Various Artists - ARMS Benefit Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London, Britain, 9-20-1983

Do you like "guitar heroes?" Then you should love this. By the early 1980s, Ronnie Lane, former member of the Faces, essentially had to give up his solo career because he had multiple sclerosis, and it was steadily getting worse. In 1983, many of his musical friends got together for a benefit concerts for the charity group ARMS - Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis. Originally, there was only one concert planned, in London, England, and this is the recording of it. But it was such a success that nine more concerts followed in the US, with a slightly different group of musicians.

So that's the basics. But the main reason these concerts was celebrated is that it's the only time the three former lead guitarists for the Yardbirds - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page - were prominently featured at the same concerts, with each of them playing their own sets. I especially like the one London show, because it also prominently featured Steve Winwood, who also played his own set, singing and playing keyboards while Clapton helped him on lead guitar. He also sang a couple of songs during Page's set. (For the US concerts, due to a scheduling conflict, he was replaced by Joe Cocker.)

Those are four very big names in music. Many other prominent musicians took part in the various supporting bands, including Andy Fairweather Low, James Hooker, Bill Wyman, Chris Stainton, Ray Cooper, Kenny Jones, and Charlie Watts. Ronnie Lane himself made a guest appearance at the end, singing a couple of songs. In addition to playing their own sets, Clapton, Beck, and Page also played a few songs together at the end.

Strangely, this concert seems largely forgotten today. I didn't even find many recordings of it on-line, and none of them were complete. I think that's largely because no album of it (or the following US shows) was ever released, so if you weren't there in person, you missed it. A video recording was eventually released, but it wasn't the full show, and it seems like it hasn't gotten around that much either.

I've attempted to compile the complete London show. The main basis is the audio of the video recording. It's very good sound quality, basically the same as a professionally recorded live album. But, as I said, it wasn't complete, so I tracked down the remaining songs. Here are all the ones I had to get from different sources:

Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton
Ramblin' on My Mind - Have You Ever Loved a Woman - Eric Clapton
Rita Mae - Eric Clapton
Hound Dog - Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton
The Best That I Can - Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton
Stairway to Heaven (Instrumental) - Jimmy Page
Wee Wee Baby - Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck

(On the other bootlegs that I've found, some of the other song titles were also mislabeled, especially the instrumentals.)

The good news is that most of these sound as good as the songs sourced from the video recording. The only trouble spots are "Hound Dog" and "The Best That I Can." Hound Dog" sounds a bit rougher. "The Best That I Can" sounds rougher than that. Worse, that sound isn't actually from the concert in question. But I've included it here for a couple of reasons. One is that the same group of musicians also performed one more concert, just one night later, also in London, but benefiting a different charity (the Prince's Trust Rock Gala). It's a far less known concert because no really good audio or video recording has emerged from it. The second reason I've included that song is because it's a Steve Winwood original that he apparently has never released in any form. If you don't like the sound quality, or the fact that it's from the next night, just remove it.

I really like this concert. It's really like four concerts in one. One can argue who is the better guitarist, Clapton, Beck, or Page, and which one played the better show. But I personally really like the Winwood set, because he played several cover versions he's never done before or since, and Clapton did all the guitar soloing on a bunch of songs he almost never played. The end of the show when all three famous lead guitarists came together is very nice too, although I wish they'd played more together. (For the US shows, the three guitarists would also play together on the instrumental version of "Stairway to Heaven," but for this show, it's just Page.)

01 talk (Eric Clapton)
02 Everybody's Got to Change (Eric Clapton with Steve Winwood)
03 Lay Down Sally (Eric Clapton with Steve Winwood)
04 Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton with Steve Winwood)
05 Ramblin' on My Mind - Have You Ever Loved a Woman (Eric Clapton with Steve Winwood)
06 Rita Mae (Eric Clapton with Steve Winwood)
07 Cocaine (Eric Clapton with Steve Winwood)
08 Man Smart, Woman Smarter (Andy Fairweather Low with Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood)
09 Hound Dog (Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton)
10 The Best That I Can (Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton)
11 [I'm A] Road Runner (Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton)
12 Slowdown Sunrise (Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton)
13 Take Me to the River (Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton)
14 Gimme Some Lovin' (Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton)
15 talk (Jeff Beck)
16 Star Cycle [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
17 The Pump [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
18 Goodbye Pork Pie Hat [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
19 talk (Jeff Beck)
20 Led Boots [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
21 People Get Ready (Jeff Beck with Andy Fairweather Low)
22 Hi Ho Silver Lining (Jeff Beck)
23 Prelude [Instrumental] (Jimmy Page with James Hooker)
24 Who's to Blame (Jimmy Page with Steve Winwood)
25 City Sirens (Jimmy Page with Steve Winwood)
26 Stairway to Heaven [Instrumental] (Jimmy Page)
27 Tulsa Time (Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck)
28 Wee Wee Baby (Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck)
29 talk (Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck)
30 Layla (Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck)
31 talk (Ronnie Lane)
32 Bomber's Moon (Ronnie Lane)
33 talk (Ronnie Lane)
34 Goodnight Irene (Ronnie Lane with Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck)

https://www.imagenetz.de/dz4KW

For the cover art, I'm glad to say I found a photo from the actual concert. From left to right, that's Andy Fairweather Low, Chris Stainton, Eric Clapton (at the microphone), Jimmy Page, Bill Wyman, and Jeff Beck.