Eric Clapton/NY,USA 1974 Upgrade

The first Eric Clapton release of the new year 2019 is the Low Gene Master brought from the familiar British heavyweight taper. Recorded on July 6, 1974, at Summerfest held at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, New York. Speaking of this period, Clapton made a dramatic comeback from retirement due to drug addiction for three years and went on a US stadium tour. Until now, our shop has released a number of titles including “Pittsburg 1974”, “Tempe 1974”, and “Chicago 1974” from the tour’s low gene master owned by the heavyweight taper. This board was also a very easy-to-listen master that he owned. This version is the same monaural audience source as the previously released version, and like the previous version, there is a tape change at 4:44 of Have You Ever Loved A Woman and 0:12 of Little Wing. However, if you compare it with the previously released version, you will easily notice that the previously released version had a phase that was biased toward the left channel from beginning to end, whereas the master of this version has a phase that is properly centered in the center. A notable feature is that the mix is ​​monaural but gives a sense of spaciousness. The sound quality is also as clear as the previously released version. This board can definitely be said to be the decision board of the day. Now, let’s take a look at the position of this day’s performance in this comeback year. ・June 19th and 20th, 1974: Warm-up gig in Scandinavia for US comeback tour ・June 28th – August 4th, 1974: US tour ←★Here★ ≪August 5th, 1974 : Album “461 OCEAN BOULEVARD” released≫ ・August-September 1974: Recorded the album “THERE’S ONE IN EVERY CROWD” in Miami ・September 28-October 6, 1974: 2nd U.S. tour October 31st – November 6th, 1974: First Japan tour November 27th – December 5th, 1974: Europe tour This performance will begin the tour after a warm-up gig in Northern Europe. It was the 7th performance of the show. It can be said that this is a valuable sound source from the time when he returned to the stage after a three-year retirement and had not yet found his feet on the ground. This U.S. tour was famous for being a tour that was carried out drunk in order to ease the nerves of performing live on stage for the first time in a while. Therefore, even on the day of this edition, you can see that he is drunk from the beginning, and that influence is clearly visible in his songs, but it is surprising that the quality of the guitar play is not low. This concert is referred to as “War Memorial Stadium” on previously released records and in Clapton-related literature, but now on Clapton’s bootleg commentary site Geetarz, there are comments from fans who saw this performance at the time. It seems that “Rich Stadium” is correct as shown in the credits of the main disc. It seems that it was held like a festival locally, and other artists appeared as opening acts. At the beginning, Clapton drunkenly says things like “Don’t do boring fireworks!” and “I’ll buy any fights that are sold today.” This is because at the Pittsburgh performance the day before, fireworks thrown by the audience onto the stage caused a serious incident (please refer to our “Pittsburg 1974”), and Clapton’s remark was made in response to this. That’s why. The audience gets excited while being confused by Clapton’s drunkenness, but after the performance of Let It Grow, the audience near the recording person yells, “Play the solo!” This was his first American performance in four years, and his first tour as a solo artist, so even though fans had high expectations for the super guitarist Clapton, he got off to a slow start with only an acoustic guitar playing at the opening. This jeers can be said to be understandable. However, there are so many highlights of this album that I don’t have time to enumerate them. Let me tell you about it in detail. First of all, Going To Brownsville at the beginning was credited as a performance by opening act Legs Larry Smith on the already released version, but it was actually by Clapton. Since there is an announcement at the beginning where Clapton introduces Smith, it was treated as if it was an improvised number by Smith, but if you listen closely, you can see that it was an irregular surprise song by a drunk Clapton. You can have it. In the first half of this day, as symbolized by this song, Clapton’s drunkenness stands out. If he didn’t lose himself with alcohol this much, he probably wouldn’t have had the confidence to survive the strenuous stadium tour. Looking back on it now, it’s a record that even makes me feel sad. And the highlight of the day was that the late Freddie King, a black bluesman who could be said to be Clapton’s playing mentor, jumped in for two songs. At the end of the two acoustic numbers, Clapton announces, “I’m going to introduce a special guest here.” Nearby audience members shouted the names of the artists they expected one after another, such as “Pete Townshend?”, “Albert King”, “No, maybe John Lee Hooker”, but for some reason, before Clapton’s guest call appeared. “It’s Freddie King!” I guess. Just from my imagination, I think Freddie may have performed at this festival beforehand. It will be fun to understand this kind of flow, which is unique to audience recording. This was Clapton’s first time collaborating with Freddie. When Freddie passed away in 1976, Clapton paid tribute to him by saying, “Freddie taught me a lot. But the most important thing was that he taught me how to love the guitar.” Freddie also jumped into the performance the next day, and after this tour he participated in Freddie’s album session, and Clapton must have been happy to be able to hit it off with his favorite bluesman. The session is relaxed and friendly, and you can clearly see that. Both songs are Freddie’s original numbers, but there is a scene where he plays Hideaway, which he covered during his time with the Bluesbreakers, in unison, and exchanges solos with interplay. Since a drunk Clapton is taking the lead, the tension is somewhat relaxed, and he shows the boldness of continuing the solo with only one note of feedback and the playfulness of intentionally changing the rhythm midway through, but he responds with a smile. Freddy’s face seems to come to mind. It is possible to distinguish the two tones even in monaural, with the slightly thinner and farther one being Clapton, and the thicker and wilder one being Freddie. The following song, Have You Ever Loved A Woman, features a duet between the two. In terms of power and skill, Freddie has an overwhelming victory in singing, but Clapton wins when it comes to guitar playing (if you think about it that way, Clapton’s singing has improved since this time). Even after this, Clapton’s drunkenness does not change, but the fun of this day is that it appears in the performance and shows a rare development. Most of the subsequent numbers are connected to the next song with a medley from the ending depending on Clapton’s mood. For songs like Blues Power, the ending jam suddenly goes into a medley to the bridge part of Presence of The Lord, and after the guitar solo, just as Yvonne Elliman is about to start singing, she suddenly forces out the intro to Little Queenie. There were no rehearsals or anything. And in the middle of Little Queenie, I put some lyrics from other songs in between. This is a development that can only be seen as the whims of a drunkard. But this is also interesting. And on this day I didn’t play Layla. It can be said that it is an interesting record to know under what conditions Clapton survived a long tour and made a comeback in 1974. However, what is surprising is that not only does he not have any mistakes in his guitar playing, but he also uses piercingly sharp phrases in each song. Even in a guitar battle with Freddie King, he has never backed down. This is probably where Clapton’s greatness lies. That’s why he was able to make a successful comeback. This disc, produced from the master taper master, is a must-listen and must-have for all Clapton fans. Live at Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, NY, USA 6th July 1974 TRULY AMAZING/PERFECT SOUND(from Original Masters)*UPGRADE Disc 1 (67:14) 1. Introduction 2. Going To Brownsville 3. Smile 4. Let It Grow 5 Hideaway (with Freddie King) 6. Have You Ever Loved A Woman (with Freddie King) 7. Tell The Truth 8. Willie And The Hand Jive 9. Get Ready 10. Steam Rollin’ Man 11. Little Wing Disc 2 (21 :28) 1. Tuning 2. Blues Power 3. Presence of The Lord 4. Little Queenie Eric Clapton – Guitar / Vocals George Terry – Guitar Dicks Sims – Keyboards Carl Radle – Bass Jamie Oldaker – Drums Yvonne Elliman – Backing Vocals