GiGinJapan Artwork of Japanese CDs (mostly) Eric Clapton / Budokan 1974 1st Night / 2CD / Tricone
Live at Budokan, Tokyo, Japan 31st October 1974
Play sample :
An undisclosed new master of the first day of his first visit to Japan has been excavated after 48 years! ]
This time, our shop has independently obtained the audience source new master of Eric Clapton’s first visit to Japan, the performance at Nippon Budokan on October 31, 1974! It was a monaural cassette tape recording at that time, but the storage condition was very good and the pitch was normal. When I listened to it, the sound field was very rich, the sound (phase) was wide, and the sound quality was clear and easy to hear. And it is a complete recording. Our shop also released multiple titles including “THE FIRST SHOW IN JAPAN (2CD)” in the past, and there are other titles in the market, but the first appearance that is different from any of them. It was a diff master. However, probably because I tried to save tape at that time, there was a part where recording was stopped between songs, and probably the end of Get Ready, which hit the tape change, was cut off, but as shown in the notation. It is supplemented with the existing board of our shop, and the reality of the day is perfectly reproduced. If you listen to the part that switches to the supplementary part, the phase width is a little narrow, and you can hear a slightly thin sound that is closer to the treble. The existing board was also an excellent recording, but if you think about it the other way around, you can see that the new master has a more balanced, straight and rich sound field that also captures the bass range. increase. Please check the quality of the first generation master that first appeared in Japan, which was made into a CD directly from the master cassette of the recorder. … It’s been 48 years since then. At that time Clapton was 29 years old. He is the first superstar to come to Japan. The hot rock fans of the time waiting for it. The degree of excitement and the state of the stage progressing while enjoying it. The mood of the Budokan on that day is clearly captured here. It was a historic day when Clapton’s hot relationship with Japan began, and it was also a memorial day for Japanese rock fans. It can be said that this edition, which contains the master who first appeared in Japan, is a new standard appearance of the day.
[The truth of the Japanese performance that was organized with expectations] 1974. Clapton retired from the music scene due to drug addiction for three years dating back from this year, and although it was reported that it could not be revived at one time, he suddenly made a comeback. His long hair, which he showed at the only spot-like “Rainbow Concert” in 1973, was cut off and he returned to the scene with a slightly tanned and healthy look. The world was excited by the resumption of Clapton’s activities. Following the recording and release of the new album, it was unbelievably realized that the performance in Japan was realized while the situation on the US stadium tour that the management side teamed up early to not miss this business opportunity was widely reported. Japan is the next big market and the next tour destination in the United States! It seems that Clapton had expectations and longing for a land in the Far East that he had not yet seen. Clapton has been a big fan of Japanese historical drama and Akira Kurosawa movies since he was young, and he was a Japanese connoisseur who mentioned Toshiro Mifune as his favorite actor during the cream era. You can finally step on the ground. How was Clapton’s feelings?Let’s look back on the memorable activities of Clapton in 1974, which was the first scene comeback in three years.
・ February: Appeared as a missionary in The Who’s movie “TOMMY”. Shooting the scene and recording the soundtrack
・ April 10: A comeback declaration party will be held at a Chinese restaurant in the Soho district of London.
・ April 13-May: Recording “461 OCEAN BOULE VARD” in Miami
・ June 20th-August 4th: After a warm-up concert in Scandinavia, a nationwide stadium tour will be held.
・ August 5: Recorded with Freddie King at Criteria Studios, Miami. The recording at this time was recorded and released on King’s album “BURGLER” the following year.
<< On this day, “461 OCEAN BOULE VARD” will be released >>
・ August-September: Recording of “THERE’S ONE IN EVERY CROWD” in Jamaica
・ September 28-October 6: Short-term North American tour
・ October 31: First visit to Japan. Nippon Budokan performance ← ★ This work ★
-November 6: Japan Tour
・ November 26th-December 5th: Europe Tour
If you look at this, this year when you decided to make a comeback, you have started energetic activities such as making a friendship appearance in The Who’s movie from the beginning of the year. Despite his convalescence, he suddenly found himself on a long-term American tour, recording his next album, and working without a break as if he had regained his three years of retirement. And in the meantime, the performance in Japan was realized. Budokan before the performance that is strangely exciting. That mood is also captured in this work. This Japan performance had a total of 5 performances in Tokyo and Osaka, but the live reviews including the press at that time were targeted at the stage on the first day when the interviewers and reporters rushed in. “Clapton didn’t play the guitar very much and left it to George Terry, which was disappointing,” and for many years it became an established theory as if this was an evaluation of all the first performances in Japan. rice field. However, if you listen to this work, you will find that it was an obvious mistake. Clapton was brilliantly “playing.” From the tail-cut body of the 1957 Gibson Explorer, which everyone at the time was surprised to see, I heard a wonderful play that echoed cheerfully.
[Here is the true figure of Clapton that overturns the established theory! Time slip to Nippon Budokan on the day! ] But why did such an evaluation take root? This is just a guess, but I think it’s probably a “factual misunderstanding caused by the gap between the image I imagined and the reality.” What are the factors? (1) Clapton was drunk. First of all, a strange voice that appeared on the stage. The venue is lively, but just listening to it shows that Clapton was drunk, just like during the US tour. Perhaps the interviewers first began to realize that playing drunk was licking Japanese fans. (2) The expectation that I could hear the god-like playing of the guitar from the first song was betrayed. Three songs from the opening, Clapton held Martin D-45 and performed the songs with chord strokes. What’s more, Clapton brought a song called Smile, which was probably only known to Chaplin’s movie fans, as an opening number that was very important to win the hearts of the customers of the day. It is. It can be said that it was a complete shoulder bag. The guitar solo for these three songs was done by electric and second guitarist George Terry. And Clapton who switched to electric played the first time, Tell The Truth. Here, Clapton stepped on the wah pedal and decided on a magnificent solo, but the impression of Terry’s slide guitar featured in the entire song was stronger. Only in the early stages, the image of “Why don’t you play solo at all?” May have been created. (3) The unreleased new song that was unveiled for the first time in Japan was sober and did not leave an impression. We performed three new songs that will be included in “THERE’S ONE IN EVERY CROWD” released the following year, but all of them were sober numbers, so they did not leave a strong impression and were overlooked. It’s possible that it’s gone (although I did solo at Singin’The Blues). (4) It left an impression on the reporters that Rory Gallagher, a white blues guitarist who had made his first visit to Japan earlier this year, was showing off an energetic stage. Therefore, it is possible that he had excessive (misguided) expectations for Clapton, a guitarist of the same kind. ⑤ It is possible that the memory of the surprised reporter jumped due to the turmoil at the venue at Layla. In the latter half of the series of sober numbers, what was suddenly unveiled was the masterpiece Layla, which most of the audience was eager for. Probably because all the surrounding audiences got up, Layla is a little chaotic even in this board. The reporters may have been surprised by the excitement and frenzy of the audience. The impression may have been so strong that the detailed checkpoints up to that point may have jumped.From the above, I feel that this false dogma was born. However, please listen to Badge in this work. Listen to Have You Ever Loved A Woman. The phrasing in the first half of the first solo in the former is exactly the sharpness of the slowhand playing method itself. And while the second solo is left to George Terry at first, Clapton cuts in from the middle and it becomes an incandescent twin lead. The play of two people can be heard separately by this high sound quality. And the latter is impeccable vocal and guitar play. Even though I was playing like this, there is no such thing as “I didn’t play much”. In addition, the new song Singin’The Blues has decided on a fairly aggressive solo. The aftermath of I Shot The Sheriff is also Clapton-like play, and the twin lead with George Terry is exploding in Layla. There are some sober numbers, and there are certainly numbers that haven’t played solo, but that’s the result of emphasizing the band ensemble and improving the completeness of the song, and including that, he has the true value of being Clapton. It was demonstrated. In the encore’s Blues Power, there are scenes where the band breaks many times in the song and the band breathes snugly. Of course this would have been an ad lib. It means that this band had the potential to respond freely to such developments. Clapton introduces the band members in the song, and introducing them one after another with only the member’s first name shows the good friendship with the members. At the end, Mercy replied “Eric!” And the venue was very exciting. Whether you’re drunk or have a sober number, Clapton’s first day performance in Japan was amazing. Please check it with this work that recorded the new master that was released for the first time in Japan. Thank you for your early order.
Tricone 201/202
