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* Studio/Live Recordings *

Released: February 1969


Rating: 3.200 (average of 11 ratings)


Genre: classic British blues rock


Quotable: --


Album Tracks:

  1. I’m So Glad (live) (James) [9:13]
  2. Politician (live) (Brown/Bruce) [6:20]
  3. Sitting on Top of the World (live) (Chatmon/Vinson) [5:04]
  4. Badge (Clapton/Harrison) [2:47]
  5. Doing That Scrapyard Thing (Brown/Bruce) [3:18]
  6. What a Bringdown (Baker) [3:57]


Sales:

sales in U.S. only 500,000
sales in U.K. only - estimated --
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated 500,000


Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 2
peak on U.K. album chart 1 4


Singles:

  • Badge (4/5/69) #60 US, #18 UK


Notes: Cream’s official output during the short existence consisted of two studio albums and two albums of both studio and live material. The Cream box set Those Were the Days is an excellent way to get all of that material, with all the studio material on 2 discs and the live material on 2 more. The live discs also encompass the two Live Cream collections released soon after the band dissolved in 1970 and 1972.


Goodbye
Cream
Review:
“Like Wheels of Fire before it, Goodbye showcases both sides of Cream: that of a late-'60s pop band and that of an unchained blues-rock powerhouse. The live tracks on side one are highly improvised affairs, with even I'm So Glad receiving an extended guitar solo from Clapton. How he is able to play such laid-back and tasty blues over the relentlessly aggressive Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker is a mystery. In fact, the real superstar of these recordings is Bruce, whose upfront, distorted bass playing kicks Baker along as much as it challenges Clapton. At times it sounds more like a battle than anything else, battles that Bruce, with his tenacity and pure drive, almost always wins. The ominous neo-blues of Politician and the more traditional Sitting on Top of the World close out this extraordinary selection of live material. Side two opens with one of Cream's finest pop songs: Badge. Co-written by George Harrison, this track features more great bass from Bruce as well as some phenomenal singing. The remaining tracks on side two, Doing That Scrapyard Thing and What a Bringdown, aren't quite up to the standards of the other material, but what would a Cream album be without some throwaways? Luckily the other tracks are so strong as to raise it to the status of a must-have. A fitting way to go out, Goodbye captures all that is good about Cream, and is one of the band's proudest moments” (Gioffre).


Review Source(s):


Related DMDB Links:

Previous Album: Wheels of Fire (1968) Eric Clapton’s DMDB page Next Album featuring Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker: Blind Faith’s ‘Blind Faith’ (1969)


Last updated April 8, 2008.