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This album is so good. It shows Ec playing some stupendous blues, ripping through some Cream tracks, has the better tracks of his output at that time and some excellent playing alongside an orchestra. I've rarely heard EC play the guitar as well as on this album, it is breathtaking at times. One of my favourites of his live work.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Well....for me, Eric peaked from 1991-1993 with the recording of this album, the unplugged album and from the cradle.The 24 nights album features eric at his most melodious. (The first cd is a little non-descript however).but the second cd....thats where he lights up.The singing is obviously in eric's inimitable trademark style but the guitar work, oh, it is a dream!The tone is stratospherically smooth and sweet yet punchy and vivid. The melodies are superb- what it would have been to actually be eric and be in the moment of playing these songs. wow!Eric's recent robert johnson recordings are all very well and good but going up and down a few blues pentatonic scale isn't particularly emotive. With the 24 nights album i cannot help but place my ears close to the speakers and listen desperately for all the subtle nuances in erics playing.....anyway. suffice it to say - this is top quality music. listen. enjoy. yearn.

Rating: 5 out of 5

"24 Nights - The Limited Edition" boxed set, is a unique collaboration between Eric Clapton, Peter Blake, Derek Taylor and Genesis Publications commemorating Eric Clapton's record 24-night performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1991. Peter Blake's scrapbook is a collection of pencil sketches, charcoal drawings and montages showing Eric and the band during rehearsals and performances. Blake was the Associate Artist of the National Gallery and is probably best known for his graphic cover of The Beatles' 'Sergeant Pepper' album cover. A vast selection of original memorabilia from the concert tour including back stage passes, hotel room lists, polaroid photographs, seating plans, set lists, laminates and sheet music are reproduced in the scrapbook, many of them tipp-ins pasted in by hand. The scrapbook is accompanied by a commentary book by Derek Taylor. Taylor attended rehearsals in Dublin, performances at the Royal Albert Hall and the after-show party. His account provides a unique insight into the backstage and on-the-road world of Eric Clapton and his band. A former publicist for Apple Corps (as well as the Mamas and Papas,The Beach Boys and The Byrds), Taylor was one of the most influential music industry professionals of the time. His commentary offers the reader a rare opportunity to experience an insider's perspective on the man who is universally recognised as the world's greatest blues guitarist. 24 Nights also includes a 2 CD set of live recordings from these performances featuring additional tracks not available anywhere else: "Layla (Orchestra Intro)", "No Alibis" and "I Shot The Sheriff" . Additional facsimile memorabilia including Eric's guitar picks, a backstage laminate pass, button badge and guitar string complete the set. 134 page (300mm x 210mm) scrapbook quarter-bound in bonded leather featuring sketches by Peter Blake and rare unseen photographs. All copies are personally autographed by Eric Clapton and Peter Blake. All items are produced to the highest standard and presented in a superbly-designed solandar box limited to 3,500 copies. Many of the memorabilia are pasted by hand. A 64 page (210mm x 148mm) second-volume of commentary by Derek Taylor looking at Eric and the band in rehearsals, at the shows and at the after-show party. Individual items of facsimile memorabilia including Eric's guitar picks, back-stage laminate, button badge and guitar string. THIS IS NOW OUT-OF-PRINT, SO IF YOU SPOT ONE FOR A GOOD PRICE SNATCH IT UP!!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Seeing how this album only has fifteen tracks, I think it's safe to say that not all of Eric Clapton's 24 Royal Albert Hall performances are represented.Never mind, though. "24 Nights" is still the second-best live album of Claptons near-forty-year career (the best being "Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert"). Recorded in 1990-91, it features songs from his entire career, and of course gives the listener plenty of opportunities to complain about the songs that aren't here. But let us focus on what is here instead. The man from Surrey draws no less than five songs from his then-current studio album "Journeyman", and all of them work well in this live setting, souning a little less polished than they do on the studio recordings. Especially "Pretending", which comes off slick and over-produced on "Journeyman", but rocks pretty well here.The first four songs are recorded with Eric Clapton's touring band (bass, drums, keyboards and Clapton himself), and they do come of a little bit bland at times.Of course I'm always looking for more grit and more real blues riffing in Clapton's playing, rather than just extended soloing, and "24 Nights" doesn't really deliver too much of that, but that is not to say that the arrangements are bad, and Clapton was never too big on the blooze-and-boogie-stuff anyway.I much prefer the next four tracks, which are recorded with Robert Cray and Chicago blues king Buddy Guy, to the ones recorded with Clapton as the sole guitarist. The additional two guitars make the sound richer and lend a real blues-rock feel to "Watch Yourself" and the slow, groovy rendition of "Hoodoo Man", and "Worried Life Blues" fares pretty well, too. We don't really need yet another version of "Have Your Ever Loved A Woman", though. The third installment (tracks 9-13) features seven musicians and two backup singers, and that band includes a second guitarist (Phil Palmer, who has worked with everybody from Ralph McTell to Robbie Williams), which bolsters the sound nicely, particularly on the aforementioned "Pretending" and "Bad Love". This set also includes the classic "Bell Bottom Blues", which is one of the highlights of the album.Awful 80s-style keyboards, though. The final two songs are recorded with the Royal Philharminic Orchestra (in addition to a full rock band). Whether or not that adds anything interesting to "Hard Times" or "Edge Of Darkness", which aren't the most interesting songs to begin with, is probably a matter of taste.All in all, "24 Nights" is a pleasant, somewhat laid-back live album. The arrangements are more pop than blues at times, but the songs are generally good, and the sound quality is excellent, as is the musicianship. A good purchase if you like Eric Clapton's solo years, particularly from the mid-seventies onwards.

Rating: 4 out of 5

I was in the Royal Albert Hall when some of this was being recorded.Magical.The album captures much of the occaision.Unfortunately I missed the 'classical' sessions and only saw the rock and blues performances but this recording perfectly captures all three.All in all,possibly one of the greatest live recordings of all time.

Rating: 5 out of 5