Artist: Derek And The Dominos
Label: Polydor Records
Released: 1970
Eric Clapton finds himself at a crossroads again in the early seventies. Years of playing in supergroups had finally become an unbearable burden, but Eric shakes it off in grand style. Against all odds, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs is now considered one of the high points of the master’s career, as well as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. If there’s one thing Layla didn’t manage to pull off, it’s the much-wanted retreat from the spotlight Eric was after, which speaks volumes about his incredible songwriting chops. You won’t get a better showcase of them than Layla.
To understand the situation, you need to know the main reasons behind Eric’s, let’s call it radical, shift in how he approached making music. While blues is still the guitarist’s greatest love, simpler compositions start gaining ground in his eyes, much like with most of the other great masters, in the spirit of the one-note philosophy. Clapton, fed up with long improvised show-offs, puts his trust mainly in a strong melody this time. All the other musical elements that made him immortal in the glory days of Cream and Blind Faith get pushed to the background.
Speaking of melody, I’m thinking mainly of simply built songs like I Looked Away. For many, a rather atypical Eric Clapton creation, it radiates simplicity, without the slightest trace of complicated solo showpieces. All that’s “left” of the old Clapton is his trademark vibrato guitar sound. The heavy reliance on vocal delivery, which songs built like this of course desperately need, reveals a new, previously unknown side of Eric’s musical expression. His delivery is soaked in a melancholy rhetoric, strongly backed by masterful and astonishingly colorful guitar playing. Anyday and Keep On Growing follow a similar path, where the real Derek And The Dominos firepower gets an extra boost from Duane Allman’s mighty slide parts. Still, it would be deeply unfair to credit Allman with most of the merit, though the fact remains that his presence carries a big share of the blame for Clapton’s phenomenal sound. Energy and catchiness tie together Tell The Truth and Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad, which, in their high-flying mood, deliver a heap of phenomenal guitar duels.
Of course, it’s hard to imagine any Clapton album without the blues. Unlike the complicated and, for many people, consequently less approachable compositions of days past, the blues now appears in a gentler, maybe therefore also sadder form. Hopelessness and melancholy are now mirrored in the careful laying down of guitar chords, accompanied by the mysterious sound of the Hammond. We get closest to the older, sharper approaches with Billy Myles’ Have You Ever Loved A Woman, while one of the album’s best moments is the brilliant Bell Bottom Blues. Somewhere in between sits Key To The Highway, a typical basic blues that will satisfy fans of longer solos and sharp, upfront guitar tones, richly spiced with the unrepeatable guitar interplay of Eric and Allman. Simply a blues fantasy!
Clapton pays respect to his great friend Hendrix with Little Wing. The excellent cover features an inventive vocal duet between Clapton and Whitlock which, together with Eric’s trademark emotionally charged playing, will surely leave you in speechless admiration by the end. Despite all these compliments, though, it’s truly hard to find anything worthy of Layla. Probably Clapton’s most recognizable creation today, the fruit of his great love for Pattie Boyd, it’s an achievement worth admiring, pure energy into which Clapton finally pours all his emotions. The madness of total emotional chaos, built up with Allman’s breathtaking slide, melts in all its perfection into the famous piano coda, which in its serenity closes one of the most brilliant moments of Clapton’s career.
Lineup
Eric Clapton: vocals/guitar
Bobby Whitlock: Hammond/piano/vocals
Jim Gordon: drums, piano
Carl Radle: bass
Duane Allman: guitar
Production
Tom Dowd
Track List
1.I Looked Away
2.Bell Bottom Blues
3.Keep On Groving
4.Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
5.I Am Yours
6.Anyday
7.Key To The Highway
8.Tell The Truth
9.Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?
10.Have You Ever Loved A Woman
11.Little Wing
12.It’s Too Late
13.Layla
14.Thorn Tree In The Garden
Album length: 77.03
