Talk:Wheels of Fire

For discussion of whether this should be considered a double album, see Talk:Cream (band). Andrewa 20:10, 21 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Creamwheelsoffire.jpeg
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 * I have added a fair use rationale to the album cover image. — Mudwater  22:15, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

FIRST PLATINUM ALBUM?????????
I've always heard - EVERYWHERE - that the first platinum album awarded was for Iron Butterflys In A Gadda Da Vida. Anyhow, on wikipedia, BOTH in a gadda AND this album claims to be the first. I think Ill go for Butterfly, since Ive read that A LOT OF PLACES, but SOMEONE PLEASE choose, whether In A Gadda OR Wheels Of Fire was the first platinum album. Just check RIAAs database for the dates for example. They cant both be the first —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.107.24.213 (talk) 13:54, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Whoever wrote that Wheels of Fire was "the first album certified platinum" misread the cited reference, which says that it was Cream's first ever platinum disc. And Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida wasn't the first platinum disc either. According to RIAA it was The Eagles's Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975). --Bruce1ee talk 07:02, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Correction: Wheels of Fire was the world's first platinum-selling album, but it was certified gold by the RIAA (the sales figures were doubled because it was two records). --Bruce1ee talk 07:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Wheels of Fire has not yet been CERTIFIED Platinum in the United States. After it sold 1 million copies, Bob Rolontz of Atlantic Records created a platinum record award, which the record company presented to Cream November 2 1968 at Madison Square Garden. Platinum records weren't certified by RIAA until 1976. This is explained in an obituary for Bob Rolontz in Billboard magazine July 1, 2000, page 3. If the record company asked RIAA to certify it Platinum, then it would certainly become official. But it hasn't done so yet. The RIAA website still only shows the 1968 Gold certification. PatConolly (talk) 21:15, 5 March 2022 (UTC)


 * All wrong. In 1958, the RIAA started certifying albums Gold for sales of $ 1 000 000 at wholesale value. If an album sold a million dollars wholesale, the record label could request that the RIAA certify it Gold. And that was that. There was the Gold Album award, and no other album certifications from the RIAA. In 1965 the Mary Poppins: Original Cast Soundtrack passed two million dollars wholesale, and so the Disneyland record company presented an in-house)ie. non-RIAA) Platinum Record. In late 1968 Wheels of Fire reached sales of $ 2 000 000 wholesale. And so Wheels of Fire was presented with an in-house Platinum Record. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida reached sales of $ 2 000 000 shortly after Wheels of Fire, and was also presented with an in-house Platinum Record. None of these were RIAA awards, and were all presented by the record labels. By the end of 1969, Atlantic had awarded three more Platinum Records for sales of $ 2 000 000 wholesale, to Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits, Led Zeppelin (album) and Led Zeppelin II. Over the next 5 to 6 years, record labels awarded in-house Platinum Record awards to artists. Some for sales of $ 2 000 000 wholesale, and some for sales of one million units. Only in 1976 did the RIAA first award their own "First Platinum Award" for sales of one million units to The Eagles for Their Greatest Hits....There is also a big asterisk with Cream's Wheels of Fire and the platinum record award. As it was awarded an in-house Platinum award for financial, rather than numerical, value, as a double-album with deluxe packaging, the number of copies that Wheels of Fire needed to sell to reach two million dollars wholesale was less than half the number of copies the other mentioned LPs needed to sell. In fact, Disraeli Gears actually sold significantly more copies than Wheels of Fire, but achieved lower wholesale monetary value sales....  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.87.63.243 (talk) 04:49, 24 March 2024 (UTC)

Sold more copies than every other vinyl album in history?
The statement
 * "In the first two years after its release, the album sold more copies than every other vinyl album in history combined."

which was reverted today is backed up by the BBC reference quoted. But the question is, how reliable is this reference? It's the BBC's h2g2 site which anyone can edit. This statement does sound a little far-fetched to me to be true. --Bruce1eetalk 11:42, 2 April 2008 (UTC)


 * When I reverted the edit, I missed the fact that the reference supported it. But, I'm sure the reverted statement is not true, as much as I appreciate its humorous enthusiasm.  I'd like to see the actual numbers though.  Being certified platinum means that Wheels of Fire sold one million copies (not 35 million as the BBC site states).   I don't know how many vinyl albums had been sold by July 1970.  Quite a few, I'd imagine. — Mudwater (Talk) 12:58, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

It seems like we should take the BBC page with a grain of salt. Another piece of evidence for that is how Graham as in Graham Bond was consistently misspelled. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.144.115.120 (talk) 01:43, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Toad
While the disc is labeled Live at the Fillmore, only "Toad" was recorded at Fillmore West.

I was looking at my copy yesterday, and it says that Toad was recorded in March 1968 at the Fillmore West. However, the Fillmore West did not exist at this time. There was the Fillmore Auditorium and there was the Carousel Ballroom which subsequently became the Fillmore West, as documented at The Fillmore. So where was Toad recorded - the Carousel or the old Fillmore Auditorium? BTLizard (talk) 12:28, 13 June 2008 (UTC)


 * You raise an interesting point: www.jackbruce.com says that "Toad" was recorded on 7 March 1968 at Fillmore West, San Francisco; yet according to www.sfmuseum.org Fillmore West only opened on 16 July 1968! --Bruce1eetalk 14:00, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Interesting trivia?
I always thought that in this article - seeing as Pressed Rat and Warthog doesn't have its own page - it should be mentioned that the song is built upon "Licolnshire Posy: VI. Lost Lady Found," the melody of which can be heard toward the end. I'm not sure, obviously, that the whole song was meant to be based off of Lost Lady Found, but they certainly acknowledge the similarity when they add the melody of it at the end. 139.225.234.131 (talk) 06:29, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110615184849/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/3/1968-09-14/ to http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/3/1968-09-14/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101023024540/http://www.gingerbaker.com/albums/Cream-Wheels-of-Fire.htm to http://www.gingerbaker.com/albums/cream-wheels-of-fire.htm
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 * Thanx Report Bug. I did my best.
 * albabe -  The Writer /Artist Formally Known as  Al Gordon 16:12, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

2008 Bonus Track Edition
It should probably be noted that there was a 2008 vinyl version that included a few bonus tracks, one of them being the rare "Desert Ride". GVO8891 (talk) 19:39, 13 December 2018 (UTC)

Release date
August 9, 1968 may have been the UK release date. But the album made it onto Billboard's Top Albums charts in the July 13 issue. It was certified Gold by RIAA July 22. So in the U.S. it must have been released in early July or June. PatConolly (talk) 05:53, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
 * And then I found the Billboard issue (July 6, 1968) with this statement: 'The new double LP by Cream, "Wheels on Fire" on Ateo, passed the $1 million mark in sales within a week after its release at the Atlantic /Atco sales conventions held June 14.' So I'm going to make June 14 the release date. PatConolly (talk) 06:14, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Whatever the case, something is wrong in the article; which cites June 13 as the last day of recording and June 14 as the U.S. release date. One or both of those dates must be wrong. 2603:7000:3400:29E1:9D52:42B8:305E:46E6 (talk) 17:10, 16 June 2023 (UTC)