Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood - Live from Madison Square Garden
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CD Details
Artist: Eric Clapton, Steve WinwoodBrand: Clapton,Eric
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2009-05-19
Music Label: WEA/Reprise
Product features:
- CLAPTON ERIC & WINWOOD STEVE LIVE FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (2CD)
Music CD 1
- Had To Cry Today
- Low Down
- Them Changes
- Forever Man
- Sleeping In The Ground
- Presence Of The Lord
- Glad
- Well Alright
- Double Trouble
- Pearly Queen
- Tell The Truth
- No Face, No Name, No Number
- After Midnight
- Split Decision
- Rambling On My Mind
- Georgia On My Mind
- Little Wing
- Voodoo Chile
- Can't Find My Way Home
- Dear Mr. Fantasy
- Cocaine
Music reviews of Live from Madison Square Garden
Music Review: ERIC CLAPTON & STEVE WINWOOD - LIVE IN CONCERT
Rating: 5 Stars
ERIC CLAPTON & STEVE WINWOOD - LIVE IN CONCERT at THE VERIZON CENTER, WASHINGTON, DC on JUNE 13, 2009 and at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (CD and DVD)
I have never seen a welcoming response from an audience that expressed as sincere and voluminous adulation on their part than I did when Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood took the stage of the Verizon Center in Washington, DC on June 13, 2009. It was a Saturday evening, and the excitement was high! The audience just EXPLODED with overwhelming joy and appreciation - before even a single note had been played!
The mutual admiration, affection, and respect that these two gentleman and fine musicians have for each other is sincere, profound, and quite evident when you see them interact with each other on stage, live in concert. It comes across on the CD and DVD of the Madison Square Garden date as well. Truly refined, aristocratic gentlemen with egalitarian, working class backgrounds are what these two individuals exude on stage before an audience, and the audience respects them for it. They are professionals, if nothing else, and they relate to the rest of the band members as well as the audience with the respect that they deserve.
Chris Stainton on keyboards, Willie Weeks on bass, and Ian Thomas on drums backed them up at Madison Square Garden, and Abe Laboriel Jr. was on drums at the Verizon Center concert. With George Harrison's bass player, Paul McCartney's drummer, and Eric Clapton himself having played with The Beatles, George Harrison, and John Lennon on many occasions, it was almost like a Beatles / Blind Faith re-union concert. There was magic in the air in DC this night, and it comes across on the DVD of the Madison Square Garden event as well. The CD has all of the songs of disc one of the DVD plus Low Down (which is on disc two of the DVD), but the DVD also has some other songs on disc two, like Crossroads and Kind Hearted Woman - all from the Madison Square Garden event, as well as an acoustic, sound check, solo performance by Eric on his "Eric Clapton" Martin guitar of Rambling On My Mind, by Robert Johnson, one of Eric's musical inspirations.
The whole concert was recorded and mixed by James Towler, and he did a fine job. The acoustics are superb. I imagine the original, multi-track, master audio tapes are digital, not analog, but in what format, bit resolution, and sampling rate the music was recorded is not documented in either the CD or DVD liner notes. But don't worry, whether you worship the analog wave or the digital dots, the sound is superb. Pure magic!
Track 1, as well as the DC concert, begins with Had To Cry Today. From the moment you first hear the famous 19-note double guitar and bass riff, you know this is going to be good. Clapton takes the solo while Steve and Willie continue repeating the riff. At 5:15 they both solo together. Amazing! ... I often wonder if this song inspired the double lead guitar sound of The Allman Brothers.
Track 2, as well as the DC concert, is Low Down - a Lay Down Sally type of fast shuffle song. Nice! ... This song does not appear on disc one of the DVD, but on disc 2.
Track 3, is Them Changes. I think it is an even a better performance than the one by Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsies live at the Fillmore East. Eric starts off the song with a very short homage to "Purple Haze." Steve sings this with pure soul. Ian Thomas is a great drummer. They did not play this song in DC. In DC, they played After Midnight as the third song, and it was an outstanding performance.
Track 4 is Forever Man. In DC, they played this as the eleventh song of the evening (with tambourine). Clapton and Winwood alternated vocals on the verses as they did with many of the songs this evening. Eric is ripping on guitar on this one!
Track 5, as well as the DC concert, is Sleeping In The Ground. It has that Spencer Davis Group sound. Chris Stainton really excels on the keyboards on this blues gem.
Track 6 is Presence Of The Lord. In DC, they played this as the fourth song. Again, Eric and Steve both sing in this song, and Steve really shines, breathing extra soul into Eric's beautiful and spiritual song. Eric has a passionate, lower range, raspy vocal, whereas Steve has a soulful, higher range, velvety vocal. They blend very well together. This song is a real treat if only for the fact that it features Eric using his famous wah-wah peddle during the guitar solo, starting at 2 minutes and 37 seconds into the song. Also, you can actually see him bending strings up and down all over the neck, high strings as well as low strings. Wow! Now you know why they used to write "Clapton Is God" on the walls in London in the mid sixties. There are many great guitarists in this world, and Eric honors and graciously pays tribute to many of them during his Crossroads Concerts, but when this man cuts loose on the guitar - though there may be faster, jazzier, and louder players than him - few can match his passionate, pristine virtuosity and sheer brilliance of tone. It's grace in action! To see and hear them play this classic, live in concert - being in the same room with them, less than a hundred feet away from the stage - is a thrill of a lifetime.
Track 7 is Glad. In DC, they played this as the sixth song. What a joy to hear this Blind Faith tune performed live with this band! Again, Clapton rips the frets off the guitar neck on this one, and Winwood lays down that intricate piano riff with jazzy joy. During both concerts, Steve alternates between the acoustic, Yamaha, grand piano and the Hammond organ with the rotating Leslie speaker cabinets, depending on the song. Stainton, who also plays piano and organ on the synthesizer (depending on which keyboard Steve is playing at any one time), is great on the organ. The DC concert also had all the magic of the Garden show.
Track 8 is Well All Right. In DC, they played this as the seventh song. At both concerts, they captured the magic of the original album version. It has that Traffic-sounding, Dave Mason groove to it, though it's a Blind Faith song. Chris Stainton excels on the synthesizer on this tune, as does Ian Thomas on the drums (simulating Ginger Baker's short "splash" cymbal crashes!) at the beginning of the tune. In DC, they played the song called Tuff Luck.
Track 9 is Double Trouble. They did not play this song in DC. Clapton wails so hard and sings so passionately on this blues number that the crowd went wild. Watching the DVD, you can sense the excitement of the audience and their respect for this true, traveling blues man. He was playing so fast that I could not keep up with him. The tone of his notes is warm and tube-like - three dimensional and dripping hot.
Track 10 is Pearly Queen. In DC, they played this as the ninth song. Again, I think this is better than the original version. It is so good. The drummers are both great on this song! ... Man, you'll think you're listening to a resurrected Traffic - but better! It's nice to hear Eric's touch on this tune. I don't know if he's using the wah-wah or some other peddle (maybe a bit of "phase"?) on this song, but whatever it is, it works. These guys should record some new songs together and go out on tour again, getting into some "deeper cuts" from both of their respective repertoires.
Track 11 is Tell The Truth. In DC, they played Forever Man. This Derek & The Dominoes classic has some echoes of Cream and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends reverberating through this song. Again, Chris Stainton is awesome on this one. Clapton and Winwood sing their hearts out, and harmonize most excellently together. It is truly an outstanding performance all around. What passion and positive energy!
Track 12 is No Face, No Name, No Number. In DC, they played Little Wing, and this song as the tenth song. Both performances - live and on the DVD - were so soulful and moving. I have always believed in my heart that Steve Winwood has one of the most beautiful voices in the world, and definitely one of the top three greatest voices of all time in the world of Rock and Roll music - if not the best of all. He has always been my favorite singer. This man can truly wail and hit all of those sliding scale notes that lie between the notes of the 12-tone, western scale system of musical notation developed by Bach for the piano. This beautiful song and melody is like a soulful and plaintive, passionate prayer performed by a human being with an incredible amount of gentle sensitivity and grace. As the great poet, John Keats, once wrote, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." ... Amen.
Track 13 (Track 1 on CD disc 2) is After Midnight. In DC, they played this as the third song. J.J. Cale would be proud. As I said above, it was an outstanding performance of this classic song from Eric's first solo album. It had less of a laid-back feel and more of a faster, rock groove this time. It was a fiery and assertive performance, for sure. I know that in DC, the audience absolutely loved it. Smokin'! ... In DC, they played Georgia On My Mind as the thirteenth song.
Track 14 (Track 2 on CD disc 2) is Split Decision . This is absolutely another powerful vocal delivery from Mr. Winwood. His beautiful voice sounds like it hasn't aged a day. The beginning of this song sounds like it could have been a Joe Walsh song or the beginning of Badge. They did not play this song in DC. Instead, they played Driftin'.
Track 15 (Track 3 on the CD disc 2) is Rambling On My Mind. Mr. Clapton performed this blues masterpiece as a solo performance on his very own, signature series, "EC" (for Eric Clapton), Martin, acoustic guitar while sitting down in a chair at the front of the stage. Eric Clapton can play an acoustic, steel string guitar as equally impressive as he can play an electric, steel string guitar. Robert Johnson is smiling up in heaven. (It's funny, but on the CD, you hear more of the higher toned sound from the internal, guitar pickup, whereas on the DVD, you can hear more of a blend of the lower toned sound from the small, condenser microphone along with the pickup; something to be said for the greater 24 bit resolution of DVD's and Blu-ray discs in capturing the bottom end and lower bass notes!) They did not play this song in DC. Instead, they played Nobody Knows You.
Track 16 (Track 4 on CD disc 2) is Georgia On My Mind. Steve Winwood performed this gospel-like standard as a solo performance on the Hammond organ played through the rotating horns of the now, famous, Leslie speaker cabinets that always seem to be coupled with Hammond organs. In DC, they played this as the thirteenth song of the evening. Both performances are absolutely stunning in soulfulness and outstanding in technical delivery on the keys. So sad, sweet, and soulful. It's like he's raising the spirit of Ray Charles from the dead like Jesus raised Lazarus out of the tomb. What soul this man has! ... In DC, they played an acoustic version of Layla together, with Steve on guitar, joining Eric on acoustic guitar. It was like DC Unplugged! Having Steve Winwood join Eric Clapton on Layla adds a whole new dimension to this classic, musical masterpiece. You had to have been there! Incredible beauty and grace.
Track 17 (Track 5 on CD disc 2) is Little Wing. In DC, they played Can't Find My Way Home as the seventeenth song. Recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience on Axis: Bold As Love, this song has become a mainstay of Eric Clapton's career and repertoire since the days of the Dominoes when he first performed it with Duane Allman. He has always put his heart and soul into this beautiful song, but this night - in both places, DC as well as New York - as he is joined by his good friend, Steve Winwood, he seems to even be transcending himself, let alone Hendrix. His singing is great, too. Wow! ... Again, you had to have been there. It literally took my breath away. So beautiful. Great drums! This is definitely one of the most beautiful songs ever written by Jimi Hendrix, or anyone for that matter. Thank God for modern recording technology and the outstanding playback mediums of DVD and Blu-ray discs. It's like you can be right there all over again. Just like at the concerts, where the camera zoomed in on the fingers of the guitarists and projected the images up onto the giant video screens on either side of the stage, you can watch the same thing all over again right in your own living room. Slow that speed down, and learn how to play the licks by watching their fingers - if you dare!
Track 18 (Track 6 on CD disc 2) is Voodoo Chile. In DC, they played Crossroads as the eighteenth song. Steve Winwood played organ on the original, Electric Ladyland album recording of Voodoo Chile. Jack Casady, from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, played bass. Of course, Jimi Hendrix sang and played guitar. To hear this masterpiece sung by Stevie Winwood while Eric Clapton resurrects the spirit of Jimi Hendrix on guitar is too much. This performance is absolutely transcendent in every way. Close your eyes and just listen! Shades of Deep Purple's organ sound join with the amazing drumming of Ian Thomas to blow your mind. In concert in DC, Abe Laboriel Jr. really put all of his heart and soul into this one. More than once, I saw drumsticks flying out of his hands and floating up and back over his head into the area behind the stage. Sparks were flying. Mojo was working. The great groove was like a wave in Hawaii heading toward the beach to crash in a million water droplets of foam onto the warm, tropical sand - only it was musical notes swirling around your brain and dropping on your head. The long, extended performance of this space-blues masterpiece is as trippy as it gets. This is not dance music. This is head music par excellance! The exhibition of performance dynamics by the whole band is perfect. Eric does good. What a tribute and homage to Jimi Hendrix! Whew! ... In DC, Crossroads has to have been the best performance of that song I have ever heard, live or on record. It was that good. Eric Clapton let loose on this so passionately that the crowd went absolutely wild. I could not believe my eyes and ears. Again, you had to have been there. Crossroads does not appear on the CD or on the New York concert DVD on disc one, but it is definitely there as a "bonus" performance on disc 2 of the DVD. Watch it and get "wow-ed"!
Track 19 (Track 7 on CD disc 2) is Can't Find My Way Home. In DC, they played Voodoo Chile as the nineteenth song. I have always loved this beautiful song from the Blind Faith album, having jammed on it a number of times. Steve and Eric both play guitar on this one. Steve does most of the singing, but Eric joins him a bit during the choruses and at the end. So soulful. What a beautiful song. What a pleasure to be able to finally hear it performed live by the two men who originally recorded it. Steve Winwood is an excellent guitarist, by the way. It appeared as if he was playing some kind of semi-hollow body, acoustic, black, Fender Telecaster. What a tone! Like Paul McCartney, this man can do it all - and very well. I think the performance in DC was even better than the one in New York. Outstanding!
Track 20 (Track 8 on CD disc 2) is Dear Mr. Fantasy. In DC, they played Cocaine as the last song of the evening, and Dear Mr. Fantasy as the encore after coming back to the stage. In New York, captured here on the CD and DVD, it was exactly reversed. Let's face it, we've all heard this song a gazillion times on the radio. What majestic beauty and mystical, sonic magic! Everybody in the audience in DC was singing along all the way through. On the CD and DVD, when the song reaches 6 minutes and 43 seconds, we're treated to a little, double-lead interplay a la The End by The Beatles at the end of Abbey Road. The Clapton leads on this classic will send chills up your spine. And the Deep Purple-sounding organ at the end is killer! Live in concert, in DC, the ending was stretched out a bit longer to showcase the fine "dueling guitar" work of these two maestros and string wizards extraordinaire.
Track 21 (Track 9 on CD disc 2) is Cocaine. In DC, they played Dear Mr. Fantasy as their encore. This was another sing-along. George Harrison may have sung that you "don't need no wah-wah," but it sure helped to kick this song into a higher gear when Eric Clapton stomped down on his famous peddle at 1 minute and 17 seconds into the song. Chris Stainton excelled on his boogie-woogie, honky-tonk style of keyboard playing, ripping loose toward the end in an outburst of creative supernova energy! The DC concert was as powerful as the one in New York. People sang along and all shouted out "cocaine!" together at the very end of the song. A love fest.
My one and only regret is that they never played Sea Of Joy, either in DC or in New York. I wonder why? I wonder if they will play it at any of the other concerts on the spring, 2009 tour? I hope so. It is truly a wonderful song. So many of us love that song so much. Neither did they play Do What You Like, but I can understand leaving that one out because it is so long. There is only so much time.
All in all, both concerts are two of the best performances I have ever enjoyed in my lifetime. ... Do get the DVD, or Blu-ray version, of the New York show because the versions of Low Down, Kind Hearted Woman, and especially Crossroads are really good. Also, it's a real treat to see and hear Eric performing an informal and relaxed, sound check version of Rambling On My Mind. The other material, like the interviews, is really cool to watch as well.
... YOWZA! - George Koumantzelis / The Aeolian Kid
Description of Live from Madison Square Garden
2 CD edition. History rocked and rock made history during a sold-out three-gig stand at Madison Square Garden in late February 2008 when icons Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood performed a concert together for the first time since their all-too-brief days in the legendary Blind Faith in 1969. Whether they will ever team again is unknown. But with Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood Live From Madison Square Garden, fans everywhere are able to experience the sound and the glory of a performance on that famous stage by two of rock's greatest artists.Blues CDs
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