- SLOWHAND
- ONE MORE CAR, ONE MORE DRIVER
This is Erics comback-album. And what a comeback-album it is!
Where's the flaws??? Nowhere. Oh right. The guitar solo thing.. Well, foremost
this collection of songs don't need solos to make them listenable (as the case
is on August). Clapton is able to express his feelings with his vocals
now, too bad for you guys that can't accept him as anything else but Jack Bruces
guitar player.
Highlights are, well, the entire B-side! And there's really nothing to
complain about on the A-side either.
Please Be With Me, Let It Grow (the outro wouldn't seem too much out of place
on Sir Pauls "Band On The Run"-album. He'd probably kill to write someting as
good!), Give Me Strength (slow acoustic, dobro-lead song about Eric's heroin
addiction), Steady Rollin' Man (the obligatory Robert Johnson cover) and I Can't
Hold Out. The only possible flaw I can find is Willie And The Hand Jive, a reggaeish
shuffle number.
The album starts off with Motherless Children, a great renedition of a tradional
number and closes with the George Terry-written Mainline Florida, the only two
songs on the album that might be considered r o c k
songs. The rest is laid-back, slow, nice and comforting. One of the best albums
to come out of the seventies and a highlight in the Eric Clapton catalog.
Oh, almost forgot: EC's cover of Marley's I Shot The Sheriff made it to #1 in
the US charts and brought reggae to the people in the world outside Jamaica!
A lot of people, including Eric himself, think of the "Slowhand"-album
as one of his best. I'm not that excited. Sure, everyone knows most of these
songs, at least the three first ones: Cocaine, Wonderful Tonight and Lay Down
Sally, but what else has this album to offer? Not much. The great opening riff
of Cocaine really makes you believe that this album is something special and
the J.J. Cale-composed song easily makes you want to hear more. Great riff,
great solos. Deserves the status it has earned through the years. No wonder
why it's one of Clapton's stage-favourites!
The second song is also very popular and the big hit off this album: Wonderful
Tonight. A pretty ballad with a very nice intro. Unfortunately the lyrics are
very simple, almost stupid, and I think this number is very
overrated and I'm having problems realising the public's love for it. I do admit
that if you don't think too much and ignore the lyrics, it's a decent song.
Enough of that.
Lay Down Sally is written by Marcy Levy (backing vocals during most of EC's
tours and albums in the seventies), George Terry (guitar during most of EC's
tours and albums in the seventies) and Eric Clapton (guitar and vocals during
most of EC's tours and albums in the seventies). It is an up-tempo country song
with, again, pretty dumb lyrics. However, I do like this song mostly because
of the great intro. Really don't know how to explain it, there are two guitars
doing some bass-string picking and on top of that the
bass-guitar is doing some more picking. It's great! Good, quiet solo too.
This album contains some leightweight forgettable material, such as this
next song: Next Time You See Her. To me, this song is a copy of Dylan's If You
See Her, Say Hello. Eric's version is more up-tempo, pure country, dumb lyrics
and not as personal as Bob's version (that can be found on his very good 1975
album, "Blood On The Tracks"). One more ballad follows, We're All The Way. Once
again, very easily forgettable. But these two let downs are followed by one
of the highlights on this
album, a duet between Eric and Marcy Levy, The Core. Could just as well been
on the record "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs". Great rocker, but
with it's nearly nine minutes it might be a little bit too long, but that's
very easily forgiven.
Now, when did you hear about a Clapton album without a blues number? Never!
Of course a blues number is coming up: Mean Old Frisco. In my opinion it's always
the blues numbers that are the best on an Eric Clapton album, this time around
it's not... It might even be the most boring number on "Slowhand"!
Mean Old Frisco is very laid back, I don't have a problem with that, but it
never changes the pattern, which makes me want to skip that song every time
I put this record on. I do like the combination of acoustic
slide-guitar and the electric, though. We have now arrived to the last song
on this album, and I think it's
the second best on the album. An instrumental ballad, very George Harrison-style
and I love it! If it would have had lyrics, it surely had been one of Eric's
most well known songs and a big hit. But since the writing of lyrics during
this album weren't very good, it may have been for the better that no words
were set to this wonderful piece of music.
Peaches And Diesel together with Cocaine, Wonderful Tonight and The Core keeps the rating up for this album. Most people love it, I think of it as just a quite average Clapton-album. Too much country and too little of the blues and rock. Why did he have to leave The Dominos?
I really like this record. Clapton has a new band, got the
Dominos' producer Tom Dowd and more or less a new sound compared to, say "Slowhand"
and "Backless". And what's more, the guitar is back! Something Special
is a self-penned song that's very good, with nice chord-changes, melody and
not too sentimental lyrics. Blow Wind Blow is a fast shuffle and the title-track
is a slow ballad, this also written by
Eric. Floating Bridge, a slow, nice blues with a great guitar tone. Catch Me
if You Can and Rita Mae are both such heavy, guitar based that you have to go
back to the Dominos-days to find something similar. Those two are my favourite
tracks on this album along with Floating Bridge. Oh, "Another Ticket" had a
single too, I Can't Stand It. It's a good song, all though I like some other
songs on here better. There are however two songs I don't care much for: Black
Rose and Hold Me Lord. If you're a country-fan, you won't be having any troubles
with them. But I do admit that Hold Me Lord has an outstanding slide-guitar
solo!
This album was first rejected by the record company, which is a shame. There
are a couple of songs that never got released that should have been included
(Home Lovin' and Games up). Try to get the bootleg "Turn Up Down" for out-takes.
Anyway, Eric got rid of his American band, picked up the guitar and stopped
writing those heart-melting lyrics. The result is very good and this album could
be a gem!
In the Eighties, signing for Warner Brothers, Clapton agreed
to record a double live album. These sessions were taking place at The Royal
Albert Hall in London in 1990. Eric put together a four-piece band, playing
the rock hits, such as Sunshine of Your Love and White Room, a nine-piece band,
doing
some more rock and pop hits, a blues-band, with a impressive guest-list, Buddy
Guy among others. There was also some sessions with a full symphony orchestra!
When all shows had been performed, Eric together with producer Russ Titelman,
decided that the playing did not reach the standard of a Clapton release. So
in 1991 Eric returned to RAH to do it all over (ironically, most of the songs
on the final album-version were taken from the 1990-shows!).
The Royal Albert Hall had became "Eric Hall", people joked! The first disc is
based on the four-piece band and the blues band. While the four-piece band performing
the Cream-songs Badge, Sunshine of Your
Love and White Room. All of them very well done, and Eric throws in some notes
of the intro for Hendrix's Purple Haze at the end of Sunshine! Of course Eric
has to promote his latest studio-release, "Journeyman", and Running
on Faith is very good, not as good as the "Unplugged"-version a couple of years
later, but at least as good as the studio-version. The blues band does some
standard blues tunes that always followed Clapton through his career: Watch
Yourself, Worried Life Blues, Hoodoo Man and Have You Ever Loved A Woman. The
latter might just be the best song of entire album! The song has been featured
on many Clapton-albums before, but this is my favourite version. A slow, quiet
version with fantastic vocals and a superb guitar-performance! The intro starts
out quiet, but suddenly during the solos, the song explodes! I can't do anything
else than recommend it to everybody, Clapton sure knows how to bring life to
a slow blues... The second disc is based on the nine-piece band and the orchestra.
Nine
piece band on performs some "Journeyman"-songs: Pretending, Bad Love and Old
Love(good solo). Included also is the "Slowhand"-classic Wonderful
Tonight. This version beats out every, single version I have heard so far! EC
sings it very well, nice solo, great keyboards and Katie Kissoon does a wonderful
job, transforming her voice into an instrument! Orchestra part has the Ray Charles-song,
also featured on
"Journeyman", Hard Times and the Dominos' classic Bell Bottom Blues
(nice, short solo that's up to the point). Both performed with perfection. The
final track is one of the highlights, the instrumental Edge of Darkness.
As you've probably understood, I like this record a lot. The only complaint I have is that they should have used more material from the orchestra nights. And the 1990's blues shows could have, and should have, been released on an seperate album. Anyway, this is more than a live album acting as a greatest hits-package. Eric's in top-form, just sit back and enjoy the ride!
Isn’t it strange? Some artists that you know are great, but just simply fails to deliver. That has been the case with Eric Clapton for countless years now. I’ve always defended him and told his enemies that they shouldn’t dismiss him until they’ve heard Eric live. Well... here’s the chance. There are good things to say about this album, but there also are some less good things to say. Let’s start with the bad, shall we?
Eric has quite a few live albums out in the record shops. None of them are a complete show. Just One Night was edited down and MTV Unplugged left off some great performances of My Father’s Eyes, Circus and Worried Life Blues. 24 Nights was a live project that stretched over 2 years, whilst the Rainbow Concert has been re-released and re-package but still lacks a few numbers. Then there’s EC Was Here. Don’t get me started on that one. A fine live album it is, but it has only 6 songs on it and one of them was originally 15 minutes or so, but is faded out after five minutes. Some real slaughtering.
Anyway, now when the company releases a complete show we all should be happy, right? Problem is, while this has all the songs they’re not from the same show. Most of the songs were recorded in Los Angeles and a few were recorded in Tokyo. Also, I’m don’t think Eric was in top form on these concerts. The ones I attended during this tour had much more energy. Especially in the acoustic set that starts things off.
Eric opens everything by performing Key To The Highway solo on acoustic guitar. It’s great, actually and we get some fine blues. Then the band joins him and play some nice songs. Bell Bottom Blues, Tears In Heaven and Change The World among others. They’re all done well but there’s something missing. Change The World lacks energy and Bell Bottom Blues sounds thin without Bobby Whitlock’s backing vocals. Only one song is done better than the original studio version and that is Got You On My Mind from Clapton’s latest studio album, Reptile. It’s a bit heavier and has more edge than the studio version. Rhythm guitarist Andy Fairweather-Low rips off a nice solo. Nothing special really, but I’ve heard him doing much worse.
The second part of the show is based on the album Pilgrim. Now, some of you might get turned off right here, considering Pilgrim is the album that never was well accepted by the public. Quite hated actually. In a live setting the songs comes alive and Eric shines on guitar. My Father’s Eyes is a tad faster than the studio version and has some nice solos. I do miss the slide guitar from the Pilgrim-version, though. River of Tears has some fantastic guitar playing, but what really impress me is the band in general and Eric’s vocals. The vocals are superb through out the show, by the way. Two real highlights follows next, Going Down Slow and She’s Gone. The band is tight, it swings, it rocks. And on top of that Eric plays some of his best solos on this record. She’s Gone in particular is worth your attention.
Third part of the show: blues and the classics. We move deeper into the blues. I Want A Little Girl, Hoochie Coochie Man and Have You Ever Loved A Woman. Eric’s vocals are so good. It’s hard to imagine this is the same person who sang I’ve Got A Rock N’ Roll Heart. Clapton delivers some all mighty guitar work in Have You Ever Loved A Woman, but also let his two keyboard players show off their skills. Billy Preston (you know the guy who played keyboards on the Let It Be-album? Yes, you do!) and David Sancious (you know the guy who played keyboards on Bruce Springsteen’s two first albums? You probably don’t.). These two keyboardists has great interplay and it gets heavy, it gets beautiful and just when the roof is about to lift Eric rips the roof off and tear it into pieces with his solo. This is probably the best version of this song I’ve heard. Despite of what I said in my 24 Nights-review.
The other songs that follows you probably know by heart, even if you’re not a fan of Clapton. Badge, Cocaine, Wonderful Tonight, Layla and Sunshine of Your Love. Badge is the clear highlight. Clapton ends the show with a cover of Somewhere Over The Rainbow done in a nice, laid back jazzy style.
So what does this make? Some tired, uninspired songs as well as some of the best stuff Slowhand ever put on record. Well.. You won’t see any 10’s or 15’s anywhere near this album. You won’t see any flop ratings either. If this double album would have been edited down to just one disc it could have been Eric’s best live album since Live At Fillmore with the Dominos. Now it’s just another live album. Yes, I know I complained about the editing earlier. This album could have gained something from that. I mean, do we really need elevator music such as Reptile, and is yet another version of Hoochie Coochie Man necessary? Don’t think so.
Forgot to mention one thing. One song is missing from the original show. Billy Preston’s Will It Go Round In Circles? It’s included on the DVD that also was released. It was one of the true highlights. Billy sings it well and Eric does a great solo and it looks like he’s enjoying taking a step back. Anyway, buy this album and you will understand why people love Clapton. You will also understand why some people think he’s dull. You get both. Fortunately the good weighs heavier than the bad.