Goodbye (Cream album)

Goodbye (also called Goodbye Cream)[2] is the fourth and final studio album by Cream, with three tracks recorded live, and three recorded in the studio. It was released in Europe by Polydor Records and by Atco Records in the United States, debuting in Billboard on 15 February 1969.[3] It reached number one in the United Kingdom and number two in the US. A single, "Badge", was subsequently released from the album a month later. The album was released after Cream disbanded in November 1968.[4]

Goodbye
Studio album / Live album by Cream
Released	5 February 1969 (1969-02-05)
Recorded	October 1968
Venue	The Forum, Los Angeles
Studio	IBC, London[1]
Genre	Hard rock
Length	30:09
Label	Polydor
Producer	Felix Pappalardi[1]
Cream chronology
Wheels of Fire (1968) Goodbye (1969) Best of Cream (1969)

Background and recording

Just before Cream's third album, Wheels of Fire, was to be released, the group's manager Robert Stigwood announced that the group were going to disband after a farewell tour and a final concert at the Royal Albert Hall in November.[5] Just before the start of their farewell tour in October 1968, Cream recorded three songs at IBC Studios in London with producer Felix Pappalardi and engineer Damon Lyon-Shaw.[1] The songs "Badge" and "Doing That Scrapyard Thing" featured Eric Clapton using a Leslie speaker,[5] while all three recordings featured keyboard instruments played by either Jack Bruce or Felix Pappalardi.[1] The group started their farewell tour on 4 October 1968 in Oakland, California[5] and 15 days later on 19 October the group performed at The Forum in Los Angeles where the three live recordings on Goodbye were recorded with Felix Pappalardi and engineers Adrian Barber and Bill Halverson.[1]

Compiling, artwork and packaging

The original plan for Goodbye was to make it a double album, with one disc featuring studio recordings and the other with live performances like Wheels of Fire. With a lack of quality material on hand, however, the album was only one disc with three live recordings and three studio recordings.[5]

The original LP release of the album was packaged in a gatefold sleeve with art direction handled by Haig Adishian. The outer sleeve featured photography by Roger Phillips with a cover design by the Alan Aldridge ink Studios, while the inner sleeve featured an illustration of a cemetery by Roger Hane that had the song titles on tombstones.[6] A Compact Disc reissue of the album for the Cream Remasters series in 1998 featured an inlay photograph and had the inner-sleeve illustration in the liner notes of the album.[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Retrospective reviews
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Chicago Tribune	[8]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	A–[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, music critic Ray Rezos felt Cream deserved to depart with a better album. He wrote that most of the live songs sound inferior to the original recordings and that the studio tracks are marred by the same flaw as on Wheels of Fire, namely the presence of blues playing on songs whose compositions were not blues in his opinion.[11] Nonetheless, Goodbye was voted the 148th best rock album of all time in Paul Gambaccini's 1978 poll of 50 prominent American and English rock critics.[12]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Goodbye a work of "hard, heavy rock" and "strong moments" rather than cohesiveness, with live music that is generally better than on Wheels of Fire and a side of studio recordings that also found Cream "at something of a peak".[7] Robert Christgau also reacted favourably to the album, citing it as his favorite record from the group.[9] J. D. Considine was less impressed in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992), deeming Goodbye an incomplete record with "exquisite studio work" but mediocre live performances.[10]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocal(s)[1]	Length
1.	"I'm So Glad"	Skip James	Jack Bruce, with Eric Clapton	9:11
2.	"Politician"	Bruce, Pete Brown	Bruce	6:19

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocal(s)[1]	Length
1.	"Sitting on Top of the World"	Walter Vinson, Lonnie Chatmon; arr. Chester Burnett	Bruce	5:01
2.	"Badge"	Clapton, George Harrison[13]	Clapton	2:45
3.	"Doing That Scrapyard Thing"	Bruce, Brown	Bruce	3:14
4.	"What a Bringdown"	Ginger Baker	Clapton, with Bruce	3:56

• Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–6 on CD reissues.

CD bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocal(s)	Length
7.	"Anyone for Tennis" (The Savage Seven theme)	Clapton, Martin Sharp	Clapton	2:37

Notes:

• [1–3] recorded live at The Forum, Los Angeles, 19 October 1968.
• Original pressings of the album (as well as the single) list composer credit on "Badge" to Clapton alone.
• "Anyone for Tennis" was originally released as a non-album single, as well as by Atco on the soundtrack album to the film The Savage Seven (catalogue no. SD 33-245, 1968). The song was subsequently sometimes included on pressings of Wheels Of Fire (1968) and later pressings of Goodbye by Polydor.

Personnel

Cream

• Eric Clapton – guitars (all tracks), lead vocals (4, 6) backing vocals (1)
• Jack Bruce – bass guitar (1-5), lead vocals (1-3, 5, 6), piano (5, 6), organ (6)
• Ginger Baker – drums (all tracks), backing vocals (1, 6), percussion (6)

Additional musicians

• L'Angelo Misterioso (George Harrison) – rhythm guitar (4)
• Felix Pappalardi – piano (4), mellotron (4, 5), bass (6)

Recording

• Engineers – Bill Halverson, Adrian Barber, Damon Lyon-Shaw

Charts

Chart (1969)	Peak position
Canadian Top 50 Albums[14]	5
French Top Albums[15]	3
German Albums Chart[16]	9
Norwegian Top 40 Albums[17]	7
UK Albums Chart[18]	1
US Billboard 200[19]	2

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[20]	Gold	35,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[21]	Platinum	300,000^^
United States (RIAA)[22]	Gold	500,000^^
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Goodbye (CD liner). Cream. Polydor Records. 1969. 31453 1815-2.CS1 maint: others (link)
2. Baker, Ginger. "Ginger Baker History Archive 1968". gingerbaker.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
3. Whitburn, Joel. "Joel Whitburn's Record Research: Online Music Vault". Retrieved 15 September 2011.
4. Welch, Chris (4 August 2005). "The Farewell". Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
5. Schumacher, Michael (2005). "Chapter 5: Do What You Like (1968–69)". Crossroads: The Life and Times of Eric Clapton (First ed.). New York City, United States: Hyperion Books. pp. 107, 111, 113, 114. ISBN 0-7868-6074-X.
6. Goodbye (Vinyl sleeve). Cream. New York City, United States: Atco Records. 1969. SD 7001.CS1 maint: others (link)
7. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Cream: Goodbye > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
8. Kot, Greg (1993). "It's A Roller-coaster Career From Blues To Pop And Back". Chicago Tribune (February 21). Retrieved 26 July 2015.
9. "Robert Christgau: Online Exchange, part 3". RockCritics.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
10. Considine, J. D. (1992). "Cream". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. p. 166. ISBN 0679737294.
11. Rezos, Ray (5 April 1969). "Review: Goodbye by Cream". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
12. Gambaccini, Paul (1978). Rock Critic's Choice: The Top 200 Albums. Omnibus. pp. 83–4. ISBN 0860014940.
13. Per BMI records, BMI Work #80556. Some releases of the album erroneously credit Clapton only.
14. "Top 50 Albums". RPM. 11 (8). 21 April 1969. ISSN 0315-5994. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
15. "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste". InfoDisc (in French). Archived from the original (PHP) on 20 July 2015. Find "CREAM" under the drop-down menu to see statistics.
16. "Album – Cream, Goodbye" (ASP). Media Control Charts (in German). Retrieved 19 July 2011.
17. "Cream – Goodbye (Album)". Norwegian Charts. Hung Medien. Archived from the original (ASP) on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
18. "All the Number One Albums: 1969". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
19. "Cream: Charts & Awards – Billboard Albums". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
20. "Australian Fun Countdowns: Accreditation Awards". Warner Music Sales International. BMI Music International. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
21. Best-selling Rock LPs. Billboard Magazine. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 28 September 1968. p. 1. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
22. "American album certifications – Cream". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 17 September 2015. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.