"Life on Six Strings Volumes 1-3" 

"Life on Six Strings" is packaged as three separate CDs. Below I have copied the liner notes
from the covers and the track information. The lineups and cross-references are too numerous to
list. The sound quality is varied. Most of the material has been taken from Japanese CDs that are
now fairly rare. Some of the tracks are a bit hissy, but no more than the original versions were.
The performances are all excellent, but when aren't they? (R.B.)

"Life on Six Strings Volume III" - Montserrat Records -BRCD 1908 - quality varied

The first song of Volume III does not suffer from underexposure! What makes this performance of
"Wonderful Tonight" so special is the crowd, which sings the song with tremendous enthusiasm
while E.C. accompanies, and softly sings the occasional word. There are several guest
appearances on this CD, beginning with an all-star performance of "Sweet Home Chicago".
Sadly, this performance became historic as it was Stevie Ray Vaughan's final appearance
before his death later that same evening. Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan have appeared together
on stage only rarely in their careers that have spanned more than thirty years. Unfortunately, a
planned duet of Dylan's song "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry" at the Dylan
Tribute on October 16, 1992 never materialized. Fortunately rehearsals of this song held a few
days before the tribute show, with Dylan and Clapton playing and singing together, were
recorded and are included here. E.C. has performed several times with The Band, and members
of the group since the early days when he confessed to having an interest in joining the group.
Included here is a performance of "The Weight" from the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. The final
guest appearance is also the final track on this CD. Taken from a show with Dr. John in May of
1996, "St. James Infirmary" has been released on other CDs in a damaged form. Here the song
is included in its entirety, without any glitches, and in better sound quality than the
widely-circulated version. The remaining three songs on this CD are taken from the all-blues
shows of 1994 and 1995. The first is a most unique appearance of the song "Driftin'" from
Montreal, Canada, where it was an encore at the first show of the tour. What makes this
performance exceptional is that it is solo and acoustic, representing the only time this song has
been performed this way at any of E.C.'s shows. The next song, "Black Cat Bone", is equally
unique and receives its one-time performance at Irving Plaza at the end of the 1994 North
American tour. "Double Trouble", a standard part of E.C.'s repertory between 1976 and 1986,
was absent from his shows for nine years before it returned at a Royal Albert Hall show in 1995.
The song has been performed a few times since, most notably as part of the 1995 Fall tour in
Japan. The version included here is from a less-frequently heard performance in April of 1995 in
Frankfurt, Germany.

Wonderful Tonight - - - - - 24/02/90 - - - - - Statenhal, The Hague, Holland
Sweet Home Chicago - - - - - 26/08/90 - - - - - Alpine Valley Music Theatre
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry #1 (w Bob Dylan) 
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry #2 (w Bob Dylan) 
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry #3 (w Bob Dylan) 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -10/92 - - - - - Long Island, New York
The Weight (w The Band) - - - - - 01/94 - - - - - Rock 'n Roll Hall Of Fame, N.Y. 
Driftin' (solo acoustic) - - - - - 03/10/94 - - - - - Montreal Forum, Montreal 
Black Cat Bone - - - - - 28/11/94 - - - - - Irving Plaza, New York
Double Trouble - - - - - 24/04/95 - - - - - Festhall, Frankfurt, Germany 
St. James Infirmary (w Dr. John) - - - - - 09/05/96 - - - - - Roseland Ballroom, New York