MK with EC

[the visitor]

Hello

Happy New Year

I've just begun to dive into Clapton shows featuring MK on second guitar.

I listened to Irvine Meadows, Lauguna Hills 1988 over the weekend and it sounds really hot, lively performance.  I'd heard a bootleg called Beetle Clasher before but didn't really do it for me.

In more recent years I've come to the conclusion EC is a bit of a p#@!# but you can't fault his guitar playing and his interactions with MK seem to drive both of them to play better and harder.

Any other good recordings of MK with EC that people can recommend?

[stratmad]

Oh yes, I love those recordings! That whole band was pure dynamite 
The Japan shows are great, check out Tokyo and Osaka or Kyoto (can't remember which). They were recorded for Japanese tv, so the quality is superb. I think there's also an AI-remastered 4k version of it.
Eric was really on fire around that time. I saw him in 1990, and that was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Same band, but sadly without MK, Elton John and Phil Collins.
The combination of these four in Japan, plus a superb "backing" band (Alan Clark, Greg Phillinganes, Nathan East, Steve Ferrone and Ray Cooper, plus Katie Kissoon and Tessa Niles for background vocals) is just incredible!
What I find amazing is that it's so finely arranged that you can really hear every single note, which is probably hard to do with such a mass of great players. MK keeps a very low profile, but it's his guitar and Collins' drums that make all the difference, imho.

[the visitor]

Thanks Stratmad ill check those recordings out!

On the gig ive heard interesting to hear the riff of No Can Do used as the base music for the band introduction, some 8 years before it appears on Golden Heart album, and after having found it's way as a lick on Ride Across the River in live versions even earlier.

You are right MK stays in the background but does come to the fore when called for, notably on Badge on the 1988 recording I mention,  as well as elsewhere, really rocking solos that are complex but not over rehearsed as on OES tour. 

Great stuff

[stratmad]

Hey thanks, I'd never noticed that riff from No Can Do!

There is, I believe, also a recording from the Albert Hall 1988 / 1989 / 1990 (December, Christmas special or something?) with that same stellar band and MK, but I've never managed to find it. Has anyone ever heard of this?

[Marnix]

Hey thanks, I'd never noticed that riff from No Can Do!

There is, I believe, also a recording from the Albert Hall 1988 / 1989 / 1990 (December, Christmas special or something?) with that same stellar band and MK, but I've never managed to find it. Has anyone ever heard of this?

I think you mean february 3rd 1989 at the royal Albert hall with Knopfler. Clapton played for 12 nights over there. The show of february 3rd circulates as soundboard bootleg called "Beetle Clasher"

[peterromer]

Not to forget this one:

  MK as backup.

[dmg]

Thanks Stratmad ill check those recordings out!

On the gig ive heard interesting to hear the riff of No Can Do used as the base music for the band introduction, some 8 years before it appears on Golden Heart album, and after having found it's way as a lick on Ride Across the River in live versions even earlier.

You are right MK stays in the background but does come to the fore when called for, notably on Badge on the 1988 recording I mention,  as well as elsewhere, really rocking solos that are complex but not over rehearsed as on OES tour. 

Great stuff

Yes, that RATR lick appeared in Cocaine just before the band intro. 

This is the only pro-filmed version of Badge I know of, from San Francisco, 21st September 1988:

[stratmad]

Hey thanks, I'd never noticed that riff from No Can Do!

There is, I believe, also a recording from the Albert Hall 1988 / 1989 / 1990 (December, Christmas special or something?) with that same stellar band and MK, but I've never managed to find it. Has anyone ever heard of this?

I think you mean february 3rd 1989 at the royal Albert hall with Knopfler. Clapton played for 12 nights over there. The show of february 3rd circulates as soundboard bootleg called "Beetle Clasher"

Thank to both of you!!! I've been looking for this for 12 years!   

[Pottel]

Thanks Stratmad ill check those recordings out!

On the gig ive heard interesting to hear the riff of No Can Do used as the base music for the band introduction, some 8 years before it appears on Golden Heart album, and after having found it's way as a lick on Ride Across the River in live versions even earlier.

You are right MK stays in the background but does come to the fore when called for, notably on Badge on the 1988 recording I mention,  as well as elsewhere, really rocking solos that are complex but not over rehearsed as on OES tour. 

Great stuff

noticed that riff many moons ago and mentioned it on this forum as well. always love to hear such "early" versions

[Rolo]

MK & EC - 1987 to 1989
Sorry, to meu it was PURE SH*T

Layla... Damn. Mark was really lost

[Pottel]

MK & EC - 1987 to 1989
Sorry, to meu it was PURE SH*T

Layla... Damn. Mark was really lost

not all was shite, there are some gems throughout, but most of it is too "80ies" like for my taste

[Rolo]

MK & EC - 1987 to 1989
Sorry, to meu it was PURE SH*T

Layla... Damn. Mark was really lost

not all was shite, there are some gems throughout, but most of it is too "80ies" like for my taste

one or two songs are 'ok less' or almost toreable

[Brunno Nunes]

I love the contrast here MK & EC - 1987 to 1989, a lot of cool stuff happens during this period as already mentioned here, I love MK's interventions in the songs of the EC set, Mark has a very particular way of playing blues, it's not the traditional way as is usually expected and that's what attracts me, I love how he develops the solo in Crossroad, especially in Badge, in addition to the subtleties in I Shot the Sheriff, among others.

In 1987 things work differently than in 1988, the arrangement changes, the way of approaching the songs, MK with the black Pensa, sometimes with the sunburst Schecter, probably the last year that this guitar was used live by Mark, a shame, it would have been incredible on other tours.

[stratmad]

Yes, I've wondered about that, too. That black beauty looks like a fantastic guitar, but he didn't use it very often (Ferry Aid/ Let it be and Willy deVille / Storybook Love are the only recordings I can think of right now). I wonder why he didn't like it so much. Any ideas?

[Love Expresso]

Yes, I've wondered about that, too. That black beauty looks like a fantastic guitar, but he didn't use it very often (Ferry Aid/ Let it be and Willy deVille / Storybook Love are the only recordings I can think of right now). I wonder why he didn't like it so much. Any ideas?

And you can watch him play it at the Notting Hillbillies Snape gig on YouTube of course, as you probably know. Sheer beauty!

LE