Cream continue their quest for global club domination with a series of albums that aim to capture the vibe of Cream's international events.
This is the first in the series, culled from the sounds of the beach bar location of 'Cream En El Mar - Punte Del Este'.
It's the deep, progressive sound of the beaches of Uruguay, where the bar has played host to exclusive sets from DJs such as Sasha, Deep Dish, Mr. C and Craig Richards.
The album captures the essence of this sound, and the vibe of the balmy, palm fringed beaches that act as the dancefloor. There's a good balance of anthems, like the Chemical Brother's 'Star Guitar' and Tenaglia's superb mix of Depeche Mode's 'I Feel Loved', which are offset by more underground tracks from respected artists, such as Kevin Yost, Cass & Slide and H-Foundation.
Celeda brings a bit of camp, New York vibe to the party with 'The Underground', and tracks from Circulation and Coco DaSilva show a more relaxed side.
Remixes feature heavily on the menu. Tenaglia gets down to work on Deep Dish's 'Stranded', and Futureshock get tough with Romanthony's Nightvision, 'Never Fuck'.
Saeed and Palash beef up the deep grooves on Peter Bailey's 'U Need It'. And of course, no party would be complete without a track from Peace Division.
As a compilation, this is entertaining, tight and well-paced. As a beach bar, well, Cream El En Mar, is about a 3000-mile flight away. After listening to this LP, that doesn't really seem so far to go.
