Eric Clapton and his music

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Крииим

Уже без редкостей...
С Бэбифэйсом

Стинг, Джефф Бэк.

опасаюсь, что это повтор, учитывая количество страниц, но просто понравился этот парень в кепке

2sunset:
Угу... :))))

Такое уже было?

Legends: Live at Montreux 1997 - Clapton/Gadd/Miller/Sample/Sanborn
Release Date: September 6, 2005

Released from the archives of the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival - Legends is a unique concert from the Montreux Festival bringing together the formidable talents of five musical superstars: Eric Clapton (guitar and vocals), Steve Gadd (drums), Marcus Miller (bass), Joe Sample (piano) and David Sanborn (saxaphone). All acclaimed in their own fields they work even better as a group. The music is an intoxicating blend of jazz and blues on classic tracks such as Full House, Shreveport Stomp, Groovin' and a wonderful acoustic version of Clapton's Layla that's guaranteed to give you goosebumps.

1. Full House
2. Groovin'
3. Ruthie
4. Snakes
5. Going Down Slow
6. The Peeper
7. In Case You Hadn't Noticed
8. Third Degree
9. First Song/Tango Blues
10. Put It Where You Want It
11. Shreveport Stomp
12. In A Sentimental Mood/Layla
13. Every Day I Have The Blues

2Primal Scream:
Ага, месяц назад! ;)

Взял в Пурпуре диск "BB King & Friends : A Night Of Blistering Blues"

Cаундтрек с известного видео "A Night Of The Red Hot Blues" 1986
Пр-во Голландия 2005
Запись - моно.

September 19, 2005
ERIC CLAPTON SAYS SOUL MUSIC HAS BEEN A VERY IMPORTANT INFLUENCE

Eric Clapton's latest album, Back Home, includes covers of a couple of soul songs -- the Spinners' "Love Don't Love Nobody" and the Stevie Wonder-Syreeta Wright song, "I'm Going Left." Clapton told us that even though he's known as a blues-influenced rock artist, R&B remains a vital part of his musical makeup: "I always return to that as one of my primary areas of music, you know, especially the Stax era, you know. That was a huge part of my growing up was absorbing that stuff."

Back Home also features a cover of George Harrison's "Love Comes To Everyone," as well as guest appearances by Steve Winwood, Robert Randolph, John Mayer and others.

Clapton plans to tour in support of Back Home in 2006. Before that, however, he'll reunite with Cream for a second time this year for shows on October 24th, 25th and 26th at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The Greatest Album Ever 08.28.05: Cream
Dusty Godwin on 08.29.05

Eric Clapton + Two Other Guys

Oh my friends this stands to be a glorious week partially due to Circuit City and their cheap ass CD (If its any wonder why I have over 300 CDs its because of deals like this). Tomorrow the store with have the new Death Cab For Cutie album for only 9.99$ as well as the new OK GO album. For anyone who doesn’t know who OK Go is I highly urge you to pick it up when you’re in the mood for some interesting pop music. Now if I can only find the Sounds CD again all would be perfect anyway let’s jump into the drink right away.

And The Winner Is: Wheels On Fire (1968)

The Band
Eric Clapton: Guitar, Vocals
Jack Bruce: Vocals, Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Organ, Harmonica, Cello
Ginger Baker: Drums, Vocals

The Background

When Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker got together in 1966, everyone knew that the music industry was in for something special. Few however could have predicted the success and impact the world’s first true “supergroup” would have on music. When the band was formed the 21 year old Eric Clapton was already being heralded as the second coming of blues guitarist due to his work in the Yardbirds and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. When Clapton decided to break away from the Yardbirds after they turned “pop” in Clapton’s eyes with the hit single “For Your Love” he saw his opportunity to create the blues-powered rock group that would stay pure to the blues roots and not turn to the mainstream. Clapton recruited the best musicians he could find for his project and the best included the 26 year old Ginger Baker who had carved out a niche for himself as one of the most innovative drummers in England at the time due to his jazz background and his complicated double-bass drum set. Baker style was accented perfectly by bassist Jack Bruce who at 23 had already become one of the most respected musicians in the blues scene. Bruce had studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and had played with both Baker and Clapton on separate projects before he was picked by Clapton for Cream.

The band’s name may have seemed self-indulgent and a bit pretentious but the band was set in their task of proving that the name wasn’t a gimmick but the undeniable truth. The band made their debut in July of 1966 at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival and made an immediate impression on those in attendance by seamlessly combining blues, rock and jazz together. The band was immediately signed to Robert Stigwood’s Reaction Records and released their first single “Wrapping Paper”, which due to the bizarre pop quality became a modest hit on the charts.

The band followed “Wrapping Paper” with their first proper album “Fresh Cream” at the end of 1966 which became a success on the back of “I Feel Free” which showed that for all of their individual talents each member of the band could compound their skills to a three minute burst of pop. “I Feel Free” was also the first in the long line of collaborations between Jack Bruce and Pete Brown who was an underground poet in London at the time. The band didn’t abandon their blues roots however as they covered classic blues songs such as “Spoonful” by Howlin Wolf and Robert Johnson’s “Four Until Late”. The band covered the song in name alone however as they brought their own individual interpretation to the traditional songs. The response for “Fresh Cream” was good and the band took their tour on the road tightening up musically and creatively through 1967 the band set their sights on America and became the first blues/rock outfit to really break into the American market.

While staking a claim for themselves in America the band was also able to record their second album at Atlantic Studios in New York City. The band had finally gotten comfortable in their skin and the new cohesiveness showed on the new recordings. Despite the fact that they were only given about four days to record the songs showed a new strength and focus that was lacking on the band’s first album. “Disraeli Gears” was released in 1967 and would become the first album ever to go platinum and would make it to #5 on the American Charts. The feats of “Disraeli Gears” are even more amazing when you consider that 1967 saw the release of the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds”, The Doors self-titled album, Pink Floyd’s “Piper At The Gates Of Dawn” and The Velvet Underground & Nico album. Ironically the band’s name proved to be true as they rose above all of these other groundbreaking albums to reach the top. “Disraeli Gears” was able to reach the top through the help of songs like “Strange Brew”; “Tales of Brave Ulysses” which marked was the first use of the newly-invented wah-wah pedal which Clapton used to great results on the song, adding a whole new dimension and fullness to the songs. The icing on the cake for “Disraeli Gears” was the infectious anthem “Sunshine Of Your Love” which showed that while Clapton might be the showman of Cream; Jack Bruce was the backbone that keep everything together as his bouncing basslines created the perfect backdrop for Clapton to shine in.

Following the release of “Disraeli Gears” the band launched another giant tour this time going throughout Britain and returning to where they got their start, headlining the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. The band then decided that for their third album they were going to take their time and record at their leisure taking nearly a year in the studio to complete “Wheels Of Fire”. The time the band took was reflected in the songs as the band was able to layer sounds and add more instruments and dubs to make their most complex album yet. The Jack Bruce/Pete Brown partnership again paid off in spades with the massive hit “White Room”. The album also featured Ginger Baker collaborating with jazz musician Mike Taylor on three of the tracks. Clapton for his part took a familiar path by choosing old blues numbers for the band to cover including “Born Under A Bad Sign” by Albert King.

To the studio album the band added a live album “At The Filmore” showcased the band in their true medium as the band took the crowd through a 17 minute improv jam of Spoonful and Ginger Baker showed his skills with “Toad” a 16 minute drum solo. The live album was either a showcase of the band’s immeasurable skill or the ultimate practice in self-indulgence depending on who you ask. The true highlight of the album is the band’s cover of “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson, the song would go on to become one of the most famous live recordings of all-time and an everlasting example of the band’s live power. However at the same time the band’s masterpiece was being released the group was falling apart and by “Wheels Of Fire” was released the band had dissolved their personal relationships and the only time “Cream” was together was when they were onstage.

The group decided to call it quits in the summer of 1968 and embarked on what was essentially a farewell tour culminating with the band’s last show at the Royal Albert Hall on November 26, 1968. After the band broke up one more album “Goodbye” appeared in March of 1969 featuring three songs that the band had recorded before calling it quits and those tracks were combined with three live recordings. The only thing of real interest on the album was the George Harrison collaboration “Badge”. After the band broke up each member went on to varying degrees of success with Clapton eclipsing both of his former bandmates, two live albums appeared in the 70’s and there were constant rumors of a reunion tour. The band did get together for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and played three songs, and finally this year the band reformed to perform a small number of shows in England.

The Album

The album opens dramatically with cymbal crashes and falsettos to usher in “White
Room” which has an bouncing rhythm section due to Bruce’s emphasized bass and
Baker’s almost jazz-style drum pattern. The guitar began to takes over at the beginning of the
second verse with Clapton bending notes and running the frets to make sure every inch of the
Song’s frame is filled. This song is a great opener because of its moody instrumentals over Pete Brown’s detailed psychedelic lyrics. The song builds to a crescendo almost unnoticed because the build is so subtle, it’s little things like Ginger Baker raising the hi-hat to add a crashing sound or Eric Clapton adding more notes to the same bar of music that lead perfectly into the solo without hinting that it’s happening.

The quick tempo and intensity of “White Room” acts as a excellent counterpoint to “Sitting On Top Of The World” which features a more traditional blues arrangement, with the guitar filling in a lot of space with big hollow notes while the percussion keeps things moving and gives the song a groove to work with. This song seems like a cry back to the sound the band was going for when they first formed before the pop sensibilities snuck in as they would on this album and “Disraeli Gears”. The solo for this song is amazing and soulful and much like Stevie Ray Vaughn’s solos in the eighties it’s hard for words to describe the emotions that are trying to be conveyed though the notes. “Sitting On Top Of The World” is an excellent song that when coupled with “White Room” shows the two very different but amazing sides of the band’s songwriting and composition.

“Passing The Time” starts with an odd Indian sounding chant like some of the later George Harrison inspired Beatles songs. The song has a laid back feel that is missing through the rest of the songs on the album. The song features a flute as its primary instrument during the verse before breaking into a traditional sounding Cream song with driving drums and great guitar work. The other interesting thing about the song is that it is shorter then many of the other songs on the album but the ending isn't abrupt but rather ends right when it feels like it should. The way the song is written and arranged it doesn’t lend itself to a lot of instrumentals or many verses and the band must have known that as they ended the song at the perfect time.

“As You Said” is another odd song that has a weird jazz-rock sound to it, the interesting change of pace can be attributed to Ginger Baker who arranged this song. The odd tempo and rhythm of the song give it an interesting dynamic and definitely shows the blueprint that blues/rock bands would use in the future, particularly Led Zeppelin would use later on(especially on Led Zeppelin III”). Despite the guitar carrying a strange rhythm it still has an addicting melody and is an interesting stand-alone track on the album.

“Pressed Rat and Warthog” is the final of the three songs collaborated on by Ginger Baker and Mike Taylor and is another weird track on the album. The song has some odd lyrics that seem metaphorical or they might just be odd and psychedelic like many songs at the time. The lyrics almost spoken word quality makes it seem like an old folk song. This song is truly a drummer’s song as other then a scarce bassline, flute and trumpets its all percussion. Even when Clapton chimes in with his solo it is mixed in under the drums which remain the emphasis throughout. Even more a change of pace then “As You Said” this song was a glimpse into what Ginger Baker would do after Cream disbanded.

“Politician” gets us back into familiar territory as it features a weird almost funk guitar over a waltz type drum beat. I’m not sure what the songs statement is but lyrics like “I support the left but I’m Leaning to the Right” must have had significance to something that was happening when the song was written or is just a knock on double talking politicians in general. The song’s instrumental parts aren’t knock you out of the park amazing since everything is kept simple with everyone in the same groove for most of the song. Clapton solo is good but nothing like in “Sitting On Top Of The World”. I suspect the band did that on purpose to let the lyrics of the song have the stage so that people would listen to the words and not drown them out with music.

“Those Were The Days” has an excellent groove quality to it but again shows the band expanding as some odd percussion accents the rest of the music in the song. It works perfectly because the song is a callback to good memories and the bells really cut through at the right part to make this seem more like a campfire folklore song. The band then decides to go full on into the song after the first two verses with Ginger Baker accenting the “Those were the days” lyrics with tom rolls and Eric Clapton doing runs on the fret board at the same time. The second half of the song makes it an interesting listen while the first half is different sounding it’s the second half that makes this song good.

“Born Under A Bad Sign” takes the band towards Clapton’s love of the blues and much like on “Sitting On Top Of The World” Clapton shows his amazing skill as a bluesman. The vocals here are excellently delivered and perfectly fit the mood of the song. Sadly this is not the version used by the Sopranos T.V. show but that doesn’t make the cover any less enjoyable. The music is excellent but that is par the course by now, the striking thing is how adept the band is at taking a classic song and putting their own unique sound to it. That is the most important aspect of a cover song, staying true to the original in spirit but then finding a way to make the song distinctly your own. Cream excelled at this on all their albums but Wheels Of Fire’s combination of “Born Under A Bad Sign” and “Crossroads” are the best covers the band ever played.

“Deserted Cities of the Heart” is next and is definitely a blues/rock number as the guitar plays the long notes while the bass bounces along and the drums drive the whole thing and keep it moving. This song has a moody sound to it as well which works well with the lyrical direction of the song and also makes it sound unique to the rest of the songs on the album. The bridge is another showcase for all three members of the band as they seem to just be jamming on the fly but it sounds perfectly controlled which is a testament to the skill of the band.

The live disk opens with what might be the best live recording ever made, the band’s cover of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads”. The song features Eric Clapton on vocals and though the tempo may be quicker, Clapton seems to have actually channeled Johnson for his emotional lyrical delivery. This song is the most compact of all the live songs on disk two but still showcases the power and skill the band had live without crossing over into self-indulgence like the other songs on the disk. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the guitar solo on “Crossroads” as Clapton certainly shows why he is one of the most accomplished guitarist ever as he is all of the fret board never content to just bend one note he bends two or three and the result is amazing and sounds like it was recorded in a studio due to how perfect the tone and pitch is.

“Spoonful” is next and is another traditional sounding blues song that features the harmonica for the first time on the album. The studio version that appears on “Fresh Cream” is excellent but this version is even better as it’s a 17 minute version that has a massive and awe-inspiring improvised instrumental that really must be heard to be appreciated. And in following that train of thought I won’t be doing a detailed analysis of the song as describing 17 minutes of music is almost too boring for my mind to handle and by the fact that my words can’t make you appreciate it nearly as much as you should, just listen to it you won’t be disappointed.

Traintime has the unenviable task of following “Spoonful” but just because it’s after one of the best improvised jams ever put to tape doesn’t mean the song isn’t worth a listen. If fact “Traintime” is the perfect song to listen to as it gives the listener a break between the two live tracks and the song isn’t too shabby either. “Traintime” also features a harmonica which is one of the best and most underutilized instruments in blues/rock as that instrument is enough to carry a song and “Traintime” proves it as the song is harmonica and a simple country shuffle throughout. The stripped down aspect of the song both in length and in instruments helps it stand out and shows that while the band could basically play anything they want for as long as they wanted they know when to scale back and let the song breath and not overcrowd it with too much noise.

Speaking of being able to do whatever you want the final track on the album is “Toad” which is Ginger Baker’s ode to his own abilities as it’s just a massive drum solo for about 15 minutes. Much like “Spoonful” I’m not going to recap this in detail because it seems really boring and talking about drums for three paragraphs probably doesn’t interest anyone but me. Needless to say this song shows why Ginger Baker was ahead of everyone playing percussion at that time, although for the record I prefer John Bonham’s “Moby Dick” to “Toad” but that doesn’t make it any less amazing. That finishes disk two and therefore the analysis of the album so two down and one to go, let’s find out …

Why The Best??

That headline is just a joke but you know that’s what most people think when Cream is brought up in a conversation. Much like Noel Redding and Mitch Michell get lost in the shuffle when Hendrix is brought so is Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. However much like with Hendrix they deserve as much credit if not more for playing their roles and letting Hendrix and Clapton be the center of attention. “Wheels on Fire” is a simply amazing album that has everything working for it and practically no faults. First of all the band’s cohesiveness on the album can’t be ignored as they set their own time table for the album which allowed them to make every song as perfect as possible whereas on the earlier albums they were rushed and not given the time needed to give the albums all the attention they deserved. Despite the fact that all the members of the band were masters of their instrument they still needed time and preparation to make each part fit together the best they could and the added time given to “Wheels on Fire” allow that to happen. Speaking of how good each member of the band is here they get to display it to the fullest it had been in the band’s four years. It was no secret that they were amazing but they were able to expand on that by adding more layers and instruments to the songs as well as different styles to show their true range. Songs like “Pressed Warthog and Wine”, “Politician” and “Those Were The Days” showed a new experimental side to the band by underlying their blues foundation with interesting accents and melodies. The band also wasn’t afraid to show their pop side as they had there blues credibility solidified which allowed them to do songs like “Politician” and “White Room” and not worry about anyone accusing them of selling out or changing their style. Another and perhaps greatest reason why this album is the best is the live disk which shows the band at full strength and basking in the glory of being masters of their musical gifts. As self-indulgent as “Toad” and “Spoonful” are they are also incredible to listen to and hear how much more the band could do with no constraints on them. I think that the main thing about this album is that they weren’t constrained by themselves, their fans, the media or their style of music and they just let everything hang out so to speak and the results are amazing. It’s a shame that the band disbanded because their potential seemed to have no end in sight but as it stands Cream is still one of the greatest bands of all-time and “Wheels Of Fire” is their masterpiece and Cream’s greatest album ever.

Eric Clapton donates autographed guitar for the victims of Hurricane Katrina

Eric Clapton autographs and donates the guitar he played on the Larry King 3rd September show "How You Can Help" to Jazz @ Lincoln. Also John Mayer signed the guitar. He joined Eric Clapton for a special acoustic performance of "Broken Hearted" on the CNN show.

Eric Clapton donates his 000-28 Martin Eric Clapton model fitted with an under saddle Fishman gold system pick up guitar to Jazz at Lincoln Center's Higher Ground Benefit for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The auction will begin on Saturday, September 17 at 7pm est and run thru Monday, September 26 until 7pm est. The online auction will happen on ebay