11/17/70/Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert
On The Turntable will feature not one, but two iconic ‘live’ albums from the 70s’. The program will begin with one of my favorite live lps … Elton John’s 11/17/70 recorded at A&R Studios in New York … Then followed by Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert – a star-studded live lp recorded live over two nights at the Rainbow Theatre in North London …
11-17-70
Released in 1971, 11-17-70 is the the fifth official album release for Elton John, and his first live album. This record is an Elton John fanboy’s dream …. Live, recorded at A&R Studios in New York live on WABC … an album recorded from the time before Elton the superstar …. The release was not a planned lp and only contained six songs … the popularity of bootlegged copies prompted the release … Sales were not robust … most likely due to the fact that Elton had three other lps in circulation at the time … Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection and the soundtrack to Friends … no, not the TV Show … This lp is not Elton’s most popular, except with enthusiasts like myself, however it does give you an indication of what Elton sounded like prior to his big break and before guitarist Davey Johnstone joined the band for the Honky Chateau lp … This album delivers in many ways; featuring songs from the eponymous second lp and the soon to be released Tumbleweed Connection and includes covers of The Beatles and The Stones … I own a copy of this disc in every format … The original, the CD release and the Record Day release from 2017
Notable Tracks – “Burn Down The Mission” “Take Me To The Pilot” “Sixty Years On” “Honky Tonk Women”
Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert
This could have easily been called Pete Townshend’s Rainbow Concert … The concerts, two on the same evening, were organized by Townshend of the Who and marked a comeback by Clapton after two years of inactivity, broken only by his performance at the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 …. Therefore … described as a one-off concert which preceded his recovery of heroin addiction and the recording of 461 Ocean Boulevard which was featured earlier this year On The Turntable … You can find better live recordings of Eric … Steve Winwood and Pete Townshend … however I have always enjoyed this lp … it is the ensemble that works … you will hear my original copy purchased in September 1973 … this lp only has six tunes on the entire lp … there is a 1995 remastered edition available that features 13 of the songs covered over both shows … I am going to have to find a copy of that release …. Best Ever Albums Dot Com considers EC’s Rainbow Concert the 367th best lp of 1973
Notable Tracks – “Roll It Over” “Presence Of The Lord” “Little Wing”