Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Having contributed to a lot of bands' albums and concerts over the years, Eric Clapton has amassed a group of friends who also happen to be first-rate musicians. Never being one to assume that he alone makes his albums great, Clapton routinely gives them a lot of room to write and perform. True since Clapton gave up the solo on "Layla" to Duane Allman, it works for him in spades on this album.
Jerry Jeff Williams, a Texas songwriter with whom Clapton has had many fruitful collaborations since the Eighties, wrote several of the originals, standouts being "Pretending" and "Breaking Point." The first song has the most confident, tension-free vocals Clapton has committed to a studio album since _461 Ocean Boulevard_ more than a decade earlier; its low, bluesy verses and suddenly louder choruses seem written specifically to Clapton's strengths as a vocalist. As was true throughout the entire album, Clapton taps the midrange boost on that custom Stratocaster and burns through the solos and fills. If this record did nothing else for his fan base, it proved that Clapton had overcome his early-Seventies fear of overplaying or repetition; not until _24 Nights_ would anyone hear Clapton having as much fun as a lead guitarist again.
As the Amazon reviewer pointed out, he remained rooted in a bluesy context throughout, juxtaposing the faithful treatment of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" with the sophisticated Robert Cray minor blues of "Old Love." While the production remains extremely clean, no one could accuse Clapton or any member of his supporting bands of not bringing enough soul to this particular session. Aside from "Run So Far," which indulges Clapton's taste for cheerful and insubstantial country, there's not a weak song on this album. If you had to purchase five essential records by him not including box sets or anthologies, this would rank among them, below _Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs_ and _461 Ocean Boulevard_.
Well worth owning for fans and enthusiasts, and an excellent place to start for people who really liked _Unplugged_ but don't know where in his thirty-five years in music to start.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Journeyman
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Warner. 2009.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.
0 comments:
Post a Comment