Cream Chronicled

by Nettie Baker

298 pages, Paperback

Published March 20, 2026

Reviews

[Erik Steevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nettie Baker gave us this amazing time line book about the incredible historic band Cream. As a 13 year old lad, I myself heard the first single "I Feel Free" of The Cream at the end of December 1966 on one of the then Pirate radio stations. In the same program they also played "Hey Joe" of The Jimi Hendrix Experience! For me the world shifted from black & white to full colour! I was really flabbergasted. The Cream became my band to follow (and indeed also The JHExp). Of course that was by buying singles and admiring the pictures in the music magazines. In 1969 I bought in London their "Goodbye Cream" album and also the separate live album side "Wheels of Fire". Oh boy, and now I could listen how the sounded live and that was a magnificent blast! Thanks to Nettie's book I was able to go back in time and could witness what was really happening in those days. Very pleasant was to find out where one can find bootleg performances on YouTube. Yes, then it was apparent how incredible these 3 god gifted musicians gave their complete gusto, playing loud and long. I only can recommend this fine book to everyone on this planet and beyond to revive these magical 'creamy' times!

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For music fanatics in general, and Cream fanatics in particular, this was a very enjoyable read, despite the numerous typos and a couple of factual errors. For example, at the beginning of Chapter 1966, describing Cream's first "secret" debut gig at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester, Nettie writes, "As luck would have it, American soul singer 'Joe Tex' (later 'Disco Tex & The Sexolettes') and his band were unable to appear...". In fact, Joe Tex had nothing to do with Disco Tex. Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes was a disco group featuring Joseph Montanez, Jr, A.K.A. "Monti Rock III". Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes were founded in 1974, two years after Joe Tex retired from show business (although he did have a later hit in 1977). Nevertheless, a fun and enjoyable read, and a significant document of one of the greatest music groups of all time.

[George Kanakaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book primarily to finally learn more about October 1, 1966, at Polytechnic London. That was the night the then-completely unknown Jimi Hendrix shared the stage with Eric Clapton and Cream.Of course, I came home empty-handed. That being said, this book is indeed very well documented about almost all of the Cream concerts.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I really like Cream’s music, I think aficionados who love knowing about the different gigs and diving into the minutiae would rate this higher. I do appreciate that all this info is in one place. It acts to dispel any misinformation that’s out there.