Search Results for "Eric Clapton"

Eric Clapton – Journeyman (1989) [Audio Fidelity 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 57:06 minutes | Scans included | 2,29 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,02 GB
Mastered by Steve Hoffman | Audio Fidelity # AFZ-180

For most of the ’80s, Eric Clapton seemed rather lost, uncertain of whether he should return to his blues roots or pander to AOR radio. By the mid-’80s, he appeared to have made the decision to revamp himself as a glossy mainstream rocker, working with synthesizers and drum machines. Instead of expanding his audience, it only reduced it. Then came the career retrospective Crossroads, which helped revitalize his career, not only commercially, but also creatively, as Journeyman — the first album he recorded after the success of Crossroads — proved. Although Journeyman still suffers from an overly slick production, Clapton sounds more convincing than he has since the early ’70s. Not only is his guitar playing muscular and forceful, his singing is soulful and gritty. Furthermore, the songwriting is consistently strong, alternating between fine mainstream rock originals (“Pretending”) and covers (“Before You Accuse Me,” “Hound Dog”). Like any of Clapton’s best albums, there is no grandstanding to be found on Journeyman — it’s simply a laid-back and thoroughly engaging display of Clapton’s virtuosity. On the whole, it’s the best studio album he’s released since Slowhand.

(more…)

Eric Clapton – Time Pieces: The Best Of Eric Clapton (1982) [Audio Fidelity ‘2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 45:37 minutes | Scans included | 1,83 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 883 MB
Mastered for SACD by Kevin Grey | Audio Fidelity # AFZ 190

This is a reissue of the Time Pieces comp, a good single-disc collection of Eric Clapton’s solo hits — including “I Shot the Sheriff,” “After Midnight,” “Wonderful Tonight,” Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla,” and “Cocaine” — that has since been supplanted by the more thorough The Cream of Eric Clapton, which combines his solo work with selections of his Cream and Blind Faith work. Nevertheless, the compilation still provides a good introduction for neophyte Clapton fans, especially those who just want copies of his ’70s hits.

(more…)

Eric Clapton – Slowhand (1977) [SACD 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 39:03 (2.0) / 39:53 (5.1) minutes |  2,58 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound

After the guest-star-drenched No Reason to Cry failed to make much of an impact commercially, Eric Clapton returned to using his own band for Slowhand. The difference is substantial — where No Reason to Cry struggled hard to find the right tone, Slowhand opens with the relaxed, bluesy shuffle of J.J. Cale’s “Cocaine” and sustains it throughout the course of the album. Alternating between straight blues (“Mean Old Frisco”), country (“Lay Down Sally”), mainstream rock (“Cocaine,” “The Core”), and pop (“Wonderful Tonight”), Slowhand doesn’t sound schizophrenic because of the band’s grasp of the material. This is laid-back virtuosity — although Clapton and his band are never flashy, their playing is masterful and assured. That assurance and the album’s eclectic material make Slowhand rank with 461 Ocean Boulevard as Eric Clapton’s best albums.

(more…)

Eric Clapton – Pilgrim (1998) [Audio Fidelity 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 77:25 minutes | Scans included | 3,11 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,40 GB
Mastered for SACD by Steve Hoffman | Audio Fidelity # AFZ 188

One strange thing about Eric Clapton’s ’90s success is that it relied almost entirely on covers and new versions of classic hits; he released no albums of new material between 1989’s Journeyman and 1998’s Pilgrim. In the decade between the two albums, he had two new hits — his moving elegy to his deceased son, “Tears in Heaven,” and the slick contemporary soul of the Babyface-written “Change the World” — and Pilgrim tries to reach a middle ground between these two extremes, balancing tortured lyrics with smooth sonic surfaces. Working with producer Simon Climie, his collaborator on the TDF side project, Clapton has created a numbingly calm record that, for all of its lyrical torment, displays no emotion whatsoever. Much of the problem lies in the production, which relies entirely on stiff mechanical drumbeats, gauzy synthesizers, and meandering instrumental interludes. These ingredients could result in a good record, as “Change the World” demonstrated, but not here, due to Pilgrim’s monotonous production. Unfortunately, Clapton doesn’t want to shake things up — his singing is startlingly mannered, even on emotionally turbulent numbers like “My Father’s Eyes” or “Circus.” Even worse, he’s content to take a back seat instrumentally, playing slight solos and fills as colorless as the electronic backdrops. The deadened sonics would make Pilgrim a chore even if there were strong songs on the record, but only a handful of tunes break through the murk. Considering that Journeyman, his last album of original material, was a fine workmanlike effort and that From the Cradle and Unplugged crackled with vitality, the blandness of Pilgrim is all the more disappointing.

(more…)

Eric Clapton – Behind The Sun (1985) [Audio Fidelity 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 50:09 minutes | Scans included | 2,02 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 936 MB
Mastered by Steve Hoffman | Audio Fidelity # AFZ-175

Eric Clapton’s career was in decline in the early ’80s when he switched record labels from Polydor to Warner Bros., and his debut Warner album, Money and Cigarettes, became his first to fall below gold-record status in more than six years. As a result, Warner looked critically at his follow-up, the Phil Collins-produced Behind the Sun, in the fall of 1984 and rejected the first version submitted, insisting that he record several new songs written by Jerry Williams, backed by Los Angeles session players under the auspices of company producers Lenny Waronker and Ted Templeman. Warner then emphasized the new tracks, releasing two of them, “Forever Man” (which reached the Top 40) and “See What Love Can Do,” as singles. The resulting album, not surprisingly, was somewhat schizophrenic, though the company may have been correct in thinking that the album as a whole was competent without being very exciting. The added tracks were not bad, but they were not the sure-fire hits they were supposed to be. As usual, there was some effective guitar soloing (notably on “Same Old Blues”), but despite the tinkering, Behind the Sun was not one of Clapton’s better albums.

(more…)

Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974) [Reissue 2004]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 56:54 minutes | Scans included | 3,42 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,25 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound

461 Ocean Boulevard is the second solo studio album by Eric Clapton that marked his return to recording after recovering from a three-year addiction to heroin. The album title refers to the address on Ocean Boulevard in Golden Beach, Florida where Clapton lived while recording the album. The street address of the house was changed after the album’s release due to fans flocking to the property.

(more…)

Eric Clapton – 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2010]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 39:02 minutes | Scans included | 1,58 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 775 MB

Reissue features the high-fidelity SHM-SACD format (fully compatible with standard SACD player, but it does not play on standard CD players) and the 2010 DSD remastering. DSD Transferred by Hitoshi Takiguchi.

461 Ocean Boulevard is Eric Clapton’s second studio solo album, arriving after his side project of Derek and the Dominos and a long struggle with heroin addiction. Although there are some new reggae influences, the album doesn’t sound all that different from the rock, pop, blues, country, and R&B amalgam of Eric Clapton. However, 461 Ocean Boulevard is a tighter, more focused outing that enables Clapton to stretch out instrumentally. Furthermore, the pop concessions on the album — the sleek production, the concise running times — don’t detract from the rootsy origins of the material, whether it’s Johnny Otis’ “Willie and the Hand Jive,” the traditional blues “Motherless Children,” Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff,” or Clapton’s emotional original “Let It Grow.” With its relaxed, friendly atmosphere and strong bluesy roots, 461 Ocean Boulevard set the template for Clapton’s ’70s albums. Though he tried hard to make an album exactly like it, he never quite managed to replicate its charms.

(more…)