Eric Clapton - Nothing But the Blues (CD, Vinyl & Bluray)

This packaging is literally like a greeting card, guess Reprise decided to go the minimalist route.

 

While I get that sentiment and share the annoyance about the lack of concert only option, I don’t think you should return it. The film itself is still terrific and features some of Eric’s best playing - lots to enjoy with what we’ve got!

 

Everything about this release has been minimalist. The packaging, the partial concert on CD and a just “as is” restoration of the 1995 PBS TV Special on the Blu-ray.

Bit of a lazy effort IMO by Warner on what I think is one of the most highly anticipated Clapton releases in years.

 

Well I needn't have worried about the quality of the vinyl at least. It's excellent. In a different stratosphere to the dismal 'Lady in the Balcony' pressing. With 'LITB' I returned the vinyl and kept the (excellent) Blu-ray. Looks like I'll be hanging on to both this time around.

 

I think the DR values of the bonus CD ahven't been posted yet:


foobar2000 1.6.10 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1

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Analyzed: Eric Clapton / Nothing But The Blues
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR9 0.00 dB -10.79 dB 8:21 01-Driftin'
DR11 -0.09 dB -12.71 dB 3:01 02-County Jail Blues
DR10 -0.09 dB -11.47 dB 2:44 03-Kid Man Blues
DR9 -0.03 dB -10.43 dB 4:31 04-It's Too Bad (Things Are Going So Tough)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 4
Official DR value: DR10

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 979 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

No music-only option on the Blu-ray really sucks because it's mastered less loud than the CD:

Driftin' (CD)

Spoiler

Driftin' (Blu-ray)

Spoiler

 

The growl of those vintage Gibsons P90s (44, Hurts Me Too), the menacing bite of that sunburst 335 (Reconsider Baby, Sinners Prayer) - it’s absolute Gibson tone heaven here! It’s hard to believe that Eric would almost entirely stop playing these Gibsons after the mid-90s, just gorgeous tone on these instruments.

At the same time, the classic clean Fender strat tones (Early In The Morning, Everyday I Have The Blues) are equally cool and add great tonal variety to the concert (which is so missing from all his other ones). I guess my least favorite are the overdriven strat tones here, much prefer the distortion on the Gibsons.

Lastly, those vintage acoustics are equally gorgeous! Man, what guitars on show here

 

While I think what we have is great, I have to agree with you. They could’ve easily added more footage/audio and the packaging could’ve been way better, not to mention they used a picture on the cover from 1996 rather than from the Fillmore like all the other photos in the book, LP and CD.

Yes, they did a fresh scan of the PBS special broadcast print but we know it was originally shot in 16:9. The only real work they put in was the audio from the multi tracks and the atmos mix, which is huge, so overall it’s a major upgrade both audio and video from what we had but could’ve been so much better.

 

I have the LP coming from Amazon UK so it’s good to hear Bellman was involved, do you know where the vinyl was pressed?

 

Absolutely.

 

Had a listen to the cd yesterday .I have seen Clapton 40 plus times from 83 onwards,the audio quality is not great but gets better after track 4 I did notice hes guitar is definitely pushed forward and sounds great especially with the Gibsons full tone you can follow the notes easily definitely one of hes best performances guitar playing wise,highly reccomend to fans.

 

agreed. And I love the tone of his strats, I’m just sick of hearing this sound from him. And as great as his strat sounds here - it still sounds like a toy to me compared to the tones he gets with the Gibsons.

I guess the Gibsons are too heavy for him? Or he doesn’t want to worry about losing them on the road (thefts)

I’m one of those fans that isn’t super familiar with this 94 show and after watching the Blu-ray it really disappoints me that these two shows weren’t available in their entirety- as they are that good imo

still thankful for it’s official, broadcast release nonetheless

 

Curious, what’s the DR value of Driftin on the Blu-Ray?

 

I also wanted to add here, in watching this concert - while it is fully obvious Clapton’s guitar playing was stellar here - his singing really stands out to me. He really belts these songs out and it’s a real pleasure watching EC sing these old classics as you can tell how much time and effort he put in getting the nuances right for the Muddy Waters songs & Howling Wolf songs, etc…

in the same way Keith Richards hit his second peak in the mid to late 90’s, Clapton followed a similar trajectory in the early to mid 90’s time frame

 

I think Eric was in his prime as a live performer in the 90’s. Also, imo, the combination of his singing ability along with his guitar skills is what sets him apart from many of the greats of his era, he’s the total package.

 

Anyone wanting to save a few $$$$$ on the Blu-ray.Best Buy has it much cheaper than Amazon,even with the added shipping charge you still save on the Deluxe packaging and all the cool bonus content on the Blu-ray
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/eric-clapton-nothing-but-the-blues-blu-ray/35569207.p?skuId=35569207

 

absolutely - that was running thru my mind as I watched the show last night. Another thing that came to mind was he makes everything look so easy (guitar wise). I also couldn’t help but think he was channeling a little bit of SRV in this show as the Alpine tragedy was still fresh in his mind here.

a frustrating thing for me regarding Clapton’s career is why he didn’t just stay in the blues niche as I wasn’t a fan of the mainstream 70’s/80’s stuff (& even the latter day stuff that came out after the RJ period. He came off so pedestrian on the pop stuff (imo). Watch him here at this Fillmore show in his element and he just radiates power & prowess & really encapsulates what a master musician is.

 

I think this is his best vocal performance on any of his several live releases. The way he channeled the blues is just incredible!

 

Thanks for the advice, but...no. I’ll watch it once. I bought it largely to rip the audio tracks.

Instant return.

 

Wow, didn’t know they originally shot it in 16:9 ratio. So we are actually losing information here! Stellar job on the PBS print restoration, but guess there wasn’t the budget or the intent or both to go a step further and edit a complete concert from the original tapes.

I don’t want to sound too complaining as I love what’s on the disc here. But being the super fan and having wanted for his legendary release for years, it’s a tad disappointing that they didn’t do it full justice. I guess the complete concerts may now stay in the cans forever…..

 

In that case, the CD or HD download (or streaming) will certainly serve you better. Ripping the Blu-ray disc for the audio will be painful here, with all the commentaries and edits.

 

Not much better, so it's not like there's a lot of clipping on the CD:

foobar2000 1.6.10 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statistics for: 22-Driftin'
Number of samples: 47740800
Duration: 8:17
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Left Right

Peak Value: -2.10 dB --- -2.10 dB
Avg RMS: -13.87 dB --- -13.53 dB
DR channel: 9.87 dB --- 9.87 dB
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Official DR Value: DR10

Samplerate: 96000 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 3084 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

 

Unless of course you want the additional 2 tracks (Crosscut Saw, Ain't Nobody's Business) that are exclusive to the Blu-Ray.