My take on this is, yes. they were at their peak in 1967, and perhaps a bit burnt out in 1968 ... but even at less than 100% they were still amazing and worth hearing.
I misunderstood Marc's post. I thought he meant all the shows on this set were presented in mono. I take it back (right out of here)
I think it's kinda funny when people say, "Oh, Cream live 1968 are not as good as 1967," as if the performances here are going to be sub-par. Like, it's Cream. As in "of the crop."
Just wanted to add that the version on the Ginger Baker Album seems to have added applause and also runs a bit faster. But when lining up sections, the phasing sounds alone make it clear that it's an identical performance to the Fillmore.
Totally different shows too. I think comparing early 68 to later 68 makes for a better comparison at least.
These shows have been circulating in excellent quality for a few years now, though I'm sure this will be a significant upgrade (at the very least taken from the master vs. a copy tape). Based on those, I think the playing on these shows compares well with '67/early '68, though we have a different setlist, and, IMO more notably, we have a significant change in gear for Clapton. On the live recordings from '67/early '68, he was mostly using the famous "Fool" SG with full-size humbuckers, whereas on these recordings (bar RAH late show where he is using a 335) he is most often using a Firebird I, which has a significantly different tone to the other Gibson guitars he used previously. The brighter tone seems to give Clapton's tone a bit more definition. However, the output of a Firebird pickup (which is a unique mini-humbucker) is not as great as on his previous guitars, which could be problematic in a band like Cream where volume is everything, but I think the end result is the guitar blending more with the band rather than overpowering it. Ultimately combined with his state-of-mind at the time, this lends itself to a very different vibe from the earlier shows. As others have mentioned though, this is Cream we are talking about and even at their most under-rehearsed they sound like the masters of their instrument that they are. Behold Clapton and his Firebird: And just for good measure, I'd like to repeat how gosh darn excited I am for this set. It's very odd how long it's taken for a set like this to arrive given Cream's reputation as a live act but better late than never!
But...but... haven't we been told that cds are dying out? There was a massive thread here not long ago about cds being gone by 2020. This is great news.
Amazon US has the pre-order up for the disc set. $70 to start, but I imagine that will drop before it’s released.
True, but I believe that it was mostly relegated to the encore (“Spoonful”). I could be wrong, I wasn’t there (as much as I wish I had been) but I remember reading that on one of the many guitar forums out there.
Speaking of which, some of these songs were released on Goodbye and Live Cream Vol2 and other places so there should also be a separate release of the surviving March 68 Winterland/Fillmore tapes available in one place as well and include the Sunshine of Your Love, We're Going Wrong, alternate NSU and Toad etc.
Here are the 'Goodbye' tour dates. No idea which were recorded professionally other than the aforementioned shows upthread. There are a number of audience recordings of average to poor quality worth tracking down if ya dig that sort of thing. Oct. 4 - 'Alameda County Coliseum Arena' Oakland, California (with It's A Beautiful Day) Oct. 5 - 'University of New Mexico' Albuquerque, New Mexico Oct. 11 - 'New Haven Arena' New Haven, Connecticut Oct. 12 - 'Olympia Arena' Detroit, Michigan (with Friend and Lover, Siegel-Schwall Blues Band) Oct. 13 - 'Coliseum' Chicago, Illinois Oct. 14 - 'Veterans Memorial Auditorium' Des Moines, Iowa Oct. 18 - 'The Forum' Inglewood, California (with Deep Purple) Oct. 19 - 'The Forum' Inglewood, California (with Deep Purple) Oct. 20 - 'Sports Arena' San Diego, California (with Deep Purple) Oct. 24 - 'Sam Houston Coliseum' Houston, Texas Oct. 25 - 'Dallas Memorial Auditorium' Dallas, Texas (with the Vanilla Fudge) Oct. 26 - 'Miami Stadium' Miami, Florida Oct. 27 - 'Chastain Park Amphitheatre' Atlanta, Georgia (2 shows with Terry Reid) Oct. 31 - 'Boston Garden' Boston, Massachusetts Nov. 1 - 'The Spectrum' Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Nov. 2 - 'Madison Square Garden' New York, New York (with the Buddy Miles Express and Terry Reid) Nov. 3 - 'Civic Center Arena' Baltimore, Maryland (with the Moody Blues and Terry Reid) Nov. 4 - 'Rhode Island Auditorium' Providence, Rhode Island (2 shows) (the 2nd show was cut short due to time restrictions) Nov. 26 - 'Royal Albert Hall' London, England (2 shows with Taste and Yes)
Should insure it sounds better than last ABB set (where his name was WAY down near the bottom of credits list---did he bail early!?)
Supposedly the only show professionally recorded not on the forthcoming box is the 10/18 Forum show. Ironically, Deep Purple set's that night survives on video, It also looks like Passing the Time was dropped after the Oakland show and Deserted Cities after the New Mexico show.
