Dave Mason - ...and on guitar (1984)

David Thomas Mason was born on 10 May 1946 in Worcester, and was a professional musician by his teens, making his recording debut with 'Opus To Spring' in 1963 with the instrumental group the Jaguars. It was with this band that he first encountered drummer Jim Capaldi, and the two became members of the Hellions, who played around the U.K. and in Hamburg, West Germany, as well as cutting a few singles in 1964 and 1965. Mason quit the Hellions in the spring of 1965 to study music formally, while also sitting in occasionally with another band featuring Capaldi, Deep Feeling. In early 1966 he took a job as road manager for the Spencer Davis Group, where he met Steve Winwood, and when Winwood left The Spencer Davis Group in March 1967, he took Mason with him to form Traffic with Capaldi and flautist Chris Wood. After their first single 'Paper Sun' was a UK hit, they followed it with Mason's 'Hole in My Shoe', which hit number two in the U.K. Mason stayed in the band long enough to record Traffic's debut album 'Mr. Fantasy', but left just as it was being released, recording a solo single 'Little Woman' in early 1968. He then rejoined Traffic, staying with them until the band broke up in late 1968. After that he moved to Los Angeles and joined Delaney & Bonnie & Friends in 1969, and then in 1970 he signed a solo contract with Blue Thumb Records and released his debut solo album 'Alone Together', which reached number 22 and went gold in the U.S. Despite this success, he continued to work in group contexts, serving temporarily as second guitarist in Eric Clapton's band Derek And The Dominos, recording with George Harrison on 'All Things Must Pass', and forming a duo with Cass Elliot, releasing their album 'Dave Mason & Cass Elliot' in February 1971. During this time he was a busy session guitarist, starting almost as soon as Traffic ceased to exist, and as he was a friend of Jimi Hendrix he was invited to play 12-string acoustic guitar on his recording of 'All Along The Watchtower', as well as singing and playing on 'Crosstown Traffic'. In 1969/1970 he toured with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and contributed a searing solo to their 'Comin' Home' single, as well as playing with Eric Clapton on Derek And The Dominos' single 'Tell The Truth'/'Roll It Over'. In the early 70's he was very much a part of the US West Coast singer/songwriter collective, not only with his own albums, but also featuring on records by Graham Nash, David Crosby, David Blue, Bobby Keys, and his old friend Jim Capaldi. In 1973 he was the guest guitarist on jazz pianist Dave Brubeck's 'Two Generations Of Brubeck' album, showing that he was as much at home with jazz as he was with rock. He also added his guitar to Wings' hit single 'Listen To What The Man Said', and helped out Stephen Stills, Ron Wood, and Donovan in the late 70's/early 80's. Although Mason is pretty much a household name for his work with Traffic and his solo career, I was surprised at just how much he'd spread himself around in the 70's, and so this is a fine celebration of his work from that period.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Crosstown Traffic (from 'Electric Ladyland' by Jimi Hendrix Experience 1968)
02 Sing To Me, Woman (from 'Thinking Back' by Gordon Jackson 1969)
03 Hello Little Girl (from 'Word Of Mouth' by Merryweather 1969)
04 Comin' Home (single by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends 1969)
05 Freedom (from 'Bobby Lester' by Bobby Lester 1970) 
06 Plug Me In (from 'All Things Must Pass' by George Harrison 1970)
07 Roll It Over (b-side of 'Tell The Truth' by Derek And The Dominos 1970)
08 All Life Is One (from 'Warm Waters' by Charles Lloyd 1971)
09 Military Madness (from 'Songs For Beginners' by Graham Nash 1971)
10 Don't Be A Hero (from 'Oh How We Danced' by Jim Capaldi 1972)
11 Steal From A King (from 'Bobby Keys' by Bobby Keys 1972)

Disc Two
01 Immigration Man (from 'Graham Nash - David Crosby' by Crosby & Nash 1972)
02 Outlaw Man (from 'Nice Baby And The Angel' by David Blue 1973)
03 Blue Rondo A La Turk (from 'Two Generations Of Brubeck' by Dave Brubeck 1973)
04 No Show Tonight (from 'Phoebe Snow' by Phoebe Snow 1974)
05 Ain't That Loving You (out-take from '461 Ocean Boulevard' by Eric Clapton 1974) 
06 Listen To What The Man Said (from 'Venus And Mars' by Wings 1975)
07 Hideaway From Love (from 'Black And White' by Mike Finnigan 1978)
08 You Can't Dance Alone (from 'Thoroughfare Gap' by Stephen Stills 1978)
09 F.U.C. Her (from 'Gimme Some Neck' by Ron Wood 1979)
19 Boy For Every Girl (from 'Lady Of The Stars' by Donovan 1984)

Ron Wood - ...and on guitar (1987)

Ronald David Wood was born on 1 June 1947 in Hillingdon, London, and made his first appearances on record during the mid-'60s, firstly as guitarist for the Birds, who were an R&B band based in Yiewsley, Middlesex. They were a popular live act with a considerable fan base, releasing several singles in the mid-1960's, and Wood wrote or co-wrote nearly half the songs that the group recorded. By 1967 the Birds had disbanded, and Wood briefly took part in a project called Santa Barbara Machine Head, which included later Deep Purple co-founder Jon Lord (did he file that name away for later use?), before becoming a member of the oft-overlooked mod outfit The Creation, remaining with them for a short while, and appearing on a handful of their singles. After he left The Creation in 1967 he joined the Jeff Beck Group, but as Beck was one of the leading guitarists of the time, Wood switched to bass while with the band, and they recorded two highly respected albums, with 'Truth' appearing in 1968, and 'Beck-Ola' following the next year. Following the release of 'Beck-Ola', the Jeff Beck Group disbanded, with vocalist Rod Stewart embarking on a solo career, and after Steve Marriott left the Small Faces, Wood began working with the remaining members of that group, returning to his instrument of choice, the guitar. This line-up, plus Rod Stewart and former Bird Kim Gardner, teamed up with Wood's brother Art Wood in a group that they called Quiet Melon, and they made a handful of recordings in May 1969. When Quiet Melon folded, Wood and Stewart joined the former Small Faces full-time, changing the band's name to The Faces, and it was most of this band, with the addition of Keith Emerson on keyboards, and Steamhammer's Martin Pugh and Martin Quittenton, that backed Stewart on his first solo album 'An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down' in 1969. 

In the first half of the 1970's, The Faces released four studio albums and were among the top-grossing live acts of the period, and as well as his distinctive guitar work, Wood contributed harmonica, vocals and bass to the band's recordings, and co-wrote many of their songs. In 1972, Wood and Faces bassist Ronnie Lane composed the soundtrack to the film 'Mahoney's Last Stand' with help from Pete Townshend, Ric Grech and Kenney Jones, but the soundtrack album didn't appear until four years later in 1976. In 1973 Wood asked his old friend Mick Taylor to help out with his first solo album, and later that year he collaborated with Mick Jagger on the song 'It's Only Rock'n Roll (But I Like It)', as well as joining David Bowie to record a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Growing Up' during sessions for his 'Diamond Dogs' album. When Taylor departed from the Rolling Stones in December 1974, Wood helped out with the band's March 1975 recording sessions for their forthcoming album 'Black And Blue', and although still a member of Faces, he toured North America with The Rolling Stones in 1975. When The Faces announced their break-up in December of that year, Wood was officially declared a member of The Rolling Stones in 1976, playing slide guitar, as Taylor and Brian Jones had done before him, and adding both lap steel and pedal steel guitar to his repertoire. In addition, he often exchanged roles on the guitar with Keith Richards, blurring the boundaries between rhythm and lead, even within a particular song. In 1975, Wood released his second solo album 'Now Look', followed four years later by 'Gimme Some Neck', and to promote it he formed and toured with The New Barbarians, playing 20 concerts in Canada and the US. Throughout the 1980's Wood kept very busy, playing as an official member of The Rolling Stones, continuing his solo career, painting, and collaborating with a number of other artists, including Prince, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Ringo Starr and Aretha Franklin. Wood's first guest appearance was actually on Donovan's 'Barabajagal' single, where The Jeff Beck Group acted as his backing band, but as Wood was playing bass and not guitar I'm starting this collection with his appearance on Rod Stewart's 1970 album, and working through his contributions to other artists efforts through to the late 80's, and for the cover I've used a rare self-portrait painted by Wood himself. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Only A Hobo (from 'Gasoline Alley' by Rod Stewart 1970) 
02 I'm Ready (from 'It Ain't Easy' by John Baldry 1971) 
03 Stop On The Red (from 'Wun' by Gerry Lockran 1972)

04 Just For A Moment (from the soundtrack of the film 'Mahoney's Last Stand' 1972)
05 Brahms (from 'The Academy In Peril' by John Cale 1972) 
06 Fallen Angel (from 'On The Road To Freedom' by Alvin Lee & Mylon LeFevre 1973)
07 Growin' Up (out-take from 'Pin Ups' by David Bowie 1973)
08 Kew (from 'Love Songs' by Billy Nicholls 1974)
09 Shut Up (from 'First Of The Big Bands' by Tony Ashton & John Lord 1974)
10 Ding Dong, Ding Dong (from 'Dark Horse' by George Harrison 1974) 
11 Feet (from 'Stone Alone' by Bill Wyman 1976)
12 Kinky (from 'Lasso From El Paso' by Kinky Friedman 1976)

Disc Two
01 All Our Past Times (from 'No Reason To Cry' by Eric Clapton 1976)
02 What A Town (from 'Rick Danko' by Rick Danko 1977)
03 Slow Screw Against The Wall/A♭ Fry (from 'Ask Rufus' by Rufus feat. Chaka Khan 1977) 
04 Nobody's Child (from 'Puttin' On The Style' by Lonnie Donegan 1978) 
05 Jumpin' Jack Flash (from 'Aretha' by Aretha Franklin 1980)
06 Little Girl (from 'Bump In The Night' Ian McLagan 1981) 
07 Dead Giveaway (from 'Stop And Smell The Roses' by Ringo Starr 1981) 
08 Clean Cut Kid (from 'Empire Burlesque' by Bob Dylan 1985)
09 Go 'Way Little Boy (b-side of 'Sweet Sweet Baby' single by Lone Justice 1985)
10 Love Roulette (from 'Heartbeat' by Don Johnson 1986) 
11 Baby (from 'Dirty Strangers' by Dirty Strangers 1987)
12 The Usual (from the soundtrack of the film 'Hearts Of Fire' 1987)

Thanks to Gil for the suggestion

Derek Trucks - ...and on guitar (2010)

Derek Trucks was born on 8 June 1979 in Jacksonville, Florida, and he bought his first guitar at a yard sale for $5 at age nine, becoming a child prodigy and playing his first paid performance at age 11. He began playing the guitar using a slide because it allowed the young guitarist to play despite his small hands, and by his 13th birthday he'd played alongside Buddy Guy and toured with Thunderhawk. Trucks formed The Derek Trucks Band in 1994, and by his 20th birthday he'd played with such artists as Bob Dylan, Joe Walsh, and Stephen Stills. In 1999 he toured as a member of Phil Lesh & Friends, and after performing with The Allman Brothers Band for several years as a guest musician, he became a formal member in 1999, now playing alongside his uncle, drummer Butch Trucks. In 2006 Trucks began a studio collaboration with JJ Cale and Eric Clapton called The Road To Escondido and performed with three bands in 17 different countries that year. Trucks and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, combined their bands to form the Soul Stew Revival in 2007 and performed at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2008, putting his own band on hiatus, and in 2010 they officially dissolved. Trucks formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, and in 2014 he announced that he and fellow guitarist Warren Haynes planned to leave the Allman Brothers Band at the end of the year, prompting the Allmans to announce their retirement. Trucks credits guitarist Duane Allman and bluesman Elmore James as the two slide guitarists who influenced his early style, but has since been inspired by John Lee Hooker, Ali Akbar Khan, Howlin' Wolf, and Albert King, among many others. His music is rooted in blues and rock, embracing jam band, Southern rock, and jazz, playing an eclectic blend of blues, soul, jazz, rock, and qawwali music (a genre of music from Pakistan and western India). While still a member of the Allmans, he started to appear as a guest player on various rock, blues and jazz albums from fellow musicians, and a selection of them appear here, showing why he's twice graced the Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Track listing

Disc One
01 Wanted Man (from 'Storm Warning' by Tinsley Ellis 1994) 
02 I Gotta Girl She Lives Up On The Hill (from 'CeDell Davis' by CeDell Davis 1994) 
03 That's All Right (from 'Come On In This House' by Junior Wells 1996) 
04 Neighbour, Neighbour (from 'Searching For Simplicity' by Gregg Allman 1997)
05 Why Are People Like That (from 'Secrets Of The Heart' by Bobby Charles 1998)
06 Soulshine (from 'With A Little Help From Our Friends' by Gov't Mule 1999)
07 Row Jimmy (from 'Laughing Water' by Jazz Is Dead 1999)
08 Kerouac (from 'The Flower And The Knife' by Kevin Kinney 2000)
09 Ganja (from 'Croakin' At Toad's' by Frogwings 2000)

Disc Two
01 Mud Bug (from 'Project Z' by Project Z 2001)
02 I'm Gonna Move Away From Here (from 'Wait For Me' by Susan Tedeschi 2002)
03 Pineapple Heart (from 'Little Worlds' by Bela Fleck 2003)
04 How Ya Livin' (from 'The Calling' by The Aquarium Rescue Unit 2003)
05 You Da Mann (from 'Coast To Coast' by Maximum Grooves 2004)
06 Osiris (from 'Timeless' by Jeff Sipe 2004)
07 She Makes Me Want To Sing (from 'The Best Kept Secret'  by Jerry Douglas 2005)
08 Missing Person (from 'The Road To Escondido' by J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton 2006)
09 Johnny Coolman (from 'Light Your Life' by Toots & The Maytalls 2007)

Disc Three
01 Tibidi Waka (from 'Guiding Star' by Vusi Mahlasela 2007)
02 Skin Deep (from 'Skin Deep' by Buddy Guy 2008)

03 I Want The Truth (from 'Sidewalk Caesars' by Scrapomatic 2008)

04 Brother Ray (from 'Here And Gone' by David Sanborn 2008)
05 Lifeboat Serenade  (from 'Lifeboat' by Jimmy Herring 2008)

06 New Star (from 'The Works' by Jonatha Brooke 2008) 
07 Slapback Blues (from 'Guitars' by McCoy Tyner 2008) 
08 Struttin' My Stuff (from 'The Blues Rolls On' by Elvin Bishop 2008)
09 Space Captain (from 'The Imagine Project' by Herbie Hancock 2010)
10 Manoovas (from 'Tribal' by Dr. John And The Lower 911 2010)

Santana with Eric Clapton - Jam At Wally's Place (1970)

In October 1970 Eric Clapton and the Dominoes arrived in Berkeley for some concerts at the Community Theatre, and while they were there Clapton decided to check out a young teenage kid called Neil Schon, who was creating quite a stir on the local scene. He was recording with Santana down at the Village Recorder in San Francisco, so Clapton and some of the Dominoes went down to check him out, and before long the Santana band and Eric and co were jamming away, although Santana himself has admitted that he was suffering from a particularly bad acid trip at the time and so was unable to participate. Eric was certainly impressed and invited Schon to play with him and the Dominoes at the Berkeley shows, and the results were so good that Clapton asked him to join the band. Schon declined the offer, going on to become a key member of Santana, and when he eventually left he formed the enormously successful Journey. The jam sessions at the recording studio were taped, and are made up of a few Santana songs with Clapton playing along, and a couple of loose jams, all of which feature some excellent playing from all participants, and so are well worth hearing.  

Track listing

01 Just Like You
02 Everything Is Coming Our Way
03 Batuka
04 Jamtana
05 Blues Shuffle Jam
06 Try To Make It Real Compared To What

Eric Clapton - ...and on guitar Vol. 2 (1976)

We're gradually coming to the end of this series, which started almost a year ago as a one-off post for Jimi Hendrix, and which has grown into what I hope can be viewed as a fairly comprehensive overview of the famous and the obscure guest appearances on record by some of the world's greatest guitarists. Eric Clapton was so prolific in the 70's that the first volume for him covered just the years 1968 to 1970, and so a second volume was always on the cards, and here it is.  

Track listing

01 Sitting On Top Of The World (from 'Sessions' by Howlin' Wolf 1971)
02 I'm Your Spiritual Breadman (from 'The Worst Of...' by Ashton Gardner & Dyke 1971)
04 Washita Love Child (from 'Jesse Davis' by Jesse Davis 1971)
04 Black John The Conqueror (from 'The Sun, Moon & Herbs' by Dr. John 1971)
05 The Scenery Has Slowly Changed (from 'Bobby Whitlock' by Bobby Whitlock 1972)
06 A Man Of Many Words (from 'Play The Blues' by Buddy Guy & Junior Wells 1972)
07 Comin' Home (from 'D & B Together' by Delaney And Bonnie 1972)
08 No-one Knows (from 'Music From Free Creek' 1973)
09 Sugar Sweet (from 'Burglar' by Freddie King 1974)
10 Eyesight To The Blind (from the 'Tommy' soundtrack album 1975)
11 Romance In Durango (from 'Desire' by Bob Dylan 1976)
12 Worrier (from 'Stingray' by Joe Cocker 1976)
13 This Be Called A Song (from 'Ringo's Rotogravure' by Ringo Starr 1976)
14 Kinky (from 'Lasso From El Paso' by Kinky Friedman 1976)

I've omitted a couple of tracks, not only for reasons of space, but also for the fact that Stephen Bishop, for example, has Clapton playing on his song 'Sinking In An Ocean Of Tears' and you can't even hear him (why would you ask one of the greatest ever guitarists to appear on your album and not give him a solo?), and although you can hear him perfectly well on Yoko Ono's 'Don't Worry, Kyoko', that's such an extreme listen that it really disrupted the flow of the album.  

Eric Clapton - ...and on guitar (1970)

Throughout the 60's Eric Clapton's reputation as one of the greatest British guitarists grew and grew, as he moved through some of the UK's best bands, from The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, and finally Blind Faith. With a workload like that, and the constant touring that it involved, it's not surprising that he didn't have a lot of spare time to go into the studio and offer his services as a guest guitarist, so it wasn't really until 1968 that he started to appear on records by other artists. His most famous guest appearance was in 1968 on The Beatles' 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', at the request of George Harrison, who asked him to play on it following the two guitarists collaboration on Harrison's Wonderwall Music' album, and that seems to have given him a taste for popping into the studio to help out friends, acquaintances, and artists that he admired. Also in 1968, while Cream were touring the US, Atlantic supremo Ahmet Ertegun asked him if he would play guitar on a record by a fellow Atlantic artist, and so the other guitarists were pulled out of the studio and a nervous Clapton laid down the lead guitar on Aretha Franklin's 'Good To Me As I Am To You'. The Beatles' recording followed later that year, and the Apple Records connection led to him playing on the b-side of Jackie Lomax's 'Sour Milk Sea' single, and also on Billy Preston's 'Do What You Want To' single from the same year (Preston had played on the 'Get Back' sessions, and on John Lennon's 'Cold Turkey' single). He was also one of the many, many guest artists on Martha Velez's 'Fiends & Angels' album, and by 1970 he was in the studio with other artists more than ever, helping out King Curtis, Jonathan Kelly, Shawn Phillips, and Leon Russell. One of my favourite guest appearances of his was on the 'Labio-Dental Fricative' single by Vivian Stanshall, and especially it's b-side 'Paper Round', where his guitar-work really shines. After adding his guitar to songs by Doris Troy and Stephen Stills, we end this album in 1970, after a flurry of guest appearances spanning just a three-year period. Once his solo career started to take off he cut back on the moonlighting, but rest assured that before that happened there are more than enough for a second volume.        

Track listing

01 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (from 'The Beatles' by The Beatles 1968)
02 Good To Me As I Am To You (from 'Lady Soul' by Aretha Franklin' 1968)
03 The Eagle Laughs At You (b-side of 'Sour Milk Sea' single by Jackie Lomax 1968)
04 Do What You Want To (b-side of 'That's The Way God Planned It' by Billy Preston 1969)
05 Cold Turkey (single by John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band 1969)
06 I’m Gonna Leave You (from 'Fiends & Angels' by Martha Velez 1969)
07 Teasin' (single by King Curtis 1970)
08 Don't You Believe It (single by Jonathan Kelly 1970)
09 Man Hole Covered Wagon (from 'Contribution' by Shawn Phillips 1970)
10 Prince Of Peace (from 'Leon Russell' by Leon Russell 1970)
11 Paper Round (b-side of 'Labio-Dental Fricative' single by Vivian Stanshall 1970)
12 Ain't That Cute (single by Doris Troy 1970)
13 Go Back Home (from 'Stephen Stills' by Stephen Stills 1970)

John Mayall - I'm Your Witchdoctor (1966)

John Mayall is rightly considered to be the godfather of British blues, with his Bluesbreakers being the starting point for a myriad of artists who later went on to find fame with other bands. He was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1933, and from an early age he was drawn to the sounds of American blues players such as Lead Belly, Albert Ammons, Pinetop Smith and Eddie Lang. Following a three year stint in Korea for national service, he came back to England and enrolled at Manchester College of Art, playing with semi-professional bands in his spare time. In 1962 Mayall became a member of the Blues Syndicate, which included rhythm guitarist Ray Cummings and drummer Hughie Flint, whom Mayall already knew, and while playing at the 'Twisted Wheel' cellar club in central Manchester, Alexis Korner persuaded him to opt for a full-time musical career and move to London. In 1963 the renamed Bluesbreakers started playing at the Marquee Club, and by the following Spring Mayall had obtained his first recording date with producer Ian Samwell. The band, with Martin Hart at the drums, recorded two tracks, 'Crawling Up a Hill' and 'Mr. James', which were issued as his first single under the Bluesbreakers name. Shortly afterwards, Hughie Flint replaced Hart and Roger Dean took over the guitar from Bernie Watson, and this line-up backed John Lee Hooker on his British tour in 1964. A recording contract with Decca soon followed, and a live performance of the band was recorded at the Klooks Kleek, as well as a studio-recorded single, 'Crocodile Walk', although neither met with any success when released, and the band were dropped from the label. In April 1965 former Yardbirds guitarist Eric Clapton replaced Roger Dean and Mayall's career entered a decisive phase. 
The addition of Clapton to the ranks began to attract considerable attention, and by the Summer the band had cut a couple tracks for a single, 'I'm Your Witchdoctor' and 'Telephone Blues'. In August, however, Clapton left for a jaunt to Greece with a bunch of relative musical amateurs, and after some unsuccessful attempts to find a new guitarist, Peter Green was announced as his replacement. At the same time John McVie was dismissed, and during the next few months Jack Bruce, from the Graham Bond Organisation, played bass. In November 1965 Clapton returned, and Green departed as Mayall had guaranteed Clapton his spot back in the Bluesbreakers whenever he decided to return. McVie was also allowed back, and Bruce left to join Manfred Mann, but not before a November live date by the Mayall-Clapton-Bruce-Flint line-up was recorded on Mayall's two-track tape recorder at London's Flamingo Club. Mayall and Clapton cut a couple of tracks without the others, and the 'Lonely Years'/'Bernard Jenkins' single was released under the name of John Mayall and Eric Clapton on Mike Vernon's Purdah Records label. In April 1966 the Bluesbreakers returned to Decca Studios to record a second LP with producer Vernon, and 'Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton' was released in the UK on 22 July 1966, announcing Mayall's commercial breakthrough, and subsequently gaining classic status. The first of three posts collects all of the songs mentioned here, as none of them ever made it to an album, including a scorching take of 'They Call It Stormy Monday' from the Flamingo Club tape, as well as a live BBC recording and a previously unreleased track. 

Track listing

01 Crawling Up A Hill (single 1964)
02 Mr James (b-side of 'Crawling Up A Hill')  
03 Crocodile Walk (single 1965) 
04 Blues City Shakedown (b-side of 'Crocodile Walk') 
05 I'm Your Witchdoctor (single 1965)   
06 Telephone Blues (b-side of 'I'm Your Witchdoctor')   
07 My Baby Is Sweeter (previously unreleased 1965)
08 Bye Bye Bird (live at the BBC 1965) 
09 Looking Back (single 1966) 
10 So Many Roads (b-side of 'Looking Back') 
11 Lonely Years (single 1966)   
12 Bernard Jenkins (b-side of 'Lonely Years) 
13 They Call It Stormy Monday (live at the Flamingo Club 1966)

Eric Clapton - Back Yard Blues (1975)

'461 Ocean Boulevard' marked a triumphant return for Eric Clapton, being his first record release after recovering from a three-year addiction to heroin. His manager Robert Stigwood offered every assistance he could, giving Clapton time to write new songs and letting him hire the musicians he wanted for the recording, such as guest vocalist Yvonne Elliman and guitarist George Terry, as well as hiring him a house in Miami to stay in, at 461 Ocean Boulevard. Despite this, the finished album consisted almost entirely of covers, such as his hit rendition of Bob Marley's 'I Shot The Sheriff', with only 'Give Me Strength', 'Let It Grow' and 'Get Ready' (written with Elliman); being original compositions. The sessions yielded many more songs than were needed for the final track listing of the album, and some of these surfaced on the 2004 re-issue of the disc, with others later appearing on the 'Give Me Strength' deluxe edition. The following year Clapton released 'There's One In Every Crowd', which once again had a number of songs held back from the eventual release, and so by taking the best of both sessions we can build a third album that could have slotted easily between those two. The songs are mostly laid-back blues, and I've omitted some of the instrumental jams in favour of actual songs, as they seemed to have more focus. I was going to call the album something along the lines of 'In The Back Yard Of 461 Ocean Boulevard', to tie in with the cover that I'd made using the reverse of the gatefold sleeve of that record, but that was just too unwieldy, so it's become simply 'Back Yard Blues'.

Track listing

01 Ain't That Lovin' You
02 Getting Acquainted (Too Late)
03 Eric After Hours Blues
04 Please Be With Me
05 Lonesome Road Blues (Walkin' Down The Road)
06 Fools Like Me
07 Meet Me (Down At The Bottom)
08 I Found A Love
09 (When Things Go Wrong) It Hurts Me Too

Eric Clapton - The Delaney Mix of the First Album (1970)

In late 1969 and early 1970 Eric Clapton recorded a number of songs in Los Angeles and London, in preparation for his first solo album release. His backing band for most of the sessions was the one used by his good friends Delaney and Bonnie when they toured with Blind Faith - one of whom was a pre- Derek And The Dominos Bobby Whitlock. Once the recordings were complete he asked Delaney Bramlett to mix the album for him, and waited for the results. Due to a misunderstanding between them, Delaney was waiting for Clapton to send over one more song to be added to the mix, while Clapton was waiting for the mixed album to be sent back before sendng the final song. After waiting a few weeks and hearing nothing, Clapton mixed it himself, but was very unsatisfied with the results, so the record company employed Tom Down to mix it, and that is the version which was released. When Clapton eventually got to hear Delaney's mix he said that it was by far his favourite, but it was too late to change as the record had been pressed. The Delaney mix is significantly different in a number of areas, with more reverb on Clapton's voice - which he always thought was too thin on Dowd's mix - and the guitars and horns being more prominent on some songs. It's probably only the super-fan who will notice the differences straight away, and they've most likely already heard this mix on the Deluxe re-issue, but for the casual fan the whole album seems to have a bit more punch to it. 

Track listing

01 Slunky
02 Bad Boy
03 Lonesome And A Long Way From Home
04 After Midnight
05 Easy Now
06 Blues Power
07 Bottle Of Red Wine
08 Lovin' You Lovin' Me
09 Told You For The Last Time
10 Don't Know Why
11 Let It Rain

For some unknown reason the cover of the original bootleg had a picture of Bob Seger on it instead of Eric (they both had beards?...who knows) so I've replaced it with an alternate picture from the first album photo session. 

Eric Clapton - A Reason To Cry (1976)

In March 1975 Eric Clapton booked Shangri-La Studios, owned and run by The Band, to record songs for the follow-up to 'There's One In Every Crowd'. He wanted the sessions to be produced by Tom Dowd, but Atlantic refused to let Dowd work with any RSO act after Robert Stigwood had severed all ties with the label, so Clapton decided to co-produce it himself, with help from engineer Rob Fraboni and Dominos band-mate Carl Radle. During the course of the sessions many of Clapton's friends dropped in to help out, including all of the members of The Band - the first time that they'd got together for over a year - as well as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Billy Preston, Ron Wood, Georgie Fame, and Jesse Ed Davies. In all, 25 songs were recorded, and the ones chosen for 'No Reason To Cry' were taken away and remixed for eventual release, while the rest were hidden away in the vaults. Admittedly, a lot of them were throw-away jams and drunken sing-alongs from an all-night party for Clapton's birthday, but a few of them are definitely worth hearing, and there are enough of those to piece together a companion album to 'No Reason To Cry', which, as it's mostly blues songs, I've called 'A Reason To Cry'.

The Band:

Eric Clapton               guitar, vocals
Carl Radle                 bass
George Terry             guitar
Jamie Oldaker           drums
Dick Sims                  keyboards
Yvonne Elliman         vocals
Marcy Levy                vocals
Sergio Pastora          percussion
Bob Dylan                 vocals, guitar
Georgie Fame           organ
Ron Wood                 guitar
Van Morrison             vocals
Rick Danko                bass, vocals
Robbie Robertson     guitar
Jesse Ed Davis         guitar
Billy Preston              vocals, keyboards
Garth Hudson            organ
Richard Manuel         vocals, piano
Levon Helm               vocals, drums
Wah Wah Watson      guitar

Track Listing

01 What Would I Do (vocal Richard Manuel)

02 Won't Somebody Tell Me (vocal Eric Clapton)

03 Stormy Monday (vocal Van Morrison)

04 Right Now (vocal Eric Clapton / Billy Preston)

05 It's Eric's Birthday (vocal Billy Preston)

06 Who Do You Love (vocal Van Morrison)

07 Hard Times (vocal Rick Danko)

08 What Would I Do (Reprise) (vocal Richard Manuel)