as it is widely touted as being of "excellent quality". It's problem is that all the versions I obtained were sped up. The best was a consistent 7%, the worse ranging from 7-15% ("I'm So Glad" was outrageously hyperactive!). I at last obtained a very good one which is a copy of a Swedish rebroadcast of 1972. Only a slight speed adjustment was required (typically) - bass and drums are quite clear with the guitar still somewhat recessed.

N.S.U. (Bruce) 4.06
Stepping Out (Bracken) 4.09
Traintime (Bruce) 5.55
Toad (Baker) 6.52
I'm So Glad (James) 4.58

CD2 (41 min)

Live at the Ricky Tick, Hounslow, W. London. (22nd April. 1967)

Ricky Tick remastered quality: Ricky starts as the best quality recording (though not rated that highly by collectors) and the remaster has made it excellent quality - better than I had anticipated. No rebalancing was required (balance does vary but that is a product of amp volume variation) as the digital noise filtering cleared up the sound marvelously. The bass sound is among the best available and the drums quite clear even though the guitar drowns them on occasions. Eric is playing extremely loud at times! Vocals are also clear - a professional audience bootleg recording (mikes left and right of stage with a quality recorder). Its a short boot remaster but magnificent - the possible additions would have degraded the brilliance of this recording.

Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 4.36
Hey Lawdy Mama (Wells) 3.31
Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) 5.24
Rollin' & Tumblin' (Morganfield) 5.41
Spoonful (Dixon) - Incomplete 7.40
Sitting on Top of the World (Burnett) - Incomplete 4.20
Toad (baker) - Incomplete 9.36






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outtakes & Alternates incl BBC Sessions (2Cds)

Remaster Quality: Variable but overrall quite good. All recordings have been standardised as to amplitude (volume) and digitally filtered. Acetate noise is still present but much reduced on that source material. The BBC recordings have been bass boosted (not by me) which is acceptable as they are quite thin sounding (all the other versions I have). The off-air recordings include noise as it was AM and recorded by mike - this has been reduced.

Comment: The Outtakes combined with the BBC give a rounded picture of Cream's playing and development at the time. The BBC performances are not in the class of the the brilliant Hendrix release but there are a few very good ones. Separately the Outakes and BBC are of marginal interest but when I combined them it all came together because of the very brief recording period.

CD1 (71 min)
Fresh Cream Sessions

July/Aug 1966, Rayrik Studios, Chalk Farm, London

1. Beauty Queen (J.Bruce) - Rehearsal
2. Coffee Song (Colton/Smith) - Rehearsal
3. Coffee Song (Colton/Smith) - Master, Alternate Mix (from Acetate)
4. You Make Me Feel (Bruce/Brown) - Rehearsal
5. Wrapping Paper (Bruce/Brown) - Rehearsal 1
6. Wrapping Paper (Bruce/Brown) - Master, Alternate Mix (from Acetate)

Sept 1966, Ryemuse Studio, Mayfair Productions, Mayfair, London

7. Cats Squirrel (Ross) - Rehearsal
8. Cats Squirrel (Ross) - Alternate Master (from Acetate)
9. I Feel Free (Bruce Brown) - Rehearsal
10. I Feel Free (Bruce Brown) - Incomplete Master
11. I Feel Free (Bruce Brown) - Master, Alternate Mix (from Acetate)

Oct. 1966, Ryemuse Studio, Mayfair Productions Studios, London

12. Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) - Rehearsal
13 . Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) - Rehearsal
14. Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) - Incomplete Master
15. Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) - Master, Alternate Mix (from Acetate)
16. Sleepy Time Time (Bruce/Godfrey) - Alternate Master (from Acetate)
17. Four Until Late (Johnson) - Master, Alternate Mix (from Acetate)

Nov 1966, Ryemuse Studio, Mayfair Productions Studios, London

18. Rollin? and Tumblin? (Morganfield) - Alternate Master
19. Toad (Baker) - Rehearsal
20. I?m So Glad (James) - Incomplete Master

Note: Some sources describe additional outtakes, these are "You Make Me Feel 2" which is a duplicate of track ?3?; "Wrapping Paper 2" which is a duplicate of track ?4?; "I Feel Free 2" which is a faulty copy of track ?9?.

The BBC Sessions

21/22 Intro/Wrapping Paper (Bruce/Brown) - BBC Radio 8 Nov 1966.
23/24 Intro/Traintime (Bruce) - BBC Radio 10 Jan 1967 (off air recording).
25/26 Intro/Stepping Out (Bracken) - BBC Radio 8th November 1966.
27. I?m So Glad (James) - BBC Radio 8th Nov 1966 (off air recording).

CD2 (79 min)

The BBC 'Fresh Cream'

1/2. Interview/I Feel Free (Bruce/Brown) - 10th January 1967
3. NSU (Bruce) - 10th January 1967
4/5/6. Intro/Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey)/outro - 8th November 1966
7. Sleepy Time Time (Baker/Bruce) - 8th November 1966 (off air)
8/9. Intro/Cats Squirrel (Ross/arr Splurge) - 9th December 1966
10. Four Until Late (Johnson) - 10th January 1967
11. I?m So Glad (James) - 9th December 1966
12. Rollin? and Tumblin? (Morganfield) - 8th November 1966
13. Toad (Baker) - 10th January 1967 (off air)
14. Traintime (Bruce) - 10th January 1967 (off air)

Disraeli Gears

15. Tales Of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) - mono single mix

Wheels of Fire Sessions

July/Aug 1967 ? IBC Studios, London

16. La La Song
17. Singalong
18. Tuba Tune
19. Spike?s Theme
20. Blue Moon
21. Polonaise Jam
22. Barrelhouse Blues

Tracks 15-22 feature Ginger Baker on Spoons/Percussion & Vocals, Jack Bruce on Piano & vocals except for 1 on Acoustic Bass, Eric Clapton on Acoustic Guitar & Vocals, Felix Pappalardi on small Tuba & Acoustic Bass. These are very stoned jams probably recorded at Jack or Ginger's home.

23. White Room (Bruce/Brown) - 1st Master.
24. Falstaff Beer (Baker/Bruce/Clapton)
25. Falstaff Beer (Baker/Bruce/Clapton)
26/27 Interview/Born Under A Bad Sign (Jones/Bell) 24th Oct 1967 - BBC Radio, London

Dec 1967 ? Atlantic Studios, N.Y.

28. Siting on Top of the World (Burnett) - B-side single mix
29. Anyone for Tennis (Clapton/Sharp) - Alt Master .
30. Pressed Rat and Warthog (Baker/Taylor) - Alt Master.
31. Politician (Bruce/Brown) - 9th Jan 1968 - BBC Radio Studios London

Oct, Dec 1967, Feb, June 1968 ? Atlantic Studios, N.Y.
32. As You Said (Bruce/Brown) - alternate mix
33. White Room (Bruce/Brown) - single edit.

Bonus Track - June 1965 - London
34. On Top of the World (Mayall) John Mayall?s Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton - Edit from acetate and hilights Eric?s innovative use of feedback.






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disraeli Gears Live (2 CDs)
incl BBC recordings

Note: This set is a mixture of Live recordings and the BBC "Disraeli Gears" Recordings. In combination they give a comprehensive and fascinating view of their experimentation and development over this period. Its got to be said that a couple of rehearsals would have helped but the BBC sessions helped fill that gap. The BBC on their own are marginal but combined with the Marquee and Barbecue produce a great set which I now really enjoy. The tracks are configured to give an historical (not purely chronological) and musical development overview.

CD1 (55 min)

Marquee Club, London, 23rd May 1967

Remastered Quality: A good quality audience recording let down by a an inadequate PA but balance is still quite good. It has been noise filtered, volume levels equalised and some rough edits & odd noises tidied up. A realistic sound handling the dual stack's volume quite well.

The BBC recordings are variable - the latter ones are better quality. The off air recordings are naturally inferior (AM broadcasts). Overall sound quality is good with a bit of bass boost thickening the sound and digital noise filtering clarifying things all round, especially on the off-air.

BBC
1. Intro/Lawdy Mama (Trad arr. Clapton) [which was reworked into:] 1.47

2. Strange Brew (Clapton/Papparlardi/Collins) 3.06

3. Interview of Eric Clapton .33

Marquee Club
4. Introduction 1.13

5. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 3.17

5. World of Pain (Pappalardi/Collins) 4.39

7. Outside Woman Blues (Reynolds) 3.54

8. Dance the Night Away (Bruce/Brown) 4.13

9. Sleepy Time Time (Bruce/Godfrey) 6.30

10. Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) 5.19

11. Rollin? & Tumblin (Morganfield) 4.42

12. NSU (Bruce) 3.28

BBC
13. I Feel Free (Bruce/Brown) (Live in Paris) 1.59

14. Take it Back (Bruce) (probably live in the studio) 3.07

15. Intro/Stepping Out (Bracken) (live in the studio) 3.35

16. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) (live in the studio) 3.01


CD2 (65 min)

Note: The BBC recordings are configured in album order as an alternative "Disraeli Gears".

Barbecue '67, Spaulding England, 29th May 1967

Remastered Quality: As I have made clear this is a severely flawed audience recording (not a soundboard as claimed by the commercial bootleggers!). It lacks bass and has just audible vocals. Bass has been boosted to a level of prescence but hardly clear and nothing could be done about the vocals. The good quality tape recording needed minimal filtering but some editing of extraneous mike/electrical noises. The drums are magnificently clear (and very live sounding) as is the guitar.

BBC recordings as above.

Barbecue '67
1. NSU (Bruce) 4:48

2. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 5:09

3. We?re Going Wrong (Bruce) 6:06

4. Stepping Out (Bracken) 5:25

5. Rollin? & Tumblin (Morganfield) 5:01

6. Toad (Baker) 7:08

7. I?m So Glad (James) 6:03

The BBC Disraeli Gears
8. Introduction 0:09

9. Strange Brew (Clapton/Papparlardi/Collins) 2:49

10. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 4:15

11. Blue Condition (Baker) 2:47

12. Introduction 0:43

13. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 2:56

14. SWALABR (Bruce/Brown)/Outro 2:31

15. We?re Going Wrong (Bruce) 3:25

16. Outside Woman Blues (Reynolds) 3:12

17. Take it Back (Bruce) 2:16






THE DIGITALLY REMASTERED BOOTLEGS

1967 - Jamming
Live at the Fillmore

Remaster Quality: This was an audience well back in the theatre. The guitars and drums overwhelm the PA so vocals are a bit distant. Noise has been reduced with the hard pause/starts tidied up and the usual bottom end boost to give some deep bass prescence. Sound is now good with the guitar realistically dominant but bass and drums clear.

Comment: This is when they started getting into the long jams so it is indispensible. Spoonful is a very different version so worth it for that alone.

CD1 (60 min) (CD2 is Live at the Fillmore - March '68)
Fillmore Theatre, San Francisco, 3rd September 1967

1. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 4.01
2. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 5.27
3. NSU (Bruce) 9.48
4. Lawdy Mama (Trad.) 4.53
5. Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) 10.56
6. Spoonful (Dixon) 12.03
7. Sleepy Time Time (Bruce/Godfrey) 7.08
8. Stepping Out (Bracken) 11.14




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EAST COAST, SEPT 1967

Brandeis Remastered Quality: Instruments better balanced with the bass much clearer and improved attack on the guitar. Vocals remain undermixed but clearer. Drums remain clear as the recording was centre stage. Volume variations and mike repositioning effects have been smoothed. Noise levels especially tape hiss significantly reduced. Final quality is not as good as Grande Ballroom but very listenable especially in conjunction with the excellence of the performance.

Psychedelic Supermarket Remastered Quality: Original recording quality was very low. The remaster has improved the balance but the bass remains dominant (much to the delight of Bruce fans!) but muddy. Noise levels are reduced but they remain noticeable. Final quality can only be classed as reasonable.

CD1 (44 min)
Brandeis University, Waltham Mass, 10th September 1967

1. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 4.52
2. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 12.04
3. NSU (Bruce) 19.20
4. Sitting on Top of the World (Chester Burnett) 6.55

CD2 (71 min)

Brandeis University, Waltham Mass, 10th September 1967

1. Stepping Out (Bracken) 14.38
2. Traintime (Bruce) 8.32
3. Toad (Baker) 17.02

Psychedelic Supermarket, Boston Mass, [10-16th] Sept. 1967

4. Spoonful (Willie Dixon) 11.44
5. Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey)- Inc 7.59
6. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 4.26
7. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 7.11




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GRANDE BALLROOM, OCT 1967

Grande Ballroom Remastered V2 Quality: The original recording was done with quality equipment off the PA mixer with the balance favouring the guitar and vocals. The remaster has significantly improved bass presence and lifted the drums especially the bass drums. The guitar retains its attack unlike the remasters on "Those Were The Days". Volume variations, dropouts have been smoothed and pitch corrected. Noise levels were not overly high but again have been reduced, especially the layers of tape noise. Final re-remaster quality is now extremely high. The latest remaster is from a digital copy of the master tape or quality 2nd gen at worst!

Comment: One of THE great Rock concerts! And damn good sound - very live and up front.

Grande Ballroom, Detroit Mich, 15th October 1967

CD1 (43min)

1. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 4.01
2. NSU (Bruce) 15.39
3. Sitting on Top of the World (Chester Burnett) 4.21
4. Sweet Wine (Baker/Godfrey) 13.21
5. Rollin' and Tumblin' (Morganfield) 7.15

CD2 (64 min)

1. Spoonful (Dixon) 20.20
2. Stepping Out (Bracken) 10.49
3. Traintime (Bruce) 7.05
4. Toad (Baker) 16.25
5. I'm So Glad (James) 9.37




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Live in Europe

CD1 (62 min)
England October/November, 1967

Remaster Quality: The tracks from the Fresh Live Cream video were typical film soundtrack quality with "We're Going Wrong" being the worst. Digital filtering and modest digital equalisation has made them excellent (from 3+ to 4+ in quality). The Concert bootleg is from a record of an audience recording but still reasonable quality, however it was sped up. Digital speed correction extended the recording by just over 2 minutes. Bass has been boosted to lift the drums but they remain distant as does the vocals- it was a poor PA. Remastering has reduced the tape noise so from 2 to 3 in quality. The added tracks give an accurate representation of a typical set on this tour - all in all it is a pretty good performance with "Stepping Out" to "I'm So Glad" excellent.

1. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 3.41
2. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 4.55
3. We?re Going Wrong (Bruce) 3.53
4. Spoonful (Dixon) 14.34
5. Stepping Out (Bracken) 9.58
6. Traintime (Bruce) 4.53
7. Toad (Baker) 10.54
8. I'm So Glad (James) (Incomplete) 7.19

Tracks 1 & 2 recorded at "The Revolution Club", London, Dec 1967
Track 3 recorded for BBC TV Nov 26 1967
Tracks 4-8, Unknown Venue, Oct - Nov 1967
Tracks 1-3 remastered from "Fresh Live Cream" video

CD2 (69 min)
Stockholm, Sweden, "Konserthusert", 14th November 1967

Remaster Quality: The original was very poor quality - all versions I have got. It was one of my most difficult reamsters but worth it because it was a great show. This is now remastered from a newly discovered and higher quality source. Unfortunately it was incomplete and "I'm So Glad" has been added from the original remaster so you get a chance to compare the quality.

Some rebalancing, pitch correction and filtering was still required and patches of frequency modulation are present. It was an audience tape of goode quality as they had a good PA. The concert is great - one of there best if relatively short. They are in great humour, Ginger in particular. Quality from 3+ to 4+ - (Glad - 3-) a very successful remaster.

1. Introduction .57
2. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 4.08
3. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 8.03
4. Sleepy Time Time (Bruce/Godfrey) 7.44
5. Stepping Out (Bracken) 12.01
6. Traintime (Bruce) 6.50
7. Toad (Baker) 11.29
8. I'm So Glad (James) 9.10

9. Spoonful (Dixon) 8.31

Track 9 recorded at "The Revolution Club", London, Dec 1967, remastered from "Fresh Live Cream" video





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



1968 Recordings

Live at the Fillmore

Remaster Quality: A good, well balanced audience tape as the PA is excellent giving a good balance to the vocals and drums. Clapton now has a much cleaner sound while still being loud. The remaster has reduced noise, boosted the deep bass and tided up the hard stop/starts (same recordist as in '67!). This is the complete first set plus Stepping Out from the 2nd. There were recorder problems and Stepping Out has had to be heavily bass filtered to get rid of low frequency noise. It is now listenable. There exist only poor quality fragments of some of the rest of that set.

Comment: They were playing in a very different mode that night - extremely interesting and rewarding. Just shows they were still experimenting.

CD2 (60 min) (CD1 is Live at the Fillmore - Sept '67)
Fillmore Theatre, San Francisco, 3rd March 1968

1. NSU (Bruce) 16.48
2. Politician (Bruce/Brown) 5.50
3. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 9.03
4. I?m So Glad (James) 14.06
5. Stepping Out (Bracken) 14.28


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back Bay Theatre/Winterland Outtakes

Remaster Quality: An excellent, well balanced audience tape as the PA is excellent giving a good balance to the vocals and drums. This is from a 2nd generation copy and sound is excellent. The remaster reduced tape noise and got rid of the hall bass boom (100 & 200Hz). This very realistically captures there live sound as it is all well balanced. The set has been split after Stepping Out because there was a tape change and the start of Traintime was rough as the tape sped up, which is now edited out.

Comment: This is one of their great concerts - we are very lucky it was captured for us to enjoy.

CD1 (57 min)
Boston, 5th April 1968

1. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 17.13
2. Spoonful (Dixon) 17.32
3. Sleepy Time Time (Bruce/Godfrey) 8.47
4. Stepping Out (Bracken) 13.25

CD2 (68 min)

1. Traintime (Bruce) 6.53
2. Toad (Baker) 17.32

The Winterland Outtakes
San Francisco, USA, 10th March 1968

Remaster Quality: This night was the prime source for the official releases. This is an audience recorded on the bass side. The PA is excellent so the drums and vocals are very clear. The guitar is distant but clear. Some tape stretch and flutter is in evident but quality is reasonable. We're Going Wrong is actually from a reference tape so quality is notably superior. Once again filtered but with treble boost to get more guitar. Balance is now reasonable but overall quality can only be classed as reasonable

Comment: Rounds out the Winterland releases and shows that the released Stepping Out is not from this night! Sunshine and Stepping are both superior to the official releases.

3. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 6.30
4. We?re Going Wrong (Bruce) 6.48
5. Stepping Out (Bracken) 14.35
6. Traintime (Bruce) 6.01
7. Toad (Baker) 11.36




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

California Days

CD1 Anaheim, California, 18th March 1968

1. Spoonful (Dixon) 16.20
2. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 10.18
3. Rollin? & Tumblin? (Morganfield) 5.41
4. Stepping Out (Bracken) 11.14
5. Toad (Baker) - Very Incomplete 0.57
6. I?m So Glad (James) 7.44 (Total 52 min)

The Fillmore, San Francisco, 7th March 1968

7. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 6.55
8. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 6.50
9. Bonus Track (Total: 73.49)

The Recording/Remastering

Anaheim

This was recorded well back from the stage with plenty of recorded chat from the guys. Quality is only reasonable with the drums distant. The PA was good as the vocals are clear but miking on the drums was poor.

The recording was underspeed and has been successfully corrected. Bass is prominent on "Spoonful" as Jack starts a bit turned up. This one of those gigs where Jack and Eric were really turned up and Baker drowned out.

Unfortunately the recordist did pause the tape between songs and stop it after "Stepping Out". Tape noise has been reduced but some momentary noises remain as they are imbedded in the recording.

Now a quite well balanced recording even with the recessed drums. And really we can't complain when a new recording does appear especially of this quite acceptable sonic quality and an excellent performance.

The Fillmore "Sunshine of Your Love"

"Sunshine of Your Love" from the 7th March 1968 Fillmore performance was released in 1988 on a limited edition 'After Midnight' CD single which is now a collectors item.

This is a rough mix off the master tape, which I believe was a quick mix by Tom Dowd to see if the tapes from that night were usable. It was the first night of the live recording sessions and Tom was trying to work out how to cope with Cream at concert volume levels.

To appreciate this recording you really have to listen to it on headphones as the guitar bleed into the drum mikes is very clear. In an attempt to mask it the guitar was panned centre during the solo - an effect that just wasn't right for a live recording. The most incredible sound is the bass drums on the ending jam. This is the most accurate quality reproduction of their live sound.

On the remaster I have created a two channel mono mix which eliminates the panning while still retaining the instrument balance. For comparison a tweaked version of the official remaster release, from 9th March Winterland, is included.



CD2 San Jose, California, 25th May 1968

1. Tales of Brave Ulysses (Clapton/Sharp) 4.23
2. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 10.16
3. I?m So Glad (James) 8.46
4. Sitting on Top of the World (Burnett) 5.51
5. Stepping Out (Bracken) 12.12
6. Traintime (Bruce) 7.33
7. Toad (Baker) - Almost complete 15.54 (65.00)

The Recording/Remastering

This was recorded on an 8 track cartridge recorder which were long ago, thankfully, assigned to the technological garbage bin. In this quality it has been released as a 'commercial' bootleg - a total rip-off.

For this concert they had a great PA and the drums were quite well miked . The recordist started well back in the auditorium but between Sunshine and Glad they moved forward with a resulting increase in presence and reduction in hall reverb.

The remastering was long and tedious but worth the effort. Major speed variations have been largely corrected but in terms of pitch it remains quite variable but very much improved - some 4 minutes longer!

Tape reversals have been edited but remain obvious, though much less intrusive. The "Toad" ending is abrupt after removal of the harsh noise of the tape termination. Basic balance was quite good and it is now very listenable but still quite flawed.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FINAL TOUR USA - On the West Coast

CD1 (62 min)
Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, California, 4th October 1968

Remaster: These are a reference tape off the masters from the full concert. Quality is very good except that the guitar is undermixed (explained in the liner notes). Sound is really one for the Bruce and/or Baker fans. Remastering boosted the guitar a bit but there just wasn't enough there - the sound is very weird for such a quality recording. Performance is very poor - so bad that it has to be listened to. Sound quality 4+ (5 except for the mix)

1. White Room (Bruce/Brown) 6.34
2. Politician (Bruce/Brown) 5.16
3. Crossroads (Johnson arr Clapton) 3.57
4. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 5.12
5. Spoonful (Dixon) 17.09
6. Deserted Cities of the Heart (Bruce/Brown) 4.19
7. Passing the Time aka "Scatterfaragus" (Baker) 10.57
8. I?m So Glad 7.02

Tracks 1, 2 & 6 released on Live Cream Vol II with a different mix

CD2 (59 min)
Sports Arena, San Diego, California, 20th October 1968

Remaster: Another reference tape but the master tape is better balanced. The guitar is higher in the mix and the remaster has improved it even more. The bass and drums remain clean and clear with the drum sound more live then the official releases. Despite some equipment problems it was a good performance - Crossroads being quite reasonable and Spoonful actually producing some sparks. The LA Forum "White Room" is better then the released version except for a recording drop out. Please note that the bootleggers have wrongly attributed this recording (explained in the liner notes). This is the best boot from the final tour in terms of sound (by a very long mile!) and performance (there are a couple of as good but sound is bad). Sound - 5.

1. White Room (Bruce Brown) 6.38
2. Crossroads (Johnson arr. Clapton) 4.29
3. Sunshine of Your Love (Bruce/Brown/Clapton) 6.40
4. Traintime (Bruce) 9.47
5. Toad (Baker) 14.16
6. Spoonful (Dixon) 15.09

Track 1 recorded LA Forum 19th March


Trades Allowed Yes
Reference / Generation Archive 8
Owned by TCA · Last Updated May 23, 2023