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Cream’s penultimate album – the 1968 studio/live set Wheels of Fire – will be expanded this summer, offering four unique mixes of the studio disc on two CDs, an expanded concert offering on another two, and a selection of rare and unreleased cuts on a fifth CD.

The Wheels of Fire (Super Deluxe Edition) will also be matched by Wheels of Fire: In the Studio, a triple LP set that, true to its name, features the studio material from the 5CD collection. (Wheels of Fire: Live At The Fillmore and Winterland, a triple album collecting the live tracks, was released for Record Store Day last month.) Overseen by producer Bill Levenson, the collection includes liner notes by Jim Farber and archival photographs in a hardcover book, which is packed in a rigid, silver laminate-finished slipcase alongside a gatefold carrier to house the discs. (The 3LP version, pressed on 180-gram vinyl, is packaged in a metallic-finished gatefold with unique color inner sleeves.) Both sets hit stores June 12.

Released less than a year after the release of Disraeli Gears in late 1967, Wheels of Fire actually started recording months before. The studio disc featured a burst of sessions where lead singer/bassist Jack Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker collaborated with producer Felix Pappalardi on a series of powerful originals (the Bruce-led “White Room” and “Politician,” the Baker-fuelled “Pressed Rat and Warthog”) and Clapton-curated blues standards (“Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Sittin’ on Top of the World”). The accompanying live disc (each of them released separately, as well) featured a quartet of recordings from springtime 1968 sets in San Francisco – marketed as primarily from The Fillmore West but mostly taken from the Winterland Ballroom. Highlights include the Baker drum solo “Toad” and a searing rendition of the Robert Johnson standard “Crossroads.” (Clapton first recorded the tune with studio group The Powerhouse in 1966; it’s since become closely associated with him thanks to his arrangement.) Despite the more relaxed sessions and eventual success of the album, reaching No. 3 in the U.K., topping the U.S. charts and spinning off an American Top 10 in “White Room,” Wheels of Fire essentially heralded the end of Cream. Exhausted by a relentless touring schedule and increasing tensions among the rhythm section, Cream announced their split before Wheels even started turning in U.K. record shops. They embarked on a final tour in 1968 and released the album Goodbye in early 1969.

Though the first two discs of the new Wheels of Fire box feature the album four times, the various mixes will be of particular interest to collectors and fans. The album’s original stereo mix utilized a then-new process known as the Haeco-CSG (Compatible Stereo Generator), a processor meant to facilitate stereo recordings that could easily play in mono. However, this process regrettably “blurred” any sound caught toward the center of the audio image. A new stereo restoration removes the encoder, enabling the clearest stereo mix of the album yet. (Also included are stereo and mono reference mixes recovered from long-lost session reels from producer Pappalardi’s archive.) Most of the bonus live material was released on the 1972 Live Cream volumes, with one track debuting on the aforementioned RSD release. The studio rarities disc includes a host of alternate mono and stereo mixes as well as single versions of “White Room,” the non-album “Anyone for Tennis,” and additional live Winterland tracks that appeared on various box sets and reissues over the years. It looks far and away the most comprehensive version of the album one could imagine, and it’s yours to pre-order below, with a June 12 release holding firm. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

Wheels of Fire (Super Deluxe Edition) (Polydor/UMR (U.K.), 2026)

5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1-2: Wheels of Fire – In the Studio

CD 1 features original CSG encoded stereo version as Tracks 1-9 and phase corrected/de-CSG’d stereo version as Tracks 10-18. Tracks 1-9 released as LP1 of Polydor 583 031/2 (U.K.)/ATCO SD 2-700 (U.S.), 1968. Tracks 10-18 previously unreleased and also included as LP 1 of vinyl version.

CD 2 features stereo reference reels as Tracks 1-9 and mono reference reels as Tracks 10-18. Tracks 3 and 12 are listed as “(Long Version)” and Tracks 5 and 14 listed as “(with Spoken Intro).” All tracks previously unreleased; Tracks 10-18 also included as LP 2 of vinyl version.

1. White Room
2. Sitting on Top of the World
3. Passing the Time
4. As You Said
5. Pressed Rat and Warthog
6. Politician
7. Those Were the Days
8. Born Under a Bad Sign
9. Deserted Cities of the Heart

CD 3-4: Live At The Fillmore & Winterland Ballroom

1. Crossroads
2. Spoonful
3. Traintime
4. Toad

1. N.S.U.
2. Sleepy Time Time
3. Rollin’ and Tumblin’
4. Sweet Wine
5. Tales of Brave Ulysses
6. We’re Going Wrong
7. Sunshine of Your Love
8. Steppin’ Out

CD 3 released as LP 2 of Polydor 583 031/2 (U.K.)/ATCO SD 2-700 (U.S.), 1968

• Tracks 1-2 recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/10/1968 (first show)
• Track 3 recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/8/1968 (first show)
• Track 4 recorded live at The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA – 3/7/1968 (second show)

CD 4, Tracks 1-4 released on Live Cream – Polydor 2383 016 (U.K.)/ATCO SD 33-328 (U.S.), 1970

• Tracks 1 and 4 recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/10/1968
• Track 2 recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/9/1968
• Track 3 recorded live at The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA – 3/7/1968

CD 4, Tracks 5 and 7-8 released on Live Cream Volume II – Polydor 2383 119 (U.K.)/ATCO SD 7005 (U.S.), 1972

• Track 5 recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/10/1968
• Tracks 7-8 recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/9/1968

CD 4, Track 6 recorded live at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/x/1968. Released on Wheels of Fire: Live At The Fillmore & Winterland – Polydor/UMR, 2026

CD 5: Rarities – Early Versions, Alternate Mixes, Single Versions and Live Recordings

* previously unreleased; + included on LP 3 of vinyl version

1. White Room (Stereo U.S. Single Edit) (from ATCO U.S. single 45-6617, 1968) +
2. Sitting on Top of the World (Alternate Stereo Mix) * +
3. Passing the Time (Alternate Long Stereo Mix) * +
4. As You Said (Alternate Stereo Mix) * +
5. Pressed Rat and Warthog (Alternate Stereo Mix) *
6. Politician (Alternate Stereo Mix) * +
7. Anyone for Tennis (Stereo Single Mix) (from ATCO U.S. single 45-6575, 1968) +
8. White Room (Early Version Mono Mix) * +
9. Deserted Cities of the Heart (Rough Mono Mix – No Strings) * +
10. Pressed Rat and Warthog (Alternate Mono Mix) * +
11. As You Said (Alternate Mono Mix) * +
12. Anyone for Tennis (Mono Single Mix) (from Polydor U.K. single 56258, 1968) +
13. Crossroads (Mono Single Version) (from ATCO U.S. single 45-6646, 1969)
14. N.S.U. (Live At the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/9/1968) (from Those Were the Days – Polydor 314 539 000-2, 1997)
15. Sunshine of Your Love (Live At the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA – 3/7/1968) (from Japanese pressing of Wheels of Fire – Polydor UICY-40038/9, 2013)