r/ericclapton

I recently watched a clip of pop Indian figure on all these artists. But as a Gen-Z I wonder how they (in India) had opportunities to listen to these artists. So, people of the 60s, enlighten me your glorious pastimes from how you first listen to them to what's your favorite track of these artists?

Gave this one another listen, and it was better than I remembered, so decided to review this one after all...

THE BOOT

Just 4 Of Us

This is the complete soundboard from 4/26/87 in Providence.  There aren’t a lot of versions of this out there.  The copy I’ve found is from Eternal Records, a label so small that this set isn’t listed on Discogs. There is a review on Geetarz with the set list.

BACKGROUND

Phil Collins wasn’t part of the core band for the Spring shows in Europe, but he joined for the US tour.  Knopfler didn’t make the trip.  (Not sure why — I can’t find any record of him doing anything after the Secret Policeman’s Ball 3 in March.)  So the band is a 4-piece with East, Philinganes, and Collins for this entire tour.

The setlist is almost the same as the previous 1987 shows.  Without Knopfler, they don’t do Money For Nothing, so the first song in the encore is Further On Up The Road instead.

This is the seventh and penultimate show recorded for the aborted live album.  Wonderful Tonight is the one track from this show slated for that album.

SOUND

This is a pretty nice mix.  The lead vocal is a little quiet, but you can hear all four guys on stage clearly.  There’s a bit more tape hiss than the truly top-notch bootlegs; this doesn’t have the sharp clarity of most of the Mid Valley stuff.  But it’s a warm, pleasant recording.

The crowd is audible but distant and indistinct.

There are a number of minor flaws.  There's a hiccup at 9:06 of Same Old Blues. Someone says perhaps “Sorry, Duck?” close into a mic after Holy Mother.  And then at 2:17 of White Room, and again at 7:52 of Same Old Blues, someone accidentally hits the drum machine, so you get a half-second of Tearing Us Apart. (This seems to be happening a lot.) There's a teeny pop at 0:27 of Cocaine. There a bad edit before Sunshine Of Your Love, that duplicates a couple of notes.  If you're using Apple Music, you can set the end of Further On Up The Road to 6:02.95 for a smoother transition. And there's a harsh cutoff at the end.

This recording leaves in over 3 minutes of crowd noise before the encore.

PERFORMANCE

After 3 shows with nearly the same setlist and band, I don’t have a lot of additional comments. This band is really solid.  E.C. is mostly clean.  They are a very consistent outfit at this point.

The changes without Knopler are fairly minor. The solos in Same Old Blues are Nathan, then Greg, then E.C., then Phil.  (At the end, E.C. introduces the band with “Nathan East!  Greg Philinganes!  Phil Collins.  Yours truly!  Thank you.") Greg is back to taking the last solo on Badge. And they do a bass intro to Cocaine.  Otherwise, it’s the usual solos.  Greg takes the second solo in Cocaine. E.C. is doing Layla without a second guitarist, and neither Greg nor Nathan fill in the other lines, so there are parts that just aren’t there. And then they've added a longer intro to Sunshine Of Your Love.

Same Old Blues is coming into its own. The last R.A.H. show had a really cool fade-down near the end. This one, Nathan’s scat solo is memorable. The cymbals at the start of Holy Mother are a little annoying.

Overall, this is a really high-energy performance. After the main set, E.C says “Man.  We thank you!  Incredible”. Other than that, E.C. is pretty quiet.  I think it’s Nathan East getting the crowd going after I Shot The Sheriff, and after Miss You, and more after Cocaine.  E.C. has apparently off-loaded remembering what city they’re playing in to his bass player.

Robert Cray was the opening act.  He joins them for Further On Up The Road, singing the second half.  E.C. introduces him after the fact.

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