Live Cream Volume II

Live Cream Volume II
Live album by Cream
Released	March 1972[1]
Recorded	9 March – 4 October 1968[1]
Genre	Blues rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock
Length	41:04[1]
Label	Polydor Atco
Producer	Felix Pappalardi[2]
Cream chronology
Live Cream (1970) Live Cream Volume II (1972) Heavy Cream (1972)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
Robert Christgau	C+[4]
Rolling Stone	(unfavorable)[5]

Live Cream Volume II is the second live compilation album by the British rock band Cream, released in March 1972 by Polydor Records (Atco Records in the US). This album contains six tracks recorded at various performances from 9 March to 4 October 1968.^[1]

Reception

Matthew Greenwald & and Bruce Eder of Allmusic stated that Volume 2 had more songs on it than its predecessor, including two songs whose album versions were released as singles. They also commented on how the sound quality was some of the best at the time. They did not like, however, that there were not as many extended jams as there were on the predecessor and that Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton's singing is not good on "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love." They think that the live version of "Deserted Cities of the Heart" is better than the studio version. They also think that the 1998 remastered version is better than the versions before.^[3]

Track listing

Side 1

1. "Deserted Cities of the Heart" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown) – 4.33
2. "White Room" (Bruce, Brown) – 5.40
3. "Politician" (Bruce, Brown) – 5.08
4. "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (Eric Clapton, Martin Sharp) – 4.46

Side 2

1. "Sunshine of Your Love" (Clapton, Bruce, Brown) – 7.25
2. "Steppin' Out" (James Bracken) – 13.38 (Mistitled as "Hideaway" on original LP pressings)

Track 5 recorded 9 March 1968 at the Winterland, San Francisco.
Tracks 4 & 6 recorded 10 March 1968 at the Winterland, San Francisco.
Tracks 1, 2 & 3 recorded 4 October 1968 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland.

Personnel

Per liner notes^[2]

• Eric Clapton – vocals, guitar
• Jack Bruce – vocals, bass, harmonica
• Ginger Baker – drums
• Felix Pappalardi – producer
• Tom Dowd – recording engineer
• Bill Halverson – recording engineer
• Gene Paul – re-mix engineer
• Kevin Brady – re-mix engineer
• Jim Marshall – cover photography
• Gene Trindl – backliner photography
• Stanislaw Zagorski – album design

Charts

Chart (1972)	Peak position
Canada (RPM100 Albums)[6]	30
UK (The Official Charts Company)[7]	15
US Billboard 200[8]	27

References

1. Greenwald, Matthew; Bruce, Eder. "Live Cream, Vol. 2 : Overview". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
2. Live Cream Volume II (Vinyl sleeve). Cream. United Kingdom: Polydor Records. back cover. UICY-93700.
3. Greenwald, Matthew; Bruce, Eder. "Review Live Cream, Vol. 2". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
4. Christgau, Robert. "Review: Live Cream Volume II". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
5. Saunders, Mike (1 January 2002). "Review: Live Cream Vol. 2". Rolling Stone. Jann S. Wenner.
6. "RPM – Item Display: Top Albums/CDs – Volume 17, No. 16, June 03 1972" (.Php). Library and Archives Canada. 31 March 2004.
7. "Live Cream Vol.2 by Cream". Chart stats. United Kingdom: The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
8. "Cream – Billboard Albums". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 3 December 2010.