THE RAINBOW OUTTAKES

1. Badge, 2. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out, 3. Roll It Over, 4. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?, 5. Little Wing, 6. Bottle Of Red Wine, 7. After Midnight, 8. Bell Bottom Blues, 9. Pearly Queen, 10. Key To The Highway, 11. Let It Rain, 12. Crossroads.

Here is a Japan boot that presents some songs from 1973 Clapton Rainbow Concerts there were promoted in order to celebrate England s joining the European Union. Apart from the official release Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concerts of January 1973 have already appeared many times on cd: on ARMS label 16/17PR as ‘Rainbow Concert’ on 2 cds with all tracks from the 1^st show and just “Key to The Highway”, “Let It Rain” and “Crossroads” added from the 2^nd show. Then on the Slowhand Masterfile Pt.3 for Rainbow Late 1/2 with 15 tracks from the late show on 2 cds with Layla opening song fading in and some disturbing clicking noise on a couple of songs. Some years ago Empress Valley came with a 4 cd set ‘Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert 25^th Anniversary Edition’ that was issued twice first as a limited edition set and later as a non limited edition set with less elaborate cover art, both concerts featured with the late one slightly better in quality than the Slowhand Masterfile. And then Mid Valley presented both shows on 2 DVD-Audios with different audio options in perfect soundboard quality. The concerts are well known being Clapton’s comeback after a hard battle with drugs, held by Pete Townshend with help from Ron Wood, Rick Grech on bass, Stevie Winwood on keyboards, Rebop on percussion, Jim Capaldi and Jimmy Karstein on drums. Clapton’s lead guitar is of course upfront and God plays like he had on his best times despite having not touched a guitar for a year, driving his songs with taste but also allowing his mates deserved space. Both shows were recorded with the Ronnie Lane Mobile Studio and the selection of tracks here presented come from both shows with songs separation, all in superb quality output.