Eric Clapton

I'm not a big blues guy, so much of his work doesn't really do it for me. I acknowledge that it's very good, but it's just not my thing.

But at his very best -- "Layla," the top stuff from Cream, "Tears in Heaven" -- he's as good as anyone.

And on a side note, last summer my then-13 year old son went on a trip to Seattle with his grandparents. As they were checking into the hotel he texted me "I'm standing 10 feet from Eric Clapton." They were staying in the same hotel. He thought that was pretty cool.

 

Most boring concert I have ever paid money to see.

 

You know what I know about Eric Clapton?

He's not a welcher.

 

I would love to read more about Cream. The RS interview with Ginger Baker a few years back was great. I can imagine the dynamic between him and Clapton was something. I know nothing of Jack Bruce, but it had to be a surreal experience having to work with Guitar God and Psycho Drummer day after day.

 

Several great songs that don't seem as if they couldn't be from the same guy: Sunshine of Your Love, Layla, Bell Bottom Blues, Blues Power, The Core, Cocaine, Promises, Let It Rain, Tears in Heaven. One wonders if his legacy would be better or worse if he hadn't been on horse most of his life.

 

I think he was only on H for a few years; mostly coke and booze the rest of the time.

There's hardly a pop song I hate more than the "unplugged" version of "Layla."

Incandescent electricity turned into beginning-guitar-class sludge.

If I heard some bar-band hack play it that way at a sleepy coffeehouse, it might have been forgivable, but goddamn it, he did it to himself.

Again: See Jordan playing Nerf hoops at age 70.

That song came not too long before Kurt Cobain blew his own head off. Coincidence? I think not.

Maybe he saw himself in 30 years playing "Teen Spirit" as a sluggish, sluggardly, slothlike shuffle, and pulled the trigger.

 

The playing that segues from the guitar solo to the improvisation over the last verse of Presence Of The Lord is the most grand and beautiful in all of rock.

I prefer his Derek & The Dominoes period over his Cream period. I like his between Cream and Derek & The Dominoes period too when he hung out with George Harrison and Delaney & Bonnie.

His best solo album is 461 Ocean Boulevard by a WIDE margin. Great album. Urgent and laid back in alternate measure.

I can understand why he leaves a lot of people cold because he basically went on one genre exercise after another from the mid 70s to the early 80s, but there's some great shit in there. The Crossroads box set did a great job of pulling out the highlights.

His post-1985 career is mostly garbage.

 

Fell in love with his best friend's wife, wrote a hit song about it, stole her away, and yet somehow remained friends with the guy ... although that's probably more a reflection on George Harrison's character than Clapton's.

He's always been best working with other great talents, whether it was Bruce/Baker, Winwood or Duane Allman (who played a big part in Derek & the Dominoes). Even that song he did with Babyface from "Phenomenon" wasn't half bad.

His solo stuff is mostly crap, though I do like "Lay Down Sally" for some reason. And "Wonderful Tonight" was one of my mom's favorite songs, for better or for worse.

And Dooley, "Sunshine of Your Love" was really a Jack Bruce song. He sang it on the album and wrote the famous bass line.

 

Wow, some of you should be banned from discussing music.

 

I'm posting this mostly to pimp my friend's music blog, which I'm going to be contributing to soon. Clapton: Roguish or Not Roguish?

http://zabib.tumblr.com/post/32931620748/not-roguish-clapton-is-fat-hendrix
http://zabib.tumblr.com/post/32800393088/roguish-mr-slowhand-the-harris-tweed-blues

 

Favorites:
His 1992 live of Don't Think Twice, It's Alright at the Dylan celebration.
Bell Bottom Blues
His Cream years
Motherless Children

Dislike:
Unplugged Layla
Nearly anything after Tears in Heaven

I think he, understandably, lost his edge after his son died in such a horrific way. He probably felt guilt as he was an absent father until the final weeks before the boy ran out the window.

 

He should have never stopped using drugs.

Damn, what a great band.