By: HarleyDog

HarleyDog — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:33:57 +0000

What a treat it is to have such a wonderful release from Midvalley Records. They have given us the best of both worlds. Not only have they given us previously unreleased rehearsals but 3 monstrous live shows, all of which are excellent quality. The rehearsals are of official release quality. It’s a rare occasion to hear this type of recording at this type of quality. There’s no hiss whatsoever leading me to believe that it had to come directly from the master tapes or at least a very low gen copy. All of the tunes of Disc 355 are instrumentals. Disc 356 starts with Going Down Slow which is a Blues based Balled w/ Eric Clapton singing heartfelt vocals. This particular tune lends itself to some stellar playing from Mr. Slowhand himself. For the most part this disc contains tunes with vocals from Eric and they’re more along the style of the blues. Everyday I have the Blues starts out with a Ragtime feel from Joe Sample. His virtuosity is apparent. The Montreux Jazz Festival recording has been officially released on DVD. As you can imagine the audio of this concert is stellar and is professionally mixed. Midvalley has just pulled the audio from the official DVD and released it here. The DVD is a bit hard to come by. The North Sea Jazz Festival recording is not as polished as the Montreux recording but is still a pleasure to listen to. The highlight of this show is Eric Clapton’s guest spots with the Robert Cray Band. They trade licks back and forth showing the best of both their styles. The recording of the Gastiez Jazz Festival is a rather dry soundboard recording with a lot of high end and not too much low end. Overall it’s not a bad listen but definitely not for everyone. This set is packaged in jewel cases which slide down inside a cardboard slip cover. The artwork is very nice and showcases each member of the group. The studio tracks are inside a dual disc jewel case while the live stuff is inside a 6 CD jewel case. This set is definitely worth checking out and I guarantee you will not be disappointed with the quality of both the packaging and the material contained inside.

Comments on: Eric Clapton – Legends Flawless (Mid Valley MVR 355-362)

By: HarleyDog