Description
The second multi-track soundboard master of the famous soundboard sound source is also here! This time, the multi-track soundboard master provided by the heavyweight Taper, who lives in the UK, also included the second day of the 1974 London performance! The 1974 “461 OCEAN BOULEVARD TOUR”, in which Eric Clapton made his comeback after a three-year retirement, was carried out on a worldwide scale from all over North America to Japan and Europe, but the final London performance on December 4th and 5th was famous for the leaked stereo soundboard sound source, which was quickly bootlegged, and the live takes of both days were edited and officially recorded in the “461 OCEAN BOULEVARD RARITIES EDITION” officially released in 2010. Carl Radle, a bassist who was a member of the band at the time, said, “The London performance was the best performance of this tour,” and it has been highly praised for its sound quality and performance, which is still firmly established today. Meanwhile, the familiar British heavyweight Taper also delivered the multi-track soundboard master from the second day of the 1974 London performance! This is the latest digital copy of the original master, which was meticulously mixed by the engineers at the time from the 16-track recording tape and mixed down to 2-track stereo (a digital transfer of Master Direct was carried out just the other day). The master that was bootlegged in the past was a cassette copy reflecting the analog era, so you can see the difference in the freshness of the master this time. This master was the origin of everything. The phase is different from the first day, which is also a nice touch, and the drums, bass, Clapton’s vocals and guitar, Yvonne Elliman’s vocals, Dick Sims’ organ (only the Mellotron is slightly to the right of the center), Marcy Levy’s harmonica, and even the cheers of the audience (recorded with an ambient microphone) are also positioned in the center at a wide angle. George Terry’s guitar is slightly left of the center, and Marcy Levy’s vocals are slightly right of the center, and each stands out clearly. Although the phase is quite different from the first day, the appeal of the stereo soundboard is that you can hear Clapton’s guitar and George Terry’s guitar. In this work, the ultra-clear, superb sound quality of the official stereo soundboard recording of the second day’s performance is revived along with the atmosphere of the famous venue, Hammersmith Odeon. We hope you will enjoy it along with the first day’s performance. The second day was also a wonderful performance with the highest sound quality ever! Now let’s take a look at what position this London performance was in Clapton’s activities this year.・June 19th and 20th, 1974: Warm-up gigs in Northern Europe for the US comeback tour ・June 28th to August 4th, 1974: US tour <August 5th, 1974: Release of the album “461 OCEAN BOULEVARD”> ・August to September, 1974: Recording of the album “THERE’S ONE IN EVERY CROWD” in Miami ・September 28th to October 6th, 1974: Second US tour ・October 31st to November 6th, 1974: First visit to Japan, Japan tour ・November 27th to December 5th, 1974: European tour ←★Here★ This was the final leg of the tour. The value of this day is that, even though the tour was completed while completely drunk to escape the tension and pressure, there was no effect of alcohol at all. That’s why Carl Radle must have appreciated it so much. Here, despite being away for three years, or more precisely, for the local fans who had been waiting for him even after he had betrayed them by making them expect that he had made a comeback at the Rainbow Concert the previous year, Clapton was making a sincere effort to play. The set list was also attractive, with numbers such as Let It Grow, I Shot the Sheriff (the solo was sharper than the day before), and Steady Rollin’ Man from the album “461 OCEAN BOULEVARD”, which had already been released and become a hot topic at this point, set in, and also numbers from the next album “THERE’S ONE IN EVERY CROWD”, which was full of creative enthusiasm and had already been recorded, The Sky Is Crying (not a slide play like the studio version, but a single note solo with a wah), Little Rachel, Better Make It Through Today (it makes you feel that it is a masterpiece even in live performances), and Singin’ the Blues (the solo phrases are interesting and varied). This is the first day that they played so many numbers from “THERE’S ONE~”. Then there was Badge from the Cream era (the solo was thrilling!), Can’t Find My Way Home from the Blind Faith era (Marcy played the harmonica perfectly on this day), Let It Rain from the American rock era, Blues Power (the intro was also played on this day), Tell The Truth, Little Wing (also played majestically on this day), Layla (also played enthusiastically on this day), and the beloved blues Ramblin’ On My Mind / Have You Ever Loved a Woman, as well as Key to the Highway (unusually played through with slide play), and the unexpected Smile was the best set list to open the show. On this day, as per the regular schedule of this tour, instead of Layla’s piano coda, they performed a medley of the Everly Brothers’ standard number All I Have to Do Is Dream. The charm of this day was that the set list was different from the first day’s performance the day before. Taking advantage of the high potential of the Tulsa Tops, the second day, which completed a different set over two days, is just as worth listening to as the first day. The guitars used by Clapton in this performance were Martin D-45 until Can’t Find My Way Home, and from then on, an original 1957 Gibson Explorer (tail cut model) that he acquired before the Japan performance. The latter in particular is an extremely rare guitar, with only 17 of them being made at the time, and you can hear its unique fat and sticky tone. This work, in which you can hear the sound of this guitar, can be said to be a very valuable sound source in his guitar history (only the Japan performance and the subsequent European tour. After this, Clapton gave this guitar to Junior Marvin, guitarist of Bob Marley & The Wailers). Please enjoy the superb sound quality of the newly provided multi-track soundboard master. Since the official version was an edited recording of two days, the two releases that allow you to listen to the complete version on both days are very valuable. Ronnie Wood also appeared on this day! Furthermore, there was a big surprise on this day! There was a topic that Ronnie Wood would appear during the encore! What was interesting was Clapton’s introduction announcement. Clapton said “Ladies and gentlemen, Pete Townshend!” as a joke. Ronnie borrowed Clapton’s Blackie Strat and played it (Clapton played an Explorer). Ronnie’s playing was mixed into the right channel and he also took a solo, which was very interesting. Just as the members of Led Zeppelin had come to take a peek the day before, Ronnie was probably happy about his friend Clapton’s comeback and popped in without thinking. After the show, Ronnie announced, “What an amazing band!” It was a great performance that even Ronnie was impressed with. Thanks to Ronnie’s pop-in, the encore for this day was two songs, one more than the first day. You can listen to a lot of performances with Ronnie. This was the first time that Ronnie and Clapton had performed together since the previous year’s “Rainbow Concert” (Ronnie seemed to really like Clapton, as he performed with him every year, including the “Carnival” session in New York the following year and appearing at Clapton’s “Crystal Garden Palace” performance the year after that). Hammersmith Odeon, London, England 5th December 1974 STEREO SBD(from Original Masters) 2024 TRANSFER & UPGRADE!!! Disc:1 (57:50) 1. Intro. 2. Smile 3. Let It Grow 4. Can’t Find My Way Home 5. Tell the Truth 6. The Sky Is Crying 7. Have You Ever Loved a Woman 8. Ramblin’ on My Mind 9. Badge 10. Little Rachel 11. I Shot the Sheriff Disc:2 (75:07) 1. Better Make It Through Today 2. Blues Power 3. Key to the Highway 4. Let It Rain 5. Little Wing 6. Singin’ the Blues 7. Layla 8. All I Have to Do Is Dream 9. Steady Rollin’ Man (with Ronnie Wood) 10. Little Queenie (with Ronnie Wood) STEREO SOUNDBOARD RECORDING Eric Clapton – Guitar / Vocals George Terry – Guitar Dicks Sims – Keyboards Carl Radle – Bass Jamie Oldaker – Drums Yvonne Elliman – Backing Vocals Marcy Levy – Backing Vocals
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