Letters to the Editor
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Clapton isn't God, but a great musician
Clapton did his best work between the ages of 21 and 25? Is Kamiya like seventeen years old? I love Cream as much as anyone, but the guitar hero thing is impossible and ridiculous to sustain. Clapton is a guy who taught himself to play, sing, lead a band,produce.... and has become a resource linking future players to our blues. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but to discount Clapton's work after 1971 displays an ignorance about modern music that I find unthinkable in anyone writing on the subject.
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Clapton and racism
No mention in the review of Clapton's onstage reference to Enoch Powell that triggered Rock against Racism. Does it show up in the book?
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Bluesbreakers
Just in case anybody out there hasn't heard the album 'John Mayall's Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton', or hasn't heard it in awhile, you really owe it to yourself to check it out. The guitar playing on that one album, which was cut in a couple of days when he was ridiculously young, is enough to understand what the all 'Clapton is God' fuss was about. His work in Cream was amazing too, and even though you can feel the decadence creeping in, it shows an experimental side of Clapton never to be seen or heard again.
Unfortunately, it only exaggerates the drunken mellowness of his '70s output (listen to the awful, meandering solo on 'Cocaine' for one the more 'energetic' moments)... you really don't hear that Bluesbreakers fire again until 'From the Cradle' in the mid-'90s, and even that record is marred by the fact that a lot of his vocals are literal impersonations of all his heroes. I guess the height of success for a British blues man is to anonymously blend into Americana, but I'm still waiting to see him do something with as much flavor as Mark Knopfler's recent work in that vein.
His life has always seemed charmed and cursed. Maybe he really did go to the crossroads after all!
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Enoch Powell reference
There is one sentence referencing the Enoch Powell incident, but it's a very vague reference. Clapton doesn't tell what he said about EP.
The book isn't great, but it's a good read.
Yep, unless you were an American bluesman, you could never be pure enough for Eric. It's hilarious, and exasperating, too, to read how Eric, the punk kid, drove John Mayall and all the other Brit cats crazy with his incessant, nagging insistance that they play only the purest of blues. And that was well before he got into drugs and booze.
He was a piece of work.
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Yeah, his best work was in the early days.
Totally agree. I love EC in the Yardbirds and especially in Cream. The music produced by those bands was amazing. His solo stuff, especially in the 80s, was just so incredibly boring. Hard to believe that a musician who was so groundbreaking 20 years prior would put out snoozers like "She's Waiting" and "It's In the way That You Use It". That stuff is just flat out MOR trash. I think in many ways he is a bit overrated. Great musican? Yeah. Showman? Not really. I'll take Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, or even Jeff Beck any day over EC. They're way more interesting.
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Actually, Buddy Guy was God
(and is still around), although Clapton did a pretty good imitation. But you should hear Guy's imitation of Clapton. And Hendrix. Hilarious, and eerie, like a snake eating its own tail. Clapton, who's done more to popularize the real blues through his Crossroads Guitar Festival, among other activities, than anyone outside of the Smithsonian, likely would agree.
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No matter when...Clapton is great
Sure, I loved him as a teen in the early 70's...or was that the late 60's?! Having listened intently both then and now, I will say that while originality and a leading edge on the music scene was most evident in those early years, his playing, arranging and execution today are far superior.
Watch the DVD One More Rider, One More Car (I think that's the name of it). Clapton is surrounded by musical greats for what he described as his last world tour. There is serious musicianship and mastery of song. It isn't always about the past.
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Clapton is not God
True.
He is one of the most overrated guitarists of our time. Horrible phrasing, limited vocabulary.
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Eric Clapton, Enoch Powell and Racism
Why does Kamiya completely ignore Clapton's dalliance with racist politician Enoch Powell? This is what Clapton said on stage in 1976.
"Vote for Enoch Powell. Enoch's our man. I think Enoch's right, I think we should send them all back. Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism. It's much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Vote for Enoch, he's our man, he's on our side, he'll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he's on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!"
At first Clapton used alcohol as an excuse but no matter, in vino veritas. He later called Powell "outrageously brave... he spoke from the heart."
Why does this chapter in Clapton's life merit no mention in Salon's review of the book? Salon owes its readers an explanation.
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Losing himself (getting the music right)
"Layla" is not a "pretty good" record, it's generally acknowledged by critics to be one of rock's monuments, while the Cream albums are known for being inconsistent. This isn't just rock-fan-barroom-debate argument; it's the key to understanding Clapton.
Whereas Cream was Exhibit A of soloist's excess, Derek and the Dominoes showed Clapton never in the spotlight alone. Singing with Bobby Whitlock, playing with Duane Allman, Clapton buried himself in a Phil Spector-like wall of guitars. On the title track, half of the song is given to Jim Gordon's piano while Allman and Clapton play filigrees around the edges.
Much of Clapton's finest work has come when he took the supporting role. Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Roger Waters, Delaney and Bonnie, and the Beatles are just a few he has backed. Even his work with John Mayall and Blind Faith can be seen as examples of Clapton tamping his ego.
Clapton's love of the team dynamic exemplified by The Band exhibits the over-riding aspect of his personality; his primary effort has been to lose himself, even in finding himself.