Eric Clapton - Live At Montreux 1986
Performance
Production
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Eric Clapton - Live At Montreux 1986
Performance
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I got my hopes up when I heard about this DVD release, since it was filmed during the same tour that produced the charming Eric Clapton and Friends video - a great, but disappointingly short, document of Clapton's 1986 tour. I have always enjoyed that one since it first appeared on VHS, because it features a more loose and lively Eric Clapton than you may be used to seeing. Thankfully, this new DVD is more of the same, with only one song missing, "Run", but several more great ones added. This concert took place at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 10th 1986, during Clapton's world tour in support of his new August album. August was the second of two consecutive albums, beginning with 1985's Behind The Sun, that was produced and drummed by then Genesis frontman, and recent solo superstar, Phil Collins. Collins joined him on this tour along with renowned session musicians Greg Phillinganes on keyboards and Nathan East on bass, to make this one of the most polished lineups Clapton has ever worked with. Clapton wastes no time getting to the Cream classics this night as he kicks off the show with a light and funky version of "Crossroads", which may have left some die hard Cream fans disappointed, but it fit well into the overall vibe of this tour. This was followed by a fairly faithful version of "White Room" that featured Phillinganes bravely tackling Jack Bruce's memorable falsetto choruses. This was supposedly the first time Clapton had performed the song since his 1968 split with Cream, which makes it all the more special to see here. "I Shot The Sheriff" had a remarkable energy that was fueled by Clapton's passionate singing and loose guitar improv. The entire band turned in a stellar performance on this one, especially Collins' dazzling drum work. We sometimes forget that he was once the great Genesis "drummer" before taking over frontman duties in 1975 for the departed Peter Gabriel. Clapton introduced "I Wanna Make Love To You" with "here's a new one from my up and coming album", although the song never did make it on the August album. This steamy, R&B, soul number eventually showed up on the Crossroads box set, and this great performance shows why it deserved to. Next, they run through four new songs from the August album, that are only interrupted by "Same Old Blues" from the previous years Behind The Sun album. "Miss You" is great little tune that features some heartfelt vocals and an excellent guitar solo. "Tearing Us Apart" is a keyboard dominated, practically dance-pop, number that features just enough slick guitar work from Mr. Clapton to make it enjoyable. "Holy Mother" is a hauntingly beautiful ballad that is easily the highlight of the August album, and has remained a Clapton concert staple to this day. "Behind The Mask" is the synth-drenched, techno-pop ditty off the August album, which Clapton lays in the hands of Phillinganes this night. He straps on a hand-held synthesizer and comes out to center stage to sing most of the lead vocals. I didn't like this particular performance as much as the album version, which Clapton sings, but then again it was never the greatest song to begin with. This version seemed entirely out of place when sandwiched between two great songs like "Holy Mother" and "Badge". I was not expecting to hear such an intoxicating, slow-blues romp from the Behind The Sun album, but "Same Old Blues" was exactly that. This moving performance extends the original version just beyond 14 minutes thanks to some impressive solos turned in by East and Phillinganes. East goes first, moving between soft jazz riffs and then accompanying his own funky bass grooves with some impressive George Benson-style scat singing. Phillinganes shows off some impressive pitch bending skills during his keyboard solo, before Clapton eventually chimes back in with a short whah-drenched solo. The song transitions marvelously between clean and quiet, and loud and explosive, as Clapton turns in one of his most passionate guitar and vocal performances of the night. An awesome version of "Badge" then melted right into "Let It Rain", which sounded a little too slick and hurried at first, until Clapton eventually slowed things down to emphasize the guitar arpeggios more. He eventually brought it to a rousing climax with yet another killer solo. With a huge grin on his face, Clapton next tells the crowd "I'd like to now give you the pleasure of letting you listen to my next door neighbor sing". This prompts Collins to take a seat high up on a huge stack behind his drum kit, as a recorded electronic drum track kicks off the most famous song of his solo career, "In The Air Tonight". I've heard from many people who had a big problem with this, and Collins in general, but I have always enjoyed much of Collins solo work, especially this song, and most of his first solo album. What better way to see it performed live too, than with Eric Clapton dropping his guitar flourishes all over it. The Montreux crowd simply ate it up too, as this fine performance received one of the biggest ovations of the night. The first set ended strongly with two of the best songs from the Clapton arsenal, "Cocaine" and "Layla". "Cocaine" had an extra special ring to it this night, seeing that it was one of the last times Clapton played it live, for a long while. He dropped the song from his setlist after getting sober a few years later, and, as far as I know, didn't play it again until his 2004 performance at the Crossroads Guitar Festival, which was a benefit for his drug addiction treatment center in Antigua called the Crossroads Center. Clapton has recently been proclaiming "Cocaine" an anti-drug song to justify its inclusion back into his set list. At the time when he first got sober, he thought it might be sending the wrong message to those who were in the same boat as him. If you ask me, the lyrics can be taken either way, but I for one am glad to see him playing it again, since it is easily one of his best songs. The main set eventually came to a close via the Derek And The Dominoes masterpiece "Layla". This fiery performance begins with a mellow guitar intro and then explodes into that monster riff of the gods that we were all waiting to hear. It may be one of the best versions he has ever done in a four piece band setup. Phillinganes plays the piano coda section beautifully, and Clapton is able to compensate for the lack of a slide guitar partner by infusing some dazzling licks throughout the performance. Clapton leads off the encore with the Cream rocker "Sunshine Of Your Love". This otherwise killer version was nearly ruined by Phillinganes tinny sounding synthesizer, which basically mirrored Clapton's famous guitar riffs and sapped much of the raw power that the song is famous for. They close out the show with the old blues classic "Further On Up The Road", which used to be a staple of Clapton's live repertoire, but had yet to show up on any of his concert DVDs, as far as I know. It finally gets its due here, and the band hits it out of the park. Clapton introduces his band members during the first part of the song, and when Phillinganes gets around to introducing him, the crowd's overwhelming response made him look like he wanted to go on all night. During the performance they show several great shots of the crowd, who almost universally looked like they had all been sent to heaven that night. Then again, they were seeing God play the guitar. The production quality of this DVD is very good considering that this was culled from a 21-year-old performance. Most importantly, the audio tracks sound outstanding. Included are both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mixes, and a PCM stereo track. As is usually the case, the DTS track is the superior choice, if you have that option, but each is worthy. The video really shows it age, but is by no means terrible. The picture is presented in its original full screen mode, and appears soft, sometimes blurry, and the colors are a little washed out. As with most of the Live At Montreux DVDs, the camera work was superb, highlighting Clapton's legendary fretwork, while expertly capturing the essence of the whole band's performance. Unfortunately, there were absolutely no bonus features included. This is one of the most satisfying Eric Clapton concert DVDs out of the many he has released over the last decade. The setlist is superb, and Clapton gives one of the best performances from his solo days to ever be captured on film. Chock up another great addition to the Live At Montreux series. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - October 2006 |
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Running Time: 112 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - September
2006 |