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Booze Rock
Despite the Rainbow Concert in 1973 signaling his rehab from addiction, Eric Clapton remained under the influence well beyond 461 Ocean Boulevard. His record label was unwilling to wait "two or three decades" for a return on investment. Hence, Clapton was on the road again and the tapes were rolling for a possible live album that never arrived.

The fuel that drove the Eric Clapton band during the 1974 tour was alcohol. Clapton was a heavy drinker by then and his playing was erratic but the unpredictability made it exciting to watch and listen. To everyone's benefit practically every show was recorded.

To appreciate the strain Clapton must have been under, you have to see how packed was his itinerary. Clapton kicked off his world tour in Europe in June. At the end of June, he was in New York at the start of the U.S. leg. He ended the U.S. portion early in October and took a much needed holiday. The world tour continued a few weeks later in Japan on Oct 31 at the Budokan in Tokyo. Leaving Japan, Clapton took another short break before starting the European leg of his tour. This time he played in Hamburg, Germany on November 26. The 1974 tour ended in England with a homecoming show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, where Clapton played two nights on December 4 and 5 in front of his peers and fans. The members of Led Zeppelin were said to be in the audience.

What Clapton played in '74 was an extension of his Derek & The Dominoes period relying on songs from the Layla album, some new songs off the new album 461 Ocean Boulevard and, at almost every concert, a brief but sincere reading of his and George Harrison's only co-composition, Badge. The jam on Badge ends each night with the chorus of "where is my band?" - an unsubtle dig at the long gone power trio, Cream.

These shows were not meant to be amped up heavy rock a la Cream but '74 was all about variety and what was popular then. Clapton included the reggae rhythms of Willie And The Hand Jive and his latest single, I Shot The Sheriff. When he wanted to be heavy, Crossroads was let loose. There were also blues and gospel numbers like Can't Find My Way Home, Presence Of The Lord and Blues Power. Of course, there was also the obligation to include Polydor's latest find, singer Yvonne Elliman as co-singer. If anything, Clapton is a perfect gentleman.

When it came time to release a live album, Polydor [before it became PolyGram and then Universal] ordered the next world tour in 1975 to be recorded and instead took a sampling of blues and gospel-flavoured songs to release E.C. Was Here. The tapes for the 1974 concerts remained in storage for a very long ti me. Only over the past 10 years have they come into wider circulation through bootleg labels in Europe and Japan and from collectors.

Perhaps all parties felt uneasy with the performances. Clapton was not always drunk. The shows however did not project the new direction he was heading, to be a blues journeyman. The '74 shows were Eric Clapton's PAST. His albums after 461 Ocean Boulevard showed him taking control of his career and steering it closer to the roots of his music. While some find these albums a bit boring, the same cannot be said of his electrifying '74 shows. They were the last time he showed off his flash, his rock guitar, his electricity and his mettle in such quantity.

Purveyors of '70s rock always have a favorite '74 show to reference. This new MidValley release from Japan offers two shows from the U.S. leg of the tour at Nassau Coliseum that are close to excellent soundboard recordings.
- The Little Chicken

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Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (these are high quality stereo MP3s - sample rate of 192 kibit/s). As far as we can ascertain, this recording has never been officially released.

These tracks are no longer available for download. Kindly email us at mybigo@bigozine.com if you want to download these tracks at a later time.

	Disc I (June 30, 1974)
Track 101	Easy Now
Track 102	Let it Grow
Track 103	Can't Find My Way Home
Track 104	Let It Rain
Track 105	Key To The Highway
Track 106	Badge
Track 107	Little Wing
Track 108	Mainline Florida
Track 109	Tell The Truth
	Disc II (June 30, 1974)
Track 201	Blues Power
Track 202	Have You Ever Loved A Woman
Track 203	Little Queenie
Track 204	Willie And The Hand Jive
Track 205	Get Ready (8.1MB
Track 206	Crossroads
Track 207	Layla
Track 208	Presence Of The Lord
	Disc III (September 29, 1974)
Track 301	Better Make It Through Today
Track 302	Can't Find My Way Home
Track 303	Let It Rain
Track 304	Little Wing
Track 305	Singing The Blues
Track 306	I Shot The Sheriff
Track 307	Tell The Truth
Track 308	The Sky Is Crying
	Disc IV (September 29, 1974)
Track 401	Badge
Track 402	Little Rachel
Track 403	Willie And The Hand Jive
Track 404	Get Ready
Track 405	Blues Power

Lineup:
Eric Clapton - guitar, vocals
Jamie Oldaker - drums
Dick Sims - keyboards
Carl Radle - bass
George Terry - guitar
Yvonne Elliman - backing vocals

Thirty years later in 2004, Universal released a deluxe edition of 461 Ocean Boulevard and on the bonus CD, included one of the two shows from the Hammersmith Odeon in London in December 1974, probably Dec 5th. You can buy it here.

The live album that Polydor released in August 1975 was called E.C. Was Here. It contained just six songs but all were long blues jams and spirituals. Quite the opposite of what was going on in Clapton's long trek in 1974. Here he seemed lost in the blues. Buy it here.