6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eric's best live album, September 28, 1998
This review is from: 24 Nights (Audio CD)
This is Eric's best solo live album. It has a great selection of songs, and the band backs him up perfectly. His blues band, with Buddy Guy and Robert Cray, plays incredibly, especially in Watch Yourself. He plays great versions of Cream songs, especially Badge, and from his Journeyman album, particularly Pretending. This CD has his best version of Wonderful Tonight, with beautiful backup singing by Katie Kisson, who is great in Bell Bottom Blues, too. There's also Hard Times, one of his favorite songs, and his heartfelt version is wonderful. Heart of Darkness is an odd choice to be in the CD, but it's good too. All in all, a must-have.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
***1/2. Not perfect, but '24 Nights' still has its moments, June 6, 2003
This review is from: 24 Nights (Audio CD)
Seeing how this album only has fifteen tracks, I think it's safe to say that not all of Eric Clapton's 24 Royal Albert Hall performances are represented.
Never mind, though. "24 Nights" is still worthwhile, even if it is a far cry from the gritty and powerful "Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert" from '73.
Recorded in 1990 and 1991, "24 Nights" draws from material recorded through his entire career, and the listener has plenty of opportunities to complain about the songs that aren't here.
But let us focus on what is here instead. The man from Surrey draws no less than five songs from his then-current studio album "Journeyman", and all of them work well in this live setting, souning a little less polished than they do on the studio recordings. Especially "Pretending", which comes off slick and over-produced on "Journeyman", but rocks reasonably well here.
The first four songs are recorded with Eric Clapton's touring band (bass, drums, keyboards and Clapton himself), and they come of a little bit bland at times.
Of course I'm always looking for more grit and more real blues riffing in Clapton's playing, rather than just extended soloing, and "24 Nights" doesn't really deliver too much of that, but that is not to say that the arrangements are bad, and Clapton was never too big on the blooze-and-boogie-stuff anyway.
Still, I much prefer the next four tracks, which are recorded with Robert Cray and Chicago blues king Buddy Guy. The two additional guitars make for a richer sound, and lend a real blues-rock feel to "Watch Yourself". The slow, groovy renditions of "Hoodoo Man", and "Worried Life Blues" fare pretty well, too, but I don't know if we really need yet another version of "Have Your Ever Loved A Woman".
The third installment (tracks 9-13) features seven musicians and two backup singers, and that band includes a second guitarist (Phil Palmer, who has worked with everybody from Ralph McTell to Robbie Williams), which bolsters the sound nicely, particularly on the aforementioned "Pretending" and on "Bad Love". This set also includes an unfortunately listless rendition of the classic "Bell Bottom Blues", which features some awful 80s-style keyboard playing and which largely lacks the soul and the intenstity of the original.
The final two songs are recorded with the Royal Philharminic Orchestra (in addition to a full rock band). Whether or not that adds anything interesting to "Hard Times" or "Edge Of Darkness", which aren't the most interesting songs to begin with, is probably a matter of taste.
All in all, "24 Nights" is a pleasant, somewhat laid-back live album. The arrangements are more pop than blues at times, but the songs are generally well executed, and the sound quality is excellent.
3 1/2 stars. A good purchase if you like Eric Clapton's solo years, particularly from the late seventies onwards.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A milestone in Clapton's career., June 25, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: 24 Nights (Audio CD)
I attended two of the Albert Hall performances that feature on this recording (one blues and one orchestral) and can state that even with my modest hi-fi equipment, the atmopsphere and ambience of the live performances shine through on the album. My only regret is that the orchestra backed version of 'Layla' didn't feature on the album.
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