Artist: Clapton, Eric
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Release: 1985
Duration: 49.54
Rating: 3.5/5
With the arrival of the ’80s, the balance of power on the overcrowded global music carousel got thoroughly shuffled, and in 1985 the time finally came to redefine the figure of Eric Clapton too. The metamorphosis from a lone guitar rider, who for years had stubbornly kept his head in the sand despite ever more obvious shifts in the musical climate, dishing out a steady supply of mostly excellent blues-rock releases, into a more conciliatory helmsman of assembly-line, pop-bleached hits, was completed practically overnight, with the album Behind The Sun. For years now the record has divided the followers of Eric’s musical kitchen. While its easy-listening nature symbolizes the move into a differently spinning creative world for the legendary musician, fans of bold blues recipes accuse it of nothing short of blasphemously rejecting his roots. Ironically, it was reportedly Behind The Sun in which the critics recognized Clapton at the peak of his powers, armed with some of the best guitar playing in years, even though Behind The Sun is chronically short on room for emotional guitar outpourings in the vein of Slowhand or Another Ticket. Phil Collins’ production baton simply bets on a modern, popularity-friendly sonic picture, one that matches all the circus and pomp of the mid-’80s music scene.
Without a doubt, a stylistic makeover, in the sense of a radical shift in his way of expression, was necessary for Eric Clapton, just one more painful evolutionary process he simply had to grit his teeth and fight his way through in order to survive. Hopping across the fences of comfort like that is of course always dangerous, even for musicians of the highest caliber. Caution is therefore anything but superfluous in such cases, and as a first-class cure for all fears and worries, Eric picked none other than the services of Phil Collins. But Collins is by no means the only ace Clapton has up his sleeve on the album. To make sensible use of the potential of fashionable musical approaches, a squad of eminent figures from the music world has been hitched up here. Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather and Jerry Lynn Williams are names without whom adapting fresh ideas would, for Clapton, if not have been impossible, then certainly a lot harder. This eminent crew helped push the musician toward new challenges. The refreshed sonic picture drew this time on a well-covered instrumental backbone, and it’s also a pleasure that through the thick layer of silky, disciplined pop, recognizable elements of Eric’s virtuosity shine through here and there. The contrast in character between the calculated, almost polished arrangement of the songs and the old-school instrumental wildness of a guitarist riddled with personal problems is so pronounced that it’s downright comical at times, yet it still delivers some truly impressive moments, full of that signature ambience, deeply woven into the tangible organic feel of the album’s certified favorites Same Old Blues, Just Like a Prisoner and Forever Man. Just in case, Behind The Sun also serves up a few slices of very agreeable pop rock, which probably served mainly as a deliberate attempt to hug the middle of the road, a line Eric Clapton could instantly retreat behind should the aforementioned standouts happen to crash and burn. She’s Waiting, See What Love Can Do and Never Make You Cry are charmingly likable ideas, whose heartless executioner, sadly, is a rather vaguely conceived execution. On first listen they even come across as potential hits, and combining their synth-colored, keyboard-draped frameworks with that characteristic, chamber-like vocal is a novelty from Eric Clapton, a cunning and at the same time brave move that opens up numerous avenues for development.
With Behind The Sun, Eric Clapton successfully wrapped up a much-needed refresh of his own musical voice. The album’s success, and the inseparably linked soothing effect it had on the guitarist’s exhausted and thoroughly worn-out creative vein, finally pulled Eric out of the noose of smugly repeating long-established expressive patterns. Clapton’s resolve to peek beyond their borders hatched him the much-desired hit in the form of Forever Man, and last but not least, Behind The Sun built the very formula that the great guitarist’s later studio triumphs followed, with few deviations.
Lineup
Eric Clapton: guitar, vocals
Lindsey Buckingham: guitar
Steve Lukather: guitar
Donald “Duck” Dunn: bass
Nathan East: bass
James Newton Howard: keyboards
Peter Manning Robinson: keyboards
Greg Phillinganes: keyboards
Michael Omartian: keyboards
Peter Robinson: keyboards
Chris Stainton: keyboards, Hammond organ
Marcy Levy: backing vocals
Jerry Williams: backing vocals
Lenny Castro: percussion
Ray Cooper: percussion
Phil Collins: drums, backing vocals
Jamie Oldaker: drums
Jeff Porcaro: drums
John “J.R.” Robinson: drums
Production
Phil Collins
Tracklist
1. She’s Waiting
2. See What Love Can Do
3. Same Old Blues
4. Knock on Wood
5. Something’s Happening
6. Forever Man
7. It All Depends
8. Tangled In Love
9. Never Make You Cry
10. Just Like A Prisoner
11. Behind The Sun
