50 years ago: Delaney & Bonnie & Friends recorded On Tour with Eric Clapton

On Tour with Eric Clapton Delaney & Bonnie & Friends

Released: March 1970 Recorded: December 7, 1969 Peak: 29 US, 39 UK Sales (in millions): -- Genre: blues rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Things Get Better (Cropper/Floyd/Wayne) [4:20] Poor Elijah – Tribute to Johnson (Bramlett/ Ford/Russell) [5:00] Only You Know and I Know (Mason) [4:10] (10/71, 20 UK) I Don’t Want to Discuss It (Beatty/Cooper/Shelby) [4:55] That’s What My Man Is For (Griffin) [4:30] Where There’s a Will There’s a Way (Bramlett/Whitlock) [4:57] (3/72, 99 UK) Comin’ Home (Bramlett/Clapton) [5:30] (12/20/69, 84 US, 16 UK) Little Richard Medley: Tutti Frutti/The Girl Can’t Help It/Long Tall Sally/Jenny Jenny (Little Richard/Trout) [5:45] Total Running Time: 42:35 The Players: Bonnie Bramlett (vocals) Delaney Bramlett (guitar, vocals) Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals) Dave Mason (guitar) Carl Radle (bass) Bobby Whitlock (keyboards, vocals) Jim Gordon (drums) Bobby Keys (saxophone) Jim Price (trombone, trumpet) Rita Coolidge (backing vocals) Tex Johnson (percussion)

Rating: 3.920 out of 5.00 (average of 15 ratings)

About the Album: Delaney and Bonnie were “a hot commodity build around a volatile marriage” JR-47 between Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Lynn O’Farrell. “George Harrison passed through Hollywood hoping to hear them, and back in England he passed their record [1969’s Accept No Substitute] to Eric Clapton.” JR-47 They toured as the opening act for Blind Faith and ended up “blowing his headliners off the stage.” JR-27 When Blind Faith finished their American tour, Clapton stayed in the U.S. to hang out with Delaney while the rest of the band went back to England. “Despite all the money that had come his way, Clapton felt burned out by his experience with both Cream and Blind Faith, and his disgust with the star charade was deepened by observing and listening to George’s unhappiness with the Beatles.” JR-71 “Clapton preferred the company of the Bramletts and their band to his own group” JR-28 and “was now going to be just a journeyman player in an up-and-coming band.” JR-71 As Clapton said, “I joined Delaney’s band because I was in total awe of him, and I thought everyone else should see this. I knew I had the drawing power, even then. I could make the public aware of them just by putting my name on the bill.” JR-72 In addition to Clapton, Harrison and even Mick Jagger had come to regard Delaney & Bonnie as “being the best band in the world.” JR-73 Leon Russell was instrumental in assembling the lineup which worked with Clapton for the On Tour with Eric Clapton album. He played on the TV show Shindig with Delaney Bramlett and brought his friend Carl Raddle who he’d known since high school, in as a player on Delaney & Bonnie’s second album. Russell was also part of the famed session players known as the Wrecking Crew who played on Jan & Dean’s “Surf City,” and Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” JR-42 and met drummer Jim Gordon. JR-45 Gordon had played with Glen Campbell, Judy Collins, Bobby Darin, the Everly Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, the Monkees, the Righteous Brothers, and Andy Williams. JR-46 Bobby Whitlock had hung out at Stax Records and was mentored by legendary guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn. When Stax signed Delaney & Bonnie, Cropper ended up playing with them. JR-40 Radle and Gordon came via Leon Russell. Guitarist Dave Mason was also part of the proceedings. He got his start as a roadie for the Spencer Davis Group when Steve Winwood was the lead singer and then went on to form Traffic with Winwood. As part of Delaney & Bonnie, he and Clapton treated audiences to good-natured shuffles and short riffs of the kind championed by the Band’s Robbie Robertson” JR-74 instead of the “furious solos associated with Cream, Blind Faith, and Traffic.” JR-74 This live album was recorded at Croydon. It “is not only the peak of Delaney & Bonnie's output, but also the nexus in the recording and performing careers of Eric Clapton and George Harrison. On Tour with Eric Clapton features the guitarist performing the same blend of country, blues, and gospel that would characterize his own early solo ventures in 1970. He rises to the occasion with dazzling displays of virtuosity throughout, highlighted by a dizzying solo on I Don't Want to Discuss, a long, languid part on Only You Know and I Know, and searing, soulful lead on the beautifully harmonized Coming Home.” AMG “Vocally, Delaney & Bonnie were never better than they come off on this live set, and the 11-piece band sounds tighter musically than a lot of quartets that were working at the time, whether they’re playing extended blues or ripping through a medley of Little Richard songs. It's no accident that the band featured here would become Clapton's own studio outfit for his debut solo LP, or that the core of this group — Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, and Jim Gordon — would transform itself into Derek & the Dominoes as well; or that most of the full band here would also comprise the group that played with George Harrison on All Things Must Pass and at the Concert for Bangladesh, except that the playing here (not to mention the recording) is better. Half the musicians on this record achieved near-superstar status less than a year later, and although the reasons behind their fame didn't last, listening to their work decades later, it all seems justified.” AMG Notes: A four-disc box set was released in 2010.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for This Act AMG All Music Guide review by Bruce Eder JR Jan Reid (2006). Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos. Rodale Inc.: New York, NY. Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/31/2008; last updated 11/9/2021.

George Harrison released All Things Must Pass: November 27, 1970

First posted 11/27/2011; updated 12/29/2019.

All Things Must Pass George Harrison

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Released: November 27, 1970 Charted: December 19, 1970 Peak: 17 US, 18 UK, 19 CN, 18 AU Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 0.1 UK, 10.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: rock

Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.) I’d Have You Anytime (Harrison, Bob Dylan) [2:56] My Sweet Lord [4:38] (11/28/70, 14 US, 14 CB, 13 HR, 10 AC, 16 UK, 14 CN, 18 AU Wah-Wah [5:35] Isn’t It a Pity (Version One) [7:10] (11/28/70, 46 CB, 15 CN) What Is Life [4:22] (2/20/71, 10 US, 7 CB, 10 HR, 31 AC, 3 CN) If Not for You (Dylan) [3:29] Behind That Locked Door [3:05] Let It Down [4:57] Run of the Mill [2:49] Beware of Darkness [3:48] Apple Scruffs [3:04] Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) [3:48] Awaiting on You All [2:45] All Things Must Pass [3:44] I Dig Love [4:55] Art of Dying [3:37] Isn’t It a Pity (Version Two) [4:45] Hear Me Lord [5:46] Out of the Blue (Harrison, Al Aronowitz, Clapton, Gordon, Bobby Keys, Jim Price, Radle, Whitlock, Gary Wright) [11:14] It’s Johnny’s Birthday (Harrison, Bill Martin, Phil Coulter, Mal Evans, Eddie Klein) [0:49] Plug Me In (Harrison, Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon, Dave Mason, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock) [3:18] I Remember Jeep (Harrison, Ginger Baker, Billy Preston, Klauss Voormann) [8:07] Thanks for the Pepperoni [5:31] All songs written by George Harrison unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: 105:59 The Players: George Harrison (vocals, guitar, other instruments) Eric Clapton, Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Joey Molland, Peter Frampton, Dave Mason (guitar) Gary Wright, Billy Preston, Bobby Whitlock, Tony Ashton, Gary Brooker (piano, organ) Jim Gordon, Ringo Starr, Alan White, Mike Gibbins, Mal Evans, Ginger Baker (drums, percussion) Carl Radle, Klaus Voorman (bass) Jim Price, Bobby Keys (horns/sax) Pete Drake (pedal steel guitar) John Barham (orchestral arrangements, choral arrangement, harmonium, vibraphone) Eddie Klein (backing vocals)

Rating: 4.521 out of 5.0 (average of 16 ratings) Quotable: “Without a doubt, Harrison’s…best.” – Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide Awards:

About the Album: With his first solo outing, George Harrison “changed the terms of what an album could be.” PF As the first triple album issued by a solo artist, WK All Things Must Pass “reinforced that the album could be an epic novel for a different sort of age.” PF The album shredded Harrison’s reputation as “the quiet Beatle,” proving that he had plenty to say. As he said on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971, “I had such a lot of songs mounting up that I really wanted to do, but I only got my quota of one or two tunes per album.” PF Pitchfork called it “the heaviest and most consequential Beatles solo album.” PF Enhanced by Phil Spector’s lush orchestral production, and Harrison’s own superb slide guitar, nearly every song is excellent.” RU This is “a very moving work” RU that is, “without a doubt, Harrison’s…best.” RU Amazon’s Jerry McCulley described it as “Harrison’s unequaled masterpiece.” AZ Peter Doggett, managing editor of Record Collector said that at the start of 1971, Harrison was “arguably the most successful rock star on the planet.” WK His music of the time reflected the spiritual mysticism of Eastern philosophy “without sacrificing his gifts for melody and grand, sweeping arrangements.” RU Most notable in balancing the spiritual and the commercial is the chart-topping My Sweet Lord. Years later the song would gain notoriety when Harrison was sued for “unconscious plagiarism” because of the song’s similarity to the Chiffons’ “He’s So Fine.” Harrison started writing the song in late 1969, inspired by the top-five gospel single “Oh Happy Day” by the Edwin Hawkins’ Singers. CR At the time he was touring with Delaney & Bonnie. Their backing groug included Eric Clapton, Carl Radle, Boby Whitlock, and Jim Gordon – players who went on to form Derek & the Dominos and play on All Things. They were just part of the rich assembly of talent featured on the album. Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Dave Mason, Peter Frampton, future Yes drummer Alan White, members of Badfinger, and even a young Phil Collins appear on the album. Harrison’s willingness to share the spotlight reflected how he had “been elbowed out of a room too many times before [and] it seemed, he was staunchly unwilling to do the same to others.” PF Peter Frampton said Harrison “was sort of ego-less,” explaining that “everyone was there because they were great players…no one was treated as a session musician.” CR Harrison had faced enough rejection as a Beatle, being confined to one or two songs per album. Here, he finally gets to introduce some of those songs. Isn’t It a Pity dated back to the Beatles’ 1966 Revolver album. PF During the Beatles’ 1969 Get Back sessions that eventually become 1970’s final Beatles’ album, Let It Be, Harrison introduced early versions of the Let It Down, Window, Window, and the title track, WK which “now seems like a very prescient admission that the game was almost up.” CR Some of the songs were also a result of Harrison’s friendship with Bob Dylan. He and Dylan co-wrote I’d Have You Anytime in 1968 when Harrison visited Dylan and the Band in Woodstock, New York. Harrison also tackles a Dylan cover, If Not for You, a result of Harrison’s participation in Dylan’s starting sessions for the 1970 album New Morning. WK There’s also Behind That Locked Door, which Harrison wrote about his friend’s shyness. CR While there were “dark, tortured undertones” CR to some of the music, there were also “creations that brimmed with real joy: the euphoric What Is Life, I Dig Love, and Awaiting on You All.” CR The latter, with lines like “You don’t need no love-in” and “You don’t need no bed pan” were “a pretty obvious dig at John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and the two infamous weeks they spent in bed, so as to somehow further the cause of peace.” CR Harrison enlisted famed producer Phil Spector, who worked on the Beatles’ Let It Be, to give the album “a heavy and reverb-oriented sound.” WK Harrison later regretted the decision, saying in the press kit for the album’s 30th anniversary reissue that it resulted in “too much echo” WK and apologizing for the “big production.” AZ As an example of Spector’s production, the “biting Wah-Wah,” PF which Harrison wrote during his temporary departure from the Beatles WK about his “vexed relationship with [Paul] McCartney,” CR is “layered with so many different guitar tracks it feels like three guitar rock songs fighting each other.” PF Originally the album was packed as two LPs for the vinyl release and then a third album, called Apple Jam, collected informal instrumental jams which Harrison led with accompaniment by some of his famous musician friends. This latter material makes for the albums only “significant flaw: the jams… are entirely dispensable, and have probably only been played once or twice by most of the listeners that own this record.” RU They were “the deluxe cuts and alternate takes of their day.” PF Notes: The original vinyl release was a triple album. The CD reissue is comprised of two discs. A 30th anniversary reissue added bonus tracks.

Review Sources: George Harrison’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AZ Amazon review by Jerry McCulley CR Classic Rock article by John Harris PF Pitchfork review by Jayson Greene RU Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide WK Wikipedia