Beano: Truth or Fiction

[Rollingrock]

I know I'll get flogged for this but...

I don't get all the excitement about the "Beano" album. I picked up a copy of it (CD) a few years ago, listened to it a few times then threw it away. Should have been called "White Guys Fail At Playin' The Blues".

"From The Cradle" is MUCH better.

I like the beano album but you're right from the cradle is Clapton at his absolute best. Actually for my money the blues doesn't get any better. I know a little bit about the blues too. I'm from Mississippi. The birthplace of the blues. I'm not claiming I can play it the best but I've definitely heard A LOT of blues music. From the cradle is all delta and chicago blues tunes and I don't think any track on the cradle album has ever been played better than Eric did them IMHO.

 

[mertzy]

All the so –called photographs of Beano are identified, basically, by the way Clapton looks in the pics. If he has the big sideboards and/or the moustache, then it must be Mayall. The guitar he is seen with at that time varies from covered pickups to white bobbins(neck pup) to black bobbins (neck pup). So is it really the same guitar? OK, he could have removed the covers, but did he change the bobbins from white to black? This was a guitar that he couldn’t have owned for more than 6 months… Clapton is VERY well known for borrowing guitars from his mates, Particularly in this period (before he started buying Strats!!), so why wouldn’t these simply be borrowed guitars??

After 30+ years of playing guitar I'm pretty sure the sounds on that album come from a Les Paul, in the Beano album pictures Clapton is shown playing a Les Paul, I don't think it matters if he owned the guitar or borrowed it, (I don't even think it matters much if that was REALLY the guitar he played on those tracks since that can never be proven or dis-proven) where the hell is that guitar shown in those pictures?

BTW - I think if it was borrowed it would be identified by now.

 

[David Mccarroll]

Neither. Drug-addled rambling.

Hear hear - by his own words EC was a drug addled mess for most of his early career, and a hopeless alcoholic for most of his mid career - neither condition is particularly noted for improving the subjects ability to tell/remember/identify the truth.

for the poster who commented on reporter's desire to know what equipment was used on Beano ..... surely you are kidding? No one gave a rat's about gear until maybe 10-15 years after Beano was recorded, and as a friend of mine who is internet content producer for one of the guitar mags says - all the gear that mags are interested in is the stuff that'll generate advertising income.

And as someone else added - who cares - EC sounded great, whatever he was using.

 

[335Reasons]

...for the poster who commented on reporter's desire to know what equipment was used on Beano ..... surely you are kidding? No one gave a rat's about gear until maybe 10-15 years after Beano was recorded, and as a friend of mine who is internet content producer for one of the guitar mags says - all the gear that mags are interested in is the stuff that'll generate advertising income.

And as someone else added - who cares - EC sounded great, whatever he was using.

Not really, most of us who we were 'starters' playing guitar at that time, took Eric's tone seriously. He laid the foundation for the Gibson/Marshall combination. Other successful guitarists of his era 'tailored' their sound/tone upon that combination.

In the meantime, after I asked the OP major 'where are you from' he… disappeared! Maybe he got promoted to colonel and he was transferred to other threads

 

[E.L. Fudge]

The Beans is like bigfoot. Some claim to have seen it. Some claim to have heard it. There are questionable pictures of it, but no one can positively identify with 100% certainty what it is. Eric was so phucked up on googenthal at the time, he didn't know if he was playing the supposed Beans, a Strat, or a 335.

 

[LPaddicted]

beano

 

[Angus]

However, Eric, in his biography, says he DID lose a Les Paul in Greece. So are you saying Mr Clapton is a liar? You can't both be right....

I think you should take into account that its likely Eric does not obsess about this stuff the way we do. There were a lot of people running around calling him "God" at one point, so you would have to develop a healthy sense of perspective to deal with that sort of nonsense.

Many guitarists, myself included, feel he never sounded better than on the Beano album, but the evidence suggests that he feels differently. As for the Les Paul, he lost a guitar, a very nice one, a life time ago and moved on - probably within a few days.

Its kind of back to that thing with Jimi being asked to play his old hits at concerts - the artist has moved on but the fans perceive that song as the thing that defines the artist, but in fact it was the artist's creativity and inventiveness- which they end up trying to supress.

I must admit though, I wish EC had written a guitarist's edition of his autobiography. I want to hear more about his relationship with Peter Green and Mike Bloomfield, and just what did Paul Kossoff tell him about vibrato?

 

[Drowned Rabbit]

I don't get all the excitement about Clapton period.

*I'm waiting to get slagged*

Clapton's OK. I like some of the tunes he wrote himself, like "Presence of the Lord" and "Bell Bottom Blues", but his interpretations of classic Blues? I'd rather listen to Freddie King's last dying fart any day. And his autobiography was atrocious. Which rare wine will he order with dinner!?!? Which 19 year old from last night's threesome will he whisk away for a Caribbean weekend?!?! I can't wait to turn the page and find out!

I do, however, disagree with the accusation that Clapton is greedy. He's more altruistic and generous than most, in my opinion.

 

[David Mccarroll]

Clapton's OK. I like some of the tunes he wrote himself, like "Presence of the Lord" and "Bell Bottom Blues", but his interpretations of classic Blues? I'd rather listen to Freddie King's last dying fart any day. And his autobiography was atrocious. Which rare wine will he order with dinner!?!? Which 19 year old from last night's threesome will he whisk away for a Caribbean weekend?!?! I can't wait to turn the page and find out!

I do, however, disagree with the accusation that Clapton is greedy. He's more altruistic and generous than most, in my opinion.

Agree - his best stuff (at least studio) was done forty years ago.

His autobiography is not a good read, but hey, it's Eric's interpretation of his life, he can write it whichever way he wants.

And, last - he ain't greedy - Eric has auctioned almost all of his iconic instruments for charity, AND runs Crossroads, which i believe is also basically 100% for charity - that is not a greedy person there, no sir!

 

[NowGibson]

It maybe as simple as " my les pauls get stolen", "my strats don't", "just get me fenders, they stick around longer". "If I need one, I'll borrow one".
btw last year in concert whoo, he's still got some fire.

 

[SuiteAmpCo]

Actually, he started playing Strats to honor his best friend in death, Jimi Hendrix. I think also playing Strats kinda took him out of the british pantheon of guitar heroes and set him in a more traditional bluesman role that he felt he always was. At least that's how he started out anyway, the rock god thing, I think, only made him aware of his inate talents and only served to boost his ego. The bluesman route seemed more of a journey and wasn't something he was recognized as immediatly for. It presented a challenge that took him years to find an actual distinct voice in. It wasn't until From The Cradle that he stepped out as one of the premier bluesmen of our time. All that said....
Damn it Eric! Pick up a Les Paul and rock my balls like you used to! Inate talents are there for a reason, my god just think of all the rock missed due to remorse and complacency. Why couldn't Jack and Ginger just get along? Oh..oh sorry, lost it there for a minute.

 

[NowGibson]

Actually, he started playing Strats to honor his best friend in death, Jimi Hendrix. I think also playing Strats kinda took him out of the british pantheon of guitar heroes and set him in a more traditional bluesman role that he felt he always was. At least that's how he started out anyway, the rock god thing, I think, only made him aware of his inate talents and only served to boost his ego. The bluesman route seemed more of a journey and wasn't something he was recognized as immediatly for. It presented a challenge that took him years to find an actual distinct voice in. It wasn't until From The Cradle that he stepped out as one of the premier bluesmen of our time. All that said....
Damn it Eric! Pick up a Les Paul and rock my balls like you used to! Inate talents are there for a reason, my god just think of all the rock missed due to remorse and complacency. Why couldn't Jack and Ginger just get along? Oh..oh sorry, lost it there for a minute.

Yup, every now and then I put on the beano...

 

[imsilly]

Eric left with his guitar but not the amp,....well that's what i believe.

I live walking distance from Burrard Road, so tomorrow I'll go over and sort out this mess!

 

[So What]

I have a Semi-Pro Friend, who's son is a rising star as a songwriter and performer in Nashville. He already has a Platinum Record on the Wall for song writing.

They were at the Crossroads festival a couple of years ago. The son was playing a small stage there. They were backstage at Clapton's performance. Now, this was a dream come true for both, but especially my friend! He still has his '66 Strat he bought new in '67, and gigs with it. He has worshipped Clapton from the beginning.

He said that the most meaningful moment at the show was during the intermission. Clapton came over to a folding chair, off by himself, and just sat down and put his head in his hands to rest. At that moment, my friend realized that Clapton was just a guy, like him, and that he was only human.

What a unique experience and perspective.

I just thought I would share that story, and this thread seemed appropriate.





Oh, and he said that there was this old brown guitar case laying backstage. Looked like it may have a Gibson LP in it, but he didn't care. He is a Strat guy after all....

Just Kidding!

 

[tonebone]

What is "googenthal?"

I did google it, too. No luck there.

 

[woolenmammoth]

all this shit, from what guitar to what amp to what microphone couldnt be more of a heretical waste of time if you are looking for accurate details and here's why:

Every record I ever worked on got incredibly detailed notation for overdubs and recall. It is a standard issue occurance on a Friday to be working on tracks that needed to be double from the previous Tuesday and I'll go to the notes to find the setup and go "really, we used that on this?". With the amount of decisions happening on a daily basis this is a standard thing that happens and you can ask any professional engineer about this and get the same answer. On a feature film or television show there is one person in every department whose job it is to write down shit for recalls and reshoots. In some departments, that is that persons only job: notation.

You think you remember stuff, but by the end of a job it just turns into a blur. Listening to the records while looking at the notes is always a surprise and Im the guy that made the decision to use the setup...

The odd photographic memory in the annals of rock may exist, but if you think you are getting information with any kind of accuracy from events that happend forty years ago, you couldnt be more out to lunch.

Ive asked all of my heroes that Ive been so lucky to work with over the years questions about recording setups or their gear and the times I have gotten a clear answer to a question have been between absolutely never and maybe once.

Time would be much better spent not trying to figure out what amp/guitar/fuzzbox page/clapton/iommi used and instead do what they did on the day and focus on what sounds cool, not what some other guy did. **ALL** the gear our classic heroes had back in the day was either brand new, or relatively new and if you had the exact items they used then, today, there's no way it would sound the same and I mean absolutely no way in any practical circumstance.

Ive spent an adult career chasing some other guy's tone for clients and I can tell you with authority that the only way you are gonna get it is with a time machine.

as you were...

 

[SuiteAmpCo]

all this shit, from what guitar to what amp to what microphone couldnt be more of a heretical waste of time if you are looking for accurate details and here's why:

Every record I ever worked on got incredibly detailed notation for overdubs and recall. It is a standard issue occurance on a Friday to be working on tracks that needed to be double from the previous Tuesday and I'll go to the notes to find the setup and go "really, we used that on this?". With the amount of decisions happening on a daily basis this is a standard thing that happens and you can ask any professional engineer about this and get the same answer. On a feature film or television show there is one person in every department whose job it is to write down shit for recalls and reshoots. In some departments, that is that persons only job: notation.

You think you remember stuff, but by the end of a job it just turns into a blur. Listening to the records while looking at the notes is always a surprise and Im the guy that made the decision to use the setup...

The odd photographic memory in the annals of rock may exist, but if you think you are getting information with any kind of accuracy from events that happend forty years ago, you couldnt be more out to lunch.

Ive asked all of my heroes that Ive been so lucky to work with over the years questions about recording setups or their gear and the times I have gotten a clear answer to a question have been between absolutely never and maybe once.

Time would be much better spent not trying to figure out what amp/guitar/fuzzbox page/clapton/iommi used and instead do what they did on the day and focus on what sounds cool, not what some other guy did. **ALL** the gear our classic heroes had back in the day was either brand new, or relatively new and if you had the exact items they used then, today, there's no way it would sound the same and I mean absolutely no way in any practical circumstance.

Ive spent an adult career chasing some other guy's tone for clients and I can tell you with authority that the only way you are gonna get it is with a time machine.

as you were...

Wow!...Umm...That was a little bit angry, dont ya think? Please dont hurt 'em Hammer.

 

[So What]

all this shit, from what guitar to what amp to what microphone couldnt be more of a heretical waste of time if you are looking for accurate details and here's why:

Every record I ever worked on got incredibly detailed notation for overdubs and recall. It is a standard issue occurance on a Friday to be working on tracks that needed to be double from the previous Tuesday and I'll go to the notes to find the setup and go "really, we used that on this?". With the amount of decisions happening on a daily basis this is a standard thing that happens and you can ask any professional engineer about this and get the same answer. On a feature film or television show there is one person in every department whose job it is to write down shit for recalls and reshoots. In some departments, that is that persons only job: notation.

You think you remember stuff, but by the end of a job it just turns into a blur. Listening to the records while looking at the notes is always a surprise and Im the guy that made the decision to use the setup...

The odd photographic memory in the annals of rock may exist, but if you think you are getting information with any kind of accuracy from events that happend forty years ago, you couldnt be more out to lunch.

Ive asked all of my heroes that Ive been so lucky to work with over the years questions about recording setups or their gear and the times I have gotten a clear answer to a question have been between absolutely never and maybe once.

Time would be much better spent not trying to figure out what amp/guitar/fuzzbox page/clapton/iommi used and instead do what they did on the day and focus on what sounds cool, not what some other guy did. **ALL** the gear our classic heroes had back in the day was either brand new, or relatively new and if you had the exact items they used then, today, there's no way it would sound the same and I mean absolutely no way in any practical circumstance.

Ive spent an adult career chasing some other guy's tone for clients and I can tell you with authority that the only way you are gonna get it is with a time machine.

as you were...

Ummm.....this is a guitar forum, right?

I mean, when we aren't insulting each other over politics, what else are we supposed to fight about? Drums?

 

[Sixstring63]

Well all debates aside. Eric sounds like Eric from the 60's when he straps on a Gibby. He plays a lot different in my mind on a Gibson. He sounds more relaxed and fluid.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0TLpiRaSU&feature=related]Eric Clapton - live in Hyde Park by alien9NZ - part 7 - YouTube[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU1ks8mL9OM&feature=related[/ame]

 

[tonebone]

....
You think you remember stuff, but by the end of a job it just turns into a blur. Listening to the records while looking at the notes is always a surprise and Im the guy that made the decision to use the setup...

The odd photographic memory in the annals of rock may exist, but if you think you are getting information with any kind of accuracy from events that happend forty years ago, you couldnt be more out to lunch.

Ive asked all of my heroes that Ive been so lucky to work with over the years questions about recording setups or their gear and the times I have gotten a clear answer to a question have been between absolutely never and maybe once.

Time would be much better spent not trying to figure out what amp/guitar/fuzzbox page/clapton/iommi used and instead do what they did on the day and focus on what sounds cool, not what some other guy did. **ALL** the gear our classic heroes had back in the day was either brand new, or relatively new and if you had the exact items they used then, today, there's no way it would sound the same and I mean absolutely no way in any practical circumstance.

Ive spent an adult career chasing some other guy's tone for clients and I can tell you with authority that the only way you are gonna get it is with a time machine.

as you were...

I don't see any anger at all.

In fact, this post is refreshingly logical and makes perfect sense. To me anyways.

Clapton has been through so much over the years, I'm sure he thinks it a little odd that some are so fixated on a guitar that was stolen ... 47 years ago.

I like the lost/stolen guitar that was used on Fresh Cream, personally.

And what he got outa that SG was also truly magical.