ERIC CLAPTON
COLOGNE, SPORTHALLE - 26 APRIL, 1983 (complete)
KYOTO, KAIKAN DAI-ICHI HALL - 4 DECEMBER, 1981 (partial)

Fresh June 2022 needledrop from rare, very good condition Japanese triple vinyl bootleg album.

Sound quality: vg++/4 out of 6.
mp3 audio samples for both shows in comments.
Blue & white CD back and front cover artwork in torrent (jpg files); front replicates original album artwork.

Lineage: 1984 Japanese triple vinyl bootleg album (replay pitch adjusted by speeding up by about a semi-note for 1983 show) > Dual vinyl record player > fresh 28 June 2022 direct digital transfer via USB cable > Audacity (for track marks, level boosting and balancing, slight editing, fade-ins and -outs, vinyl crackles removal etc.) > WAV > FLAC (level 8) > all Claptonatix!

CD 1:
COLOGNE, SPORTHALLE - 26 APRIL, 1983
 
Tulsa Time
I Shot The Sheriff
Lay Down Sally
Worried Life Blues
Let It Rain
Double Trouble
Sweet Little Lisa
Key To The Highway
After Midnight
The Shape You're In
Wonderful Tonight

CD 2:
COLOGNE, SPORTHALLE - 26 APRIL, 1983

Blues Power
Ramblin' On My Mind ~Have You Ever Loved A Woman
Cocaine
Layla
Further On Up The Road

Band line-up:
Eric Clapton - guitar / vocals
Albert Lee - guitar / vocals
Chris Stainton - keyboards
Donald "Duck" Dunn - bass
Jamie Oldaker - drums
-------------------------------------------------
KYOTO, KAIKAN DAI-ICHI HALL - 4 DECEMBER, 1981
 
Blow Wind Blow
Motherless Children
A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Setting Me Up
Another Ticket
Badge

Band line-up:
Eric Clapton - guitar / vocals
Albert Lee - guitar / vocals
Chris Stainton - keyboards
Gary Brooker - keyboards / vocals
Dave Markee - bass
Henry Spinetti - drums

In several respects, this is a pretty interesting torrent from an avid collector's POV, IMHO:
Big E's long 1983 "Money & Cigarettes" world tour has of course been documented rather well with countless shows making their rounds - thankfully one may add. Hence, at first glance, this 1983 show doesn't appear too interesting. However, in all the decades since this show was recorded - and also the 1981 Kyoto show for that matter - absolutely *NO* alternate source, let alone a copy from the respective master recordings have ever turned up in collecting circles (to my humble knowledge only of course)! Every floating around version of these shows was sourced from this very triple vinyl album - and it has never been re-pressed, either.

Though the Cologne show is only an audience recording and thereby of course not quite a match against the well-known, almost perfect sounding 20 April 1983 Bremen soundboard recording, I'd still rate it among the best-sounding 1983 shows.

This album was released in 1984 when I bought it instantly when I saw it for the first time - this no-brainer of course cost me a fortune as it is a TRIPLE JAPANESE album. The old guard of vinyl collectors among you surely remember what that meant to one's wallet back then. Eyeroll & smile... :-)

It is more than likely the album was made by the same Japanese bootleggers who also put out "The Prince's Trust Rock Gala" show from 21 September 1983 (which is still on the tracker at present, BTW: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=715194): Both boots were released in 1984, both come in the same three-LPs-in-one-single-non-gatefold-stingy-budget-jacket, both have blue & white cover artwork, even the cardboard consistency of both is similar, and most of all: Both contain rather enjoyable, vg++ audience recordings! For these reasons, I'm sure the same guys were also behind The Yardbirds' "Reform For Marquee" triple vinyl boot album.

Back in the day, I lent the album to my good friend Hans-Guenther, a fellow Claptomaniac and a very good guitarist in his own right, and he made me aware that the Cologne show ran about half a note slow so we corrceted that. No idea if the other floating around versions are pitch-adjusted. According to H-G, the Kyoto show runs about Ok.

In addition, the bootlegger(s) seems to have been big time and knowledgeable Clapton collectors: Since they obviously thought their 1981 Kyoto recording didn't merit its own standalone release (for whatever lamentable reason), they augemented the Cologne show with a selection of numbers from the Kyoto show that were not played in Cologne two years later. A very thoughtful complement as there are some really rare gems to be found here and it is exactly these numbers that make the album particularly interesting for me: "Blow Wind Blow" and "A Whiter Shade of Pale" were exclusive to the 1981/1982 tours, "Motherless Children" was not done again until January 1984, "Another Ticket" was even only played in 1981, and - would you believe - the mighty "Badge" was elimiated from the set for four (!) years from December 1979 to January 1984, save for three sole known exceptions along the short, eight-date Nov./Dec. 1981 Japan tour, with this being the best sounding version of the three. A great rendition is it too, and though it was not a staple in EC's set, it does not sound a bit rusty. Kudos!

Please do NOT even think of selling this show or spreading it in lossy formats - otherwise: trade, share, collect – and enjoy! Always looking forward to your comments and possibly further (maybe even corrective) info...

Uploaded to Dimeadozen on 30 June 2022 by DocDondy for all fellow-Dimers to enjoy.

EC ahoy!
Th:)mas (DocDondy)


Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: