Album Reviews

There never has been a spectacular-sounding reissue of this great Cream classic and there never will be. Unfortunately, the original recording was not particularly distinguished.

While Cream was a UK-based band, it was signed to Atlantic and recorded by Atlantic in America by Tom Dowd. While the late Dowd is legendary, I'm not sure the legend, at least in terms of engineering, stands up to scrutiny.

Dowd tended to record at low levels, producing many hissy, non-dynamic, distant-sounding recordings such as this one and especially Derek and The Dominoes Layla. Imagine what that might have sounded like with Glyn Johns in control.

No need to beat up Dowd any further. He was better at jazz than rock and the damage is done and he's passed away.

The UK Reaction sounds better than the original tan/purple Atlantic and it sounds a bit more immediate and punchy than this recent Japanese 200g pressing, but this is close enough and delivers lots of detail, while being a little warmer (unusual in the world of Japanese LP mastering) than the original, or than would be ideal.

Good luck finding one. It's out of print. However, for my money, I'd pay for an original blue label UK Reaction copy and put up with perhaps a bit more noise.