Freddie King, the less well-known of the Three Kings of the Blues Guitar (the other two being B.B. King and Albert King, and none of them related to one another), recorded his seminal blues hit “Hideaway” (or “Hide Away”) back in 1961 and it’s kept rolling on since. Eric Clapton’s 1966 cover of the tune was, along with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, a major factor in bringing urban electric blues to white audiences in the mid ’60s. Here’s a video clip from “The Beat,” a 1966 TV show I’ve never heard of, with Freddie playing a hard-driving and upbeat version of his signature song.
Then there’s Eric Clapton’s landmark 1966 recording of “Hideaway” when he was with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. BTW, although the official story is that Clapton got his tone by using a Les Paul Standard through a Marshall amp, I’ve heard he pushed his Les Paul through a Webcor tape recorder’s 3-inch speaker which caused a
‘natural’ warm distortion nearly impossible to attain with pedals or other electronic paraphernalia. Whatever it is, it still sounds good today.
