After abandoning the recording of Derek and the Dominos' second studio album in mid-1971and never come back. Eric Clapton went on a wave of self-destructive drug abuse that drove him away from music. the rest of the year and the next. Caused by a deep depression due to the impossible love of Patie Boyd, at that time the wife of one of his best friends, the ex Beatle George Harrison.
Clapton's situation was so extreme that the word soon spread among his best friends who decided that the time had come to do something for Eric and recover him first as a person and then as a musician, since the recent deaths of Alan Wilson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison because of drug use made it urgent that Eric Clapton not be next on the list.
Thus, on January 13, 1973, two concerts were organized at the Rainbow Theater in London to help Eric Clapton get out of the world of drugs with the participation of several friends such as Pete Townshead, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood or Jim Capaldi. Concerts that were summarized in an album that was released on September 10 of that year, as the first live album in Eric Clapton's new career, released 9 days before Gram Parsons' death by overdose.
Almost recovered from his heroin addiction, Clapton left in April for the Criteria studios in Miami where the following three months were dedicated to recording one of the best solo works such as "461 Ocean Boulevard". The
album was released in late July 1974 for RSO Records, shortly after the record
company released the hit single "I Shot The Sheriff" in early July the same year. and sold more than two million
copies.
While a concert tour of the United States was being prepared for him that began at the Yale Bowl. New Haven, CT on June 28, 1974, with a new band consisting of: Eric
Clapton - Guitar / Vocals. George Terry – Guitar . Dicks Sims –
Keyboards. Carl Radle – Bass. Jamie Oldaker – Drums and Yvonne
Elliman - Backing Vocals.
The first part of this tour, after having given two other shows in Stockholm and Copenhagen on June 19 and 20, 1974, consisted of 28 concerts that ended on August 4, before taking a vacation in which Following your recovery process.The tour restarts on September 28 at the Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA. 14 new shows that also took him to Canada ending on November 6th in Osaka, Japan, before embarking on a 9 concert mini tour of Europe that would start in Hamburg 20 days later and end in London on December 4th and 5th in the Hammersmith Odeon. The concerts were recorded by Wally Heider Recording Studio Mobile Unit.
Eric Clapton's life was on a roll, and in the first weeks of 1975, his Record Co., made a first version of the bit.ly/75eCaZ live album with some cuts from the Long Beach concerts from July 19 and 20 plus those in London. in December such as an "outtake" recorded during the studio sessions of his previous studio album, but the result was not entirely to his liking, because many songs were edited. One lp was not enough and two were a lot. The increase in the price of vinyl due to The Oil Crisis, which is still present. So,the new work was left for later, while Eric Clapton started new dates this time in 1975 also for Australia.
Side one: 1."Have You Ever Loved a Woman" / 2.Presence Of The Lord. / 3. Driftin´Blues.
Side Two: 1."Can't Find My Way Home" / 2."Ramblin´On My Mind #1" / 3."The Sky Is Cring - Ramblin´On My Mind #2" / 4. "Walkin´Down The Road".
All tracks are alternate or unreleased mixes. "Drifting Blues", "Ramblin´On My Mind #1" / "The Sky Is Cring - Ramblin´On My Mind #2" were edited. When released the full version of the songs were included. Additionally, different mixes of some of these tracks were released in the four-CD set, "Crossroads 2: Live In The Seventies" (1996), like a "Walkin´DownThe Road".
In July 1975,a new version was made. It was remixed at Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, Florida. And was released in August 1.1975 by .RSO / Polydor / PolyGram.
Ok, that´s all, see you soon.