Eric Clapton/E.C. Was Here Original Italian 8-Track Cartridge

[Very Rare and Vintage 8-Track Cartridge Tape Reissue] Eric Clapton’s “Vintage Reissue Project” has been well received, so we will continue it this week. This time, we have obtained a very rare and excellent condition 8-track cartridge tape of Clapton’s solo debut live album “E.C. Was Here” released in Italy in 1975, and made it into a CD. The open reel tape version released last week was also a very rare format unique to 1970, but this 8-track cartridge tape was also a very rare format that was only released at that time (Japanese karaoke sets and listening systems for trucks at the time were also in this format, and both the equipment and software were released). Moreover, it was made in Italy, not in America or England. Since Italy was a country with a car culture even at that time (a cool Italian car is essential to woo a woman), a system was developed for listening in the car, where a cassette called a cartridge would be inserted into the slot of the car stereo and the tape would start playing. However, because it was divided into four programs as a structure unique to this format, it was an unusual format in which the songs were divided into parts and recorded in separate parts (each part fades out and in). In this work, there are parts that fade out and in during the songs Presence Of The Lord, Can’t Find My Way Home, and Ramblin’ On My Mind. It was a very unusual medium, and when you listen to it, you think, “Huh?”, but the Italian guys who listened to it while driving in 1975 probably thought the same (laughs: but maybe they were desperate to woo a woman and didn’t care about that). [Amazing high sound quality] Although it was such an unusual medium, the sound quality should not be underestimated. The specifications of 8-track tape are that the tape itself is larger than cassette tape, so the allowance for recording sound information is wide, and some titles are recorded with surprisingly high sound quality. This seems to be one of them, and although it is analog, it has outstanding high sound quality (you won’t understand this unless you listen to it). Although it is called high quality, it is a high quality analog sound with depth and warmth that is unique to analog, completely different from that of CD. Therefore, we decided to re-release it because we thought it was interesting. We hope that you will enjoy the analog and warm sound that revives that era, as one of the topics that shows that such a medium existed. [The editing and sound, which is different from that of records and CDs, is interesting in the opposite way!] The 8-track cartridge was popular at the time as a unique format with high sound quality, but due to its large size, difficulty to handle, and high software prices, it was replaced by cassette tape car stereos over time and was destined to disappear in a short time. However, as it was a rare format unique to that time, there are still enthusiasts who collect it today. The reason for this is, of course, the high sound quality (and the unique editing may also be interesting). For the release, the original 8-track cartridge tape was digitized in its original state. As mentioned above, the original media had fade-out and fade-in edits at 1:42 on Track 2, 0:58 on Track 4, and 5:14 on Track 5, so of course they were made into CDs as is. What I also noticed was that the ending of the last song, Further On Up The Road, ended with a fade-out. This was probably a measure to align the time of the program, which was divided into four parts (the record and CD include the part where the band plays to completion). [Summary of E.C. WAS HERE] This is Clapton’s first live album released as a solo artist, and it is a collection of the best takes from his tour from 1974 to 1975. Track 1 is from the Long Beach concert on July 19, 1974, Track 2, Track 3, and Track 4 are from the same concert on July 20, the following year, Track 5 is from the London concert on December 4, 1974, and Track 6 is from the Uniondale concert on June 28, 1975. Track 3 is a fade-out version due to the capacity of the LP released at the same time. This album was released because the studio album “There’s One in Every Crowd,” released as the second comeback album, did so poorly in the charts compared to the comeback album “461 Ocean Boulevard,” which reached number one in the US, so they quickly tried to meet the expectations of their fans with a live take that featured Clapton’s guitar playing and plenty of guitar (although nowadays “There’s One in Every Crowd” is also considered a hidden gem). The complete version of Track 3, Driftin’ Blues, was recorded on the CD without the fade-out, but if you listen to it, you can hear that Clapton switched to electric guitar and played with slide after the fade-out. However, to be honest, this slide play is not so good. I would rather give the record company a good judgment when they cut it off at the part where Clapton was playing outstandingly on acoustic guitar (the moment Clapton switched to electric guitar during George Terry’s solo on the side guitar, the audience erupts). As the record company expected, this album achieved a decent result of ranking 20th in the US. Since Clapton did not tour in Italy at that time, Italian fans had no choice but to find out about Clapton’s comeback through this live album. This is a very rare and vintage 8-track cartridge released in Italy. I hope you will take this opportunity to enjoy Clapton’s first solo live performance with the warm, analog-like sound of that era. Taken from the original Italian 8-Track Cartridge (3803 060) (38:42) 1. Have You Ever Loved a Woman 2. Presence of the Lord (part 1 / part 2) 3. Driftin’ Blues 4. Can’t Find My Way Home (part 1 / part 2) 5. Ramblin’ On My Mind (part 1 / part 2) 6. Further On Up the Road Eric Clapton – Guitar, Lead Vocals George Terry – Guitar Yvonne Elliman – Vocals Carl Radle – Bass Dick Sims – Organ Jamie Oldaker – Drums Mercy Levy – Tambourine (Track 5, 6 only)