Cream “Fresh Cream” 1966 UK/1967 US. Today, August 19th, is Cream drummer Ginger Baker’s 80th birthday (b. Peter Baker, 1939). Baker is considered to be one of the best rock drummers of all-time, and certainly set some of the rock drummer expectations and stereotypes with his showmanship style and volatile energy. Fresh Cream was the blues-rock trio’s debut LP and is ranked among the top albums ever. Our version is the US release, its track listings differing a bit from the UK original. The US release leads off with the classic “I Feel Free” which hit #17 in the UK and #116 in the US; it does not appear on the UK album. Cream also released “Spoonful,” a cover of the classic blues Willie Dixon penned track which was first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1960 and is considered one of the greatest songs of all-time and has been inducted in the the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame; “Spoonful” does not appear on the US version, unfortunately. The single that does appear on both versions of Fresh Cream is “Sweet Wine,” written by Cream’s bass guitarist and vocalist Jack Bruce along with Ginger Baker. Baker also wrote the instrumental “Toad,” one of the earliest recorded drum solos in rock history that “paved the way for a decade of heavy-metal drum solos.” (Wiki)