E. C. Was Here is a 1975 album by Eric Clapton. It was recorded live in 1974 and 1975 at the Long Beach Arena, the Hammersmith Odeon, and the Providence Civic Center by Record Plant Remote during Clapton’s first tour since Derek and the Dominos in 1970. (by wikipedia)
Following Eric Clapton’s recovery from heroin addition in 1974 and subsequent comeback (announced by 461 Ocean Boulevard), the guitar legend retained his fine band and toured extensively, and this live album is a souvenir of that period. Despite having such pop-oriented hits as “I Shot the Sheriff,” E.C. Was Here makes it clear that Clapton was and always would be a blues man. The opening cut, “Have You Ever Loved a Woman,” clearly illustrates this, and underlines the fact that Clapton had a firm grasp on his blues guitar ability, with some sterling, emotionally charged and sustained lines and riffs. A short version of “Drifting Blues” also drives the point home, with a lazy, Delta blues feel that is intoxicating. Aside from these standout blues workouts, Clapton provides a surprise with two songs from his Blind Faith period.
“Presence of the Lord” and Steve Winwood’s classic “Can’t Find My Way Home” are given great readings here and highlight Clapton’s fine touring band, particularly co-vocalist Yvonne Elliman, whose singing adds a mellifluousness to Clapton’s blues vocal inflections. The market was a bit oversaturated with Clapton and Cream reissue products at the time, and this fine record got lost in the shuffle, but it remains an excellent document of the period. (by Matthew Greenwald)
Personnel:
Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals)
Yvonne Elliman (vocals)
Marcy Levy (tambourine)
Jamie Oldaker (drums)
Carl Radle (bass)
Dick Sims (organ)
George Terry (guitar)
Tracklist:
01. Have You Ever Loved A Woman (Myles) 7.52
02. Presence Of The Lord (Clapton) 6.44
03. Driftin’ Blues (Moore/Brown/Williams) 11.31
04. Can’t Find My Way Home (Winwood) 5.19
05. Ramblin’ On My Mind (Johnson) 7.29
06. Further On Up The Road (Medwick/Robey) 7.40
Although the Grateful Dead enjoyed a reputation for lengthy musical improvisations, their career was based on a solid core of songwriting craft. Robert Hunter, who has died aged 78, wrote the lyrics for many of their best-loved songs, and his work was vital in developing the mystique that earned the American band an extended international family of loyal followers, the so-called Deadheads.
His partnership with Garcia lasted right through to the Dead’s final studio album, Built to Last (1989). Garcia died in 1995. “I didn’t get the feeling he intended to live very long,” Hunter told Rolling Stone. “There are things about Jerry I just don’t understand. Or maybe am not capable of knowing.”
Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends ~ Ladies and Gentlemen is the second live album by the English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released as a triple album in August 1974 on Manticore Records. It was recorded in February 1974 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California during the group’s 1973–74 world tour in support of their fourth studio album, Brain Salad Surgery (1973).
echo, the seeming distance – the listener often gets the impression of being seated in the upper mezzanine of an arena.” (by wikipedia)
New Skin for the Old Ceremony is the fourth studio album by Leonard Cohen. On this album he began to move away from the minimal instrumentation of his earlier work, with the use of violas, mandolins, banjos, guitars, percussion and other instruments producing a more orchestrated (but nevertheless spare) sound. The album has been certified silver in the UK, but never entered the Billboard Top 200.
Essentially, Redwing, Glad, and the New Breed are all the same band…sort of. As the band evolved and their styles changed, so did their name.
the replacement for Randy Meisner, who, ironically, he would replace again in the Eagles in 1977. With Poco, Tim released 11 albums.
The seven million people who bought Eric Clapton’s Unplugged album and the countless more who saw the MTV Unplugged TV show experienced the work of Andy Fairweather Low, who served as Clapton’s backup guitarist/vocalist. But probably few in that giant audience knew that Fairweather Low had once been a teen idol and had an extensive recorded catalog in groups and as a solo star. Born in Cardiff, Wales, Fairweather Low formed Amen Corner in the mid-’60s, for which he served as lead singer. The group scored six U.K. hits from 1967 to 1969, the biggest of which was the number one “(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice.” Its success put Fairweather Low’s attractive face on the bedroom walls of teenage girls all over Britain. Amen Corner broke up at the end of the ’60s and evolved into the more progressive Fair Weather, which scored a hit with “Natural Sinner” in 1970, but broke up in 1971. Fairweather Low retired for several years, but returned as a solo artist in 1974 and made a series of albums through 1980, reaching the U.K. Top Ten with the singles “Reggae Tune” and “Wide Eyed and Legless.” Gradually, however, he began to work as a sideman to more prominent British musicians, notably ex-Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters, and with the ARMS benefit group in 1987. He toured Japan with George Harrison and Eric Clapton in 1991 and has since been part of Clapton’s backup band. Fairweather Low began touring with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings and, in 2006, hit the road again with Waters for the Dark Side of the Moon Tour. (by William Ruhlmann)
Andy Fairweather Low spent a fair amount of the late ’60s through 1970 in the British Top Ten with the pop-R&B band Amen Corner, as well the short-lived Fair Weather, before taking a nearly three-year hiatus from recording. Shedding his teen idol image of previous years, the Welsh-born Low returned in 1974 with his first solo record, Spider Jiving. Here he delivers 11 self-penned gems that can be as laid-back as they can be funky, employing support from both Nashville and Memphis while retaining the sort of looseness found in an English pub band. With producer Elliot Mazer — known for his work with Neil Young — Low punches up tunes such as the acoustic-based title track with help from the Memphis Horns, while his rock & roll and R&B sport wry touches of banjo, fiddle, pedal steel, and Charlie McCoy’s harmonica. Lyrically, there’s a thread of frustration, steeped in the experiences of someone who’s had to sit back and watch others get rich from his hard work and success (Low and Amen Corner made very little money despite their success, and were actually in debt to their label following their breakup). And while lines such as “…and the sad thing is, that no one really cares” and “I’ve been abused too long…” may hint at singer/songwriter self-pity, closer investigation reveals a playfulness in the music, as well as a sense of humor and a sly wink in his delivery that keeps everything in perspective. Some of the highlights include the irresistible title cut; the dancehall ballad “Dancing in the Dark”; and the wah-wah driven “Reggae Tune,” which continued Low’s string of U.K. Top Ten hits. (by Brett Hartenbach)
For a band destined to be so influential, led by a pianist who is certainly not shy of the recording process, Keith Jarrett’s so-called European quartet was parlously under-documented.
