Eric Clapton.

                                                                    Eric Clapton.

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, (born 30 March 1945) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the Yardbirds andCream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time  Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"  and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". 

In the mid-1960s, Clapton left the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton joined Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop."  For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of JJ Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market.   Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded by Derek and the Dominos, another band he formed, andRobert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by Cream. Following the death of his son Conor in 1991, Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which featured in his Unplugged album.

Clapton has been the recipient of 17 Grammy Awards, and the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2004, he was awarded a CBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music.    In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.

The Traveling Willburys

                                                               The Traveling Wilburys

George Harrison first mentioned the Traveling Wilburys during a radio interview with Bob Coburn on the Rockline radio station in February 1988. When asked what he planned to do as a follow-up for his Cloud Nine album, Harrison replied: "What I'd really like to do next is... to do an album with me and some of my mates... a few tunes, you know. Maybe The Traveling Wilburys... it's this new group I got: it's called the Traveling Wilburys, I'd like to do an album with them and later we can all do our own albums again. "Wilbury" was a slang term first used by Harrison during the recording of Cloud Nine with Jeff Lynne. Referring to recording errors created by some faulty equipment, Harrison jokingly remarked to Lynne, "We'll bury 'em in the mix". Thereafter, they used the term for any small error in performance and the term was used again when the group were together. Harrison suggested "The Trembling Wilburys" as the group's name; instead, Lynne suggested "Traveling", with which the group agreed.

Starting with a meal among Harrison, Lynne and Roy Orbison, the group came together at Bob Dylan's home studio in Malibu, California, to record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison's "This Is Love". Tom Petty's involvement came by chance, as Harrison had left his guitar at Petty's house and Harrison went to get it and Petty came back with him. The record label, however, decided that the song that resulted, "Handle with Care", was too good to be released as a "single filler". The members enjoyed working together so much that they decided to create a full album together. Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. Written by all five men, it was recorded over a ten-day period in May 1988, and released on October 18. The album was recorded in the house and garden of Eurythmics member Dave Stewart. The "Wilburys" joke was extended further, with the band members credited under various pseudonyms and pretending to be half-brothers – sons of a fictional Charles Truscott Wilbury, Sr. The album was a critical and commercial success, spawning several successful singles and eventually reaching triple-platinum sales status in the US. The album was nominated for several awards and won the Grammy Awardfor Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group in 1989. Liner notes on the album cover were written by Michael Palin under a pseudonym. On the second album they were written by Eric Idle under a pseudonym

Roy Orbison died of a heart attack on December 6, 1988. In tribute to Orbison, the music video for "End of the Line" shows Orbison's guitar rocking in a chair as the rest of the group play, followed by a brief shot focusing on a framed picture of him. Despite Orbison's death, the remaining group members recorded a second and final studio album, which they intentionally misnumbered Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. It was released on October 30, 1990, and met with less success than the previous one. In the booklet contained in the 2007 box set, the album title is credited to "George being George" apparently Harrison was making a wry reference to the appearance of a bootleg that served as a sort of Volume 2.

George Harrison.

Bob Dylan.

Tom Petty.

Roy Orbison.

Jeff Lynne.

Roy Orbison!

                                                                 Roy Orbison!

Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988), also known by the nickname The Big O, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country and westernband in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis. His greatest success came with Monument Records between 1960 and 1964, when 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top Forty, including "Only the Lonely", "Crying", and "Oh, Pretty Woman". His career stagnated through the 1970s, but several covers of his songs and the use of "In Dreams" in David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986) revived his career. In 1988, he joined the supergroup Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne and also released a new solo album. He died of a heart attack in December that year, at the zenith of his resurgence. His life was marred by tragedy, including the death of his first wife and his two eldest sons in separate accidents.

Orbison was a natural baritone, but music scholars have suggested that he had a three- or four-octave range.^[1] The combination of Orbison's powerful, impassioned voice and complex musical arrangements led many critics to refer to his music as operatic, giving him the sobriquet "the Caruso of Rock".  Elvis Presley andBono have stated his voice was, respectively, the greatest and most distinctive they had ever heard.  While most male performers in rock and roll in the 1950s and '60s projected a defiant masculinity, many of Orbison's songs instead conveyed a quiet, desperate vulnerability. He was known for performing while standing still and solitary, wearing black clothes and dark sunglasses which lent an air of mystery to his persona.

Orbison was initiated into the second class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 by longtime admirer Bruce Springsteen. The same year he was inducted into theNashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame two years later. Rolling Stone placed Orbison at number 37 on their list of The Greatest Artists of All Time, and number 13 on their list of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2002, Billboard magazine listed Orbison at number 74 in the Top 600 recording artists.

http://youtu.be/sd-ApN8to34

The Beatles and Vox!

                                                              The Beatles and Vox!
Back in early 1962 the band were little more than local heroes, returning back from honing their live performance skills playing night after night in Hamburg for over two years. Soon after they were dazzling punters in Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club with their new songs and incendiary live shows. Up until that point, Paul McCartney and the rest of the group used any gear they could scrape together. It was not until The Beatles were taken under the wing of manager Brian Epstein that they truly begin to hone not just their image but also their live sound. Unheard of in those times, the maverick Epstein quickly managed to strike up an endorsement deal with a small amp company out of Dartford that would come to define the sound of the British Invasion.
In a time when highly desired American brands were rarely imported to the UK, local manufacturers recognised a demand to create their own line of instruments and amplifiers to supply the burgeoning Rock and Pop explosion on the British side of the pond. Back in the early 1960’s VOX was a relatively fresh brand and new to the scene, though known and desired in the UK amongst aspiring guitarists due to emerging guitar hero Hank Marvin of The Shadows. Around the time The Beatles were signed by George Martin’s Parlophone label in 1962, Brian Epstein signed an endorsement deal with VOX for the band to exclusively use VOX gear in their backline. Soon the band started using a combination of VOX AC15 and AC30 amps. Throughout their live career and the majority of their time in the studio, VOX would go on to supply a variety of different amps and equipment to the band. The group pushed VOX engineers to expand the boundaries of their designs with their ever-increasing requirements for more volume and headroom. If you ever had the opportunity to see the Beatles, chances are you were hearing Paul McCartney and the rest of the lads play through VOX gear. From the sweaty gigs in the clubs of the North of England to the Ed Sullivan Show & defining Shea Stadium gig, when you heard The Beatles, you heard VOX. The timeless British VOX tone is there in all of its grandeur in those classic early recordings.

THE EARLY DAYS

In the early days the band plugged straight into AC30s and as a result it is the amplifier most identified with the British invasion and early Beatles sound. In late 1962 Paul transitioned to the all-new VOX T-60 bass amp, which was one of the world’s first musical transistor amplifiers (did not need valves/tubes). George and Johns AC30s were soon modified to sport the new 'top-boost' unit, which enabled the band to drive the amps harder for a more cutting and saturated tone. Pushing his T-60 harder and harder night after night, Paul eventually replaced it in favour of an AC30 head and a new vertical bass cabinet loaded with combo of 12 & 15 inch Celestion speakers. As the Beatles started acclimating themselves to the recording studio, much of the character of those early records came from George Martin’s approach to capturing the band playing live in the room through their VOX amps with minimal overdubs, The opening riff of 'Day Tripper', the jangly intro to 'I Feel Fine' and the raucous rhythm to 'All My Loving' all provide great examples of the classic 1960’s VOX tone, not to mention the genius of Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting.

THE BEATLES RISE TO STARDOM

As The Beatles rose to stardom it was clear that they were going to need even more power to be heard over the deafening screams of crazed teenage fans going to their shows in even greater numbers. In the days before the modern multi channel high-powered PA systems taken for granted today, VOX would again have to answer the band’s call for more volume with more powerful amps. VOX’s answer was to construct a single channel 50 watt head which would be paired with a 'closed back' 2 x 12" speaker cabinet. These cabinets also uniquely featured an additional Midax Horn to accentuate the high frequencies. In development since late 1963, VOX further beefed up the head design to 80 watts with the AC80/100. This powerful new head, coupled with larger speaker cabinets provided more power and projection onstage. The increase in power proved to be a revelation for Paul who quickly upgraded to the AC100 head and had VOX construct a vertical 2 x 15" closed back bass cabinet. Paul’s bass lines would now have more presence and was a great partner for his Hofner 'Violin' Bass. As demand for the band increased it saw their performances move away from medium sized gigs to concert halls, outdoor shows and eventually stadiums. From late 1964 the entire band would all eventually adopt AC100’s for maximum headroom and power on stage. The band found however that the weak PA systems of the time simply could not match the increasingly deafening screams directed at them by thousands of adoring fans. Tired of the incessant touring and frequently complaining of the inability to hear themselves on stage they eventually made the decision to stop touring and focus on work in the studio after their final public show at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in 1966.

http://www.theoompahroundabout.com/