Eric Clapton

*ahem*

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.3NCaIA4L9RXP_2ARjbnN1QHaE7%26pid%3DApi&f=1

Fun fact: if you sit before a mirror while listening to Eric Clapton's Unplugged performance you can actually watch yourself age in real time!

The coda of Keep on Growing has like three amped up strat leads playing as high and fast as possible. Such a mess

i played Unplugged on Spotify and went to look at myself in the mirror and i was suddenly wearing a Titleist shirt and i don't even play golf.

Clapton's great on the Beatles' stuff, everything else should probably be incinerated

I'd forgotten how sappy and sickly the Unplugged thing is. Ugh.

A problem with Clapton post Layla is that he was pushed as a solo artist despite never really being a great songwriter, the curse of many a guitar hero; after Hendrix I don’t think anyone has had that kind of lucrative success for so long *as* a solo artist despite being better suited to collaborations and his rep based more on instrumental prowess

This also applies to Jeff Beck, but even more so.

Jeff Beck has mostly made instrumental albums or done session work, though.

I like his Robert Johnson tribute album and From the Cradle, great songs played and sung with a minimum of flash or overdoing. If you find them boring, yuppified, Armani blues or whatever, sure, but I listen to a lot of stuff in that vein.

some of the Unplugged is really loose and fun tho--indistinct as far as his playing goes and indistinct in that it could be any well-practiced band, but when they loosen up there's a gentle charm to it. Like listening to a bunch of old guys play bluegrass or traditional Irish songs or whatnot

I think there's some v good playing and atmosphere on the Rush soundtrack. (Never saw the movie.) Idk why someone wouldn't like e.g. this other "Cold Turkey" if they appreciate, say, David Gilmour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsmmvcqz_BE

well for one...Pink Floyd rules

only Clapton I'd have in the house is the Edge of Darkness soundtrack

OK, I asked my guitar teacher why Clapton became so iconic/revered, and he gave me a couple of explanations. One was simply being the right guy at the right place at the right time; before him, British guitar was still largely influenced by rockabilly or Chuck Berry-styled guitar. The second was that he was the first of the British bluesmen to play a Les Paul through a Marshall (before even Hendrix became identified with playing through a Marshall). The last thing he brought up was Clapton's really strong sense of time; a lot of his peers, while perhaps better and certainly more interesting players, could be both sloppier/looser (Page) and more eccentric (Beck). He also noted that Clapton lost a huge hunk of productivity in his prime when he was all but trying to kill himself on drugs; four years went by between his first album in 1970 and his second in 1974, during which he lost a lot of ground.

Anyway, that's his two cents.

He’s pretty lyrical on White Room.

Crossroads is damn good too

kind of cool on the Live Peace in Toronto “Cold Turkey” the interplay between Eric and Yoko. Maybe already discussed upthread, only saw Sund4r’s recent measure of other “Cold Turkey.”

My problem with Clapton is mainly his voice. Which is not bad, but it's so plain, so white-label. I can appreciate him much more when he doesn't sing, e.g. Beatles, Cream, etc.

Eric Clapton on stage at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, New York, 1978 pic.twitter.com/sTHMUyzMWu

— Barney Hurley (@barneyhurley1) September 9, 2020