Eric Clapton/Solo Debut Album Original US Ampex Reel-to-Reel

This is one of the releases in Eric Clapton’s “Vintage Reissue Project”. This is the Ampeg open reel version of Clapton’s solo debut album “ERIC CLAPTON” released in the US in 1970, which has been made into a CD. Like the other release “DELANEY AND BONNIE AND FRIENDS ON TOUR WITH ERIC CLAPTON”, open reels were one of the formats used for listening to music at home in the late 60s and 70s. The tape width was wider than cassette tape, so the allowance for recording sound information was naturally larger, it was stereo recording, the sound quality was good, and due to its structure, scratch noise like records was not generated. However, it disappeared from the market sooner than cassette tape due to the hassle of playback, the difficulty of skipping songs, and the high price. This extremely rare reel work, released in 1970, has now become available along with “DELANEY AND BONNIE AND FRIENDS ON TOUR WITH ERIC CLAPTON”. We hope you will enjoy the analog-chic, warm sound that revives that era with this album. [Records and CDs have different recording levels and sound pressure, which are attractive!] For this release, the album has been digitized as it is recorded on the open-reel tape. After checking the contents in detail, we found that unlike the US record released in the same year, the recording levels on side A were different depending on the song, but we did not adjust them. In particular, tracks 2 to 4 were leaning to the right in terms of sound pressure, but this seems to be the right balance, so we left it as it is. The sound pressure on side B is stable, but when playing the reel, both sides were adjusted to play under the same conditions. In other words, the intention is to leave it as it was when it was released and enjoy this unique format of that era. We do not know why such differences arose only in the reel version of this work. However, it can be said that the rare and vintage open reel can be enjoyed with all these mysteries. Eric Clapton’s first solo album “ERIC CLAPTON” was released in August 1970. It is well known that there are three different mixes, but this work, like the regular US ATCO record, uses the mix by Tom Dowd, the famous producer who produced “LAYLA AND OTHER ASSORTED LOVE SONGS”. Now, all three mixes have been officially released, and you can enjoy the differences between the mixes, but the Tom Dowd mix is ​​the smartest and most unadulterated (the other mixes include rehearsal sounds, counts, and echoes on the vocals). Now, you can listen to it with the unique sound balance and sound pressure of the extremely rare open reel format. This year was the year that Clapton’s first solo album caused a stir, but the release of this album was in the end. We hope you will take this opportunity to enjoy Clapton’s first solo with the warm, analog-chic sound of that era. This is the first time in history that the original reel tapes have been digitized. Taken from the original US Ampex Reel-To-Reel (ATCO Records, M 329) (37:17) 1. Slunky 2. Bad Boy 3. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home 4. After Midnight 5. Easy Now 6. Blues Power 7. Bottle Of Red Wine 8. Lovin’ You Lovin’ Me 9. Told You For The Last Time 10. Don’t Know Why 11. Let It Rain Eric Clap ton – Guitar, Lead Vocals Delaney Bramlett – Guitar, Vocals Bonnie Bramlett – Vocals Stephen Stills – Guitar, Vocals Leon Russell – Piano John Simon – Piano Rita Coolidge – Vocals Bobby Whitlock – Keyboards, Vocals Carl Radle – Bass Jim Gordon – Drums Tex Johnson – Percussion Jim Price – Trumpet Bobby Keys – Saxophone Sonny Curtis – Vocals Jerry Allison – Vocals