Eric Clapton super deluxe 'Give Me Strength'

The fertile year that signalled the spectacular creative resurgence of Eric Clapton will be celebrated with the 25th November 2013 Super Deluxe release of Give Me Strength: The '74/'75 Recordings.

This exemplary collection features no fewer than 29 bonus tracks (12 of them previously unreleased) from the extraordinary period between April 1974 and June 1975, in which E.C. reclaimed and enhanced his status as one of rock's most legendary guitarists and singer-songwriters.

Give Me Strength houses expanded, remastered versions of his acclaimed studio albums from the period, 461 Ocean Boulevard and There's One In Every Crowd, the subsequent live set E.C. Was Here (now both remixed and expanded into a double CD), and a disc containing the complete, fabled Freddie King Criteria Studios Session. A sixth Blu-Ray disc adds a newly-available 5.1 Surround Sound mix of 461 and the original quadrophonic mix of both studio releases and the live album.

461 Ocean Boulevard, released in the summer of 1974 and named for the Miami beachfront mansion where the band lived during the recordings, marked Clapton's return to recording after an absence of three years, and emphatically announced his creative and personal rehabilitation. Previewed by his signature interpretation of Bob Marley's I Shot The Sheriff, which topped the Hot 100, the album followed suit, leading the Billboard chart for four weeks, and going on to sell four million copies in the US alone. The new edition contains session outtakes and unreleased versions of Getting Acquainted and the album staples Please Be With Me and Give Me Strength.

There's One In Every Crowd, recorded in Kingston, Jamaica at the landmark reggae studio Dynamic Sounds, was created in a break from the triumphant tour that followed the stunning success of 461. This restored edition offers Clapton's non-album single interpretation of Bob Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door and a selection of session outtakes and unreleased tracks.

That tour would be commemorated by the E.C. Was Here double set, now expanded across two discs with numerous unissued extras such as versions of Layla, Crossroads and Little Wing. That's followed by the historic sessions at Criteria, where 461 had been made, in the summer of '74 with Clapton's hero Freddie King, for King's Burglar album. Four tracks from those sessions appear here, including a glorious, 22-minute Gambling Woman Blues.

Rarely in rock history has an artist redefined and augmented their creative oeuvre quite as Eric Clapton did during the 1974-75 season. Give Me Strength: The '74/'75 Recordings salutes this watershed era to stunning effect.

5 CD / BLU-RAY COLLECTION: DISC ONE

461 OCEAN BOULEVARD expanded version

1 MOTHERLESS CHILDREN 4:53
2 GIVE ME STRENGTH 2:54
3 WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE 3:32
4 GET READY 3:47
5 I SHOT THE SHERIFF 4:27
6 I CAN'T HOLD OUT 4:14
7 PLEASE BE WITH ME 3:26
8 LET IT GROW 5:01
9 STEADY ROLLIN' MAN 3:15
10 MAINLINE FLORIDA 4:08

Session out-takes:

11 AIN'T THAT LOVIN' YOU 5:33
12 MEET ME (DOWN AT THE BOTTOM) 6:58
13 LONESOME ROAD BLUES (WALKIN' DOWN THE ROAD) 5:16
14 GETTING ACQUAINTED 6:27 (previously unreleased)
15 GETTING ACQUAINTED 2 (TOO LATE) 4:19 (previously unreleased)
16 ERIC AFTER HOURS BLUES 4:24
17 PLEASE BE WITH ME (ACOUSTIC) 3:25 (previously unreleased)
18 GIVE ME STRENGTH (DOBRO 1) 3:29 (previously unreleased)

DISC TWO

THERE'S ONE IN EVERY CROWD expanded version

1 WE'VE BEEN TOLD (JESUS IS COMING SOON) 4:29
2 SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT 3:33
3 LITTLE RACHEL 4:07
4 DON'T BLAME ME 3:35
5 THE SKY IS CRYING 4:00
6 SINGIN' THE BLUES 3:25
7 BETTER MAKE IT THROUGH TODAY 4:24
8 PRETTY BLUE EYES 4:48
9 HIGH 3:32
10 OPPOSITES 4:50

Session out-takes:

11 BURIAL 4:02 (previously unreleased)
12 WHAT'CHA GONNA DO 2:44
13 I FOUND A LOVE 3:41
14 (WHEN THINGS GO WRONG) IT HURTS ME TOO 5:48
15 FOOLS LIKE ME 5:09 (previously unreleased)

Non-album single release:

16 KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR 4:24
17 SOMEONE LIKE YOU 4:30

DISC THREE

E.C. WAS HERE remixed and expanded version

1 SMILE 3:35
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

2 HAVE YOU EVER LOVED A WOMAN 7:41
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 19, 1974

3 PRESENCE OF THE LORD 8:47
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

4 CROSSROADS 4:38 (previously unreleased)
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

5 I SHOT THE SHERIFF 7:35 (previously unreleased)
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

6 LAYLA 6:00 (previously unreleased)
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

7 LITTLE WING 8:57 (previously unreleased)
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

8 CAN'T FIND MY WAY HOME 5:18
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

9 DRIFTIN' BLUES / RAMBLIN' ON MY MIND 11:38
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

DISC FOUR

E.C. WAS HERE remixed and expanded version

1 RAMBLIN' ON MY MIND / HAVE YOU EVER LOVED A WOMAN 8:15
Recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, December 4, 1974.

2 WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE / GET READY 11:27
Recorded at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, July 20, 1974

3 THE SKY IS CRYING / HAVE YOU EVER LOVED A WOMAN / RAMBLIN' ON MY MIND 7:25
Recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, December 5, 1974.

4 BADGE 10:43
Recorded at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale New York, June 28, 1975)

5 DRIFTIN' BLUES 6:55
Recorded at Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island, June 25, 1975.

6 EYESIGHT TO THE BLIND / WHY DOES LOVE GOT TO BE SO SAD 23:50
Recorded at Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island, June 25, 1975.

7 FURTHER ON UP THE ROAD 7:35
Recorded at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale New York, June 28, 1975)

DISC FIVE (BLU-RAY)

1 461 OCEAN BOULEVARD Elliot Scheiner 5.1 Surround Sound mix (previously unreleased)
5.1 Surround Mix by Elliot Scheiner at The Eyeball.

2 461 OCEAN BOULEVARD original quadraphonic mix
Mixed by Tom Dowd at Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, Florida, January 1975.

3 THERE'S ONE IN EVERY CROWD original quadraphonic mix
Mixed by Tom Dowd at Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, Florida, January 1975.

4 E.C. WAS HERE original quadraphonic mix (previously unreleased)
Mixed by Tom Dowd at Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, Florida, January 1975

3 LP COLLECTION
LP ONE - 461 OCEAN BOULEVARD

Side One
1 MOTHERLESS CHILDREN 4:53
2 GIVE ME STRENGTH 2:54
3 WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE 3:32
4 GET READY 3:47
5 I SHOT THE SHERIFF 4:27

Side Two
6 I CAN'T HOLD OUT 4:14
7 PLEASE BE WITH ME 3:26
8 LET IT GROW 5:01
9 STEADY ROLLIN' MAN 3:15
10 MAINLINE FLORIDA 4:08

LP TWO - THERE'S ONE IN EVERY CROWD

Side One
1 WE'VE BEEN TOLD (JESUS IS COMING SOON) 4:29
2 SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT 3:33
3 LITTLE RACHEL 4:07
4 DON'T BLAME ME 3:35
5 THE SKY IS CRYING 4:00

Side Two
6 SINGIN' THE BLUES 3:25
7 BETTER MAKE IT THROUGH TODAY 4:24
8 PRETTY BLUE EYES 4:48
9 HIGH 3:32
10 OPPOSITES 4:50

LP THREE - E.C. WAS HERE original mix

Side One
1 HAVE YOU EVER LOVED A WOMAN 7:52
2 PRESENCE OF THE LORD 6:43
3 DRIFTIN' BLUES 3:25

Side Two
4 CAN'T FIND MY WAY HOME 5:19
5 RAMBLIN' ON MY MIND / HAVE YOU EVER LOVED A WOMAN 7:26
6 FURTHER ON UP THE ROAD 7:30