Originally released in 1989, Journeyman was the 11th studio album from guitar legend Eric Clapton, and followed his best seller August from 1986. Instead of Phil Collins as Producer, Clapton hired Jill Dell'Abate & Russ Titelman this time around, giving the album an upbeat sound quite indicative of the late '80s music scene. Recently sober after years of alcohol addiction, Clapton was in fine form both from a guitar perspective as well as vocally on this album. Audio Fidelity is reissuing this top selling album in the hybrid SACD/CD format, playing in both standard CD players as well as the high clarity SACD medium, mastered by Steve Hoffman at Stephen Marsh Mastering.
Journeyman offered up a few FM radio hits, namely "Pretending" and "Bad Love", both catchy, stirring blues rockers with plenty of fiery guitar solos and Clapton's smoky vocals, the latter even earning him a Grammy award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance in 1990. Elsewhere, you can find many bluesy numbers, like "Hard Times", "Old Love", the more pop based "No Alibis", the country flavored "Run So Far", an upbeat cover of "Hound Dog", the emotional ballads "Anything For Your Love" & "Lead Me On", the funky rock track "Breaking Point", and of course, his sizzling take on "Before You Accuse Me", where he shows his commanding blues chops on the guitar. In fact, though most of the material was written by outside writers or covers of older songs, they work well for the guitarist and he gives his own spin on them. A wealth of guest musicians & singers appear on the album, including David Sanborn, Robert Cray, Phil Collins, Nathan East, George Harrison, Gary Burton, Chaka Khan, Daryl Hall, and many more.
Always a great sounding album, Journeyman is practically given new life here on this special edition. The remastered CD sounds great, and if you have a SACD player, be prepared to be mesmerized by the awesome clarity that these songs can now be delivered to your ears. The original booklet is also recreated with complete lyrics for you to read and sing along to these memorable songs. Another job well done by the Audio Fidelity folks.
Track Listing
1) Pretending
2) Anything For Your Love
3) Bad Love
4) Running on Faith
5) Hard Times
6) Hound Dog
7) No Alibis
8) Run So Far
9) Old Love
10) Breaking Point
11) Lead Me On
12) Before You Accuse Me
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