American; out of Los Angeles. Cream was set up by Al Bennett after he left Liberty (q.v.). It bought Soul label Hi Records in 1976, and, starting in 1979 and continuing into at least 1984, reissued some of the Hi back-catalogue in Britain, on the Cream label. The artists featured were Al Green, Joyce Cobb and Willie Mitchell. At least seven single were issued, in an HCS-100 series. There were also album releases, some of which featured Cream's non-Hi material. Pressing and distribution were by Pye / PRT. Earlier in the decade Hi products had appeared on London, through a licensing deal; not many of Cream's own records had made it to these shores, though at least one single, Henry Shed's version of 'Bend Me Shape Me', had surfaced on Stateside (SS-2198; 1/72).
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.