What was it with Eric Clapton?

Skywalker

Skywalker

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I confess to offering this thread rather out of my bewilderment regarding the man’s popular acclaim. In a world of amazing and expressive guitarists, Clapton doesn’t even make it onto the map for me. Technical ability… OK. Soulful or hot blooded expression… No way ! His cover hits of JJ Cale songs are shamelessly lacking in any artistic interpretation. Even his upbeat cover of “After Midnight” is taken from Cale’s first upbeat single.(check it out on YouTube if you haven’t heard it already 👍). Clapton’s albums are great for winding down and signaling the end of a party in my experience. The tediously persistent riff in “Layla” will have people backing out your door like your dog was trying to hump their leg.
While I give him wholehearted credit for his historical roll in bringing electric guitar more to the forefront of Rock&Roll, I can’t help but feel that he left the White Room to wander around being above all a nonevent, typically performing lamely as a guest star and looking like someone has stuck him on a broomstick.

No doubt I will be putting some noses out of joint here, but the truth is…I wish I could find more to appreciate in Clapton, so I’m actually quite eager and open to persuasion…. Honestly I am !😅
 
I like his playing on the beano, like a lot of his playing on the howling wolf London sessions and there's clips of him early 90s playing a red 335 I think it's a freddie King tribute concert which are very good. Don't like much else to be honest.
 
To truly understand what it was about Clapton, you had to be there in the ‘60s as he first emerged. Otherwise, assessing him today within the context of his body of work misses the mark.

In the very beginning with the Yardbirds, he was a blues purist and almost never sang. He was totally channeling Freddie King’s gorgeous tone (and later copped his vocal style), as he began expanding on the work of King and others, such as Matt Murphy. His lead solos began making their way into Yardbirds songs, and they were revolutionary to the ears of British & American adolescents like your’s truly. A thirty second solo in the Yardbirds “I Ain’t Got You” altered my little pea-brain forever, and a lot of it was about the tone. He carried that same style & tone to the Beano album with Mayall, where his soloing & tone fully blossomed - and the legend was born. Why he let that tone slip away, I’ll never understand. Some of his work with Cream was okay, but for me, there’s almost nothing after that.

I have live recordings of the Yardbirds’ very early club work, where you hear Clapton & the rest of the band developing the songs that peppered their first albums (even some stuff with an accordion!). This was uncharted territory for young white folks in the UK & US, and Clapton’s rapid development within those few short years was a very significant contribution to the music of the times. Along with the early work of the Sones, Animals, & Kinks, the timeless work of many blues greats was introduced to millions.

So just listen to the Beano album, and try to put all the junk that followed after that (like the JJ Cale album) out of your mind. if you still don’t get it, no one will mind.
 
bobouz said:
To truly understand what it was about Clapton, you had to be there in the ‘60s as he first emerged. Otherwise, assessing him today within the context of his body of work misses the mark.

In the very beginning with the Yardbirds, he was a blues purist and almost never sang. He was totally channeling Freddie King’s gorgeous tone (and later copped his vocal style), as he began expanding on the work of King and others, such as Matt Murphy. His lead solos began making their way into Yardbirds songs, and they were revolutionary to the ears of British & American adolescents like your’s truly. A thirty second solo in the Yardbirds “I Ain’t Got You” altered my little pea-brain forever, and a lot of it was about the tone. He carried that same style & tone to the Beano album with Mayall, where his soloing & tone fully blossomed - and the legend was born. Why he let that tone slip away, I’ll never understand. Some of his work with Cream was okay, but for me, there’s almost nothing after that.

I have live recordings of the Yardbirds’ very early club work, where you hear Clapton & the rest of the band developing the songs that peppered their first albums (even some stuff with an accordion!). This was uncharted territory for young white folks in the UK & US, and Clapton’s rapid development within those few short years was a very significant contribution to the music of the times. Along with the early work of the Sones, Animals, & Kinks, the timeless work of many blues greats was introduced to millions.

So just listen to the Beano album, and try to put all the junk that followed after that (like the JJ Cale album) out of your mind. if you still don’t get it, no one will mind.
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Thank you bobouz 🙏

That was just the kind of thoughtful and knowledgeable reply I was after to upgrade my existing opinion of Clapton…I’m a richer person now! 👍🤗
 
FNG said:
His Robert Johnson covers are great. Clapton has said that he never could nail blues vocals like BB King or Muddy Waters.
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I think he also does a pretty darn good job with Freddie King’s material, like Tore Down (but then you listen to Freddie’s ‘50s original, and it’s just at another superb level!). Likewise, I do like Clapton’s work on the Unplugged album quite a lot.
 
FNG said:
His Robert Johnson covers are great. Clapton has said that he never could nail blues vocals like BB King or Muddy Waters.
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I shall seek out those Robert Johnson covers 👍
I love to love music.🥰

The British artists paid a valuable contribution to the blues in their distinctive way.
 
his fame and respect was bolstered from his time in the band Cream. that catapulted him to like Beatles/Stones at the time it was going on (which he did not want to be, so he left the band).
It almost didn't matter what he did subsequent to that. His career would have needed to take a major dive, shotly after that, which it did not...to lose his popularity from Cream.

He has what a lot of guitarists actually lack. Can play the entire song by himself, both lead and rythm. He's right up there with Page, Beck, EVH, Steve Stevens, Waddy Watchel, Mike
Houser, etc, all the guys that can really drive the train...deserving of his reputation, if even not somone's favorite.
 
bobouz said:
Along with the British blues bands of the day, similar trails were being blazed in the US by The Butterfield Blues Band & Michael Bloomfield (East-West was a game changer). Those lucky guys could just go downtown to catch Muddy & many others!
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Read a recent analysis of Butterfield Blues Band vs. Clapton Era Blues Breakers. Said a big difference was that Butterfield learned from the originals, often by playing with them, Mayall et al learned from records and did a lot of note for note copies.
 
I remember when I got "Riding with the King" and played it on my way to work. Clapton playing Clapton, usual quality blues. Then one note from the King and my ears were once again reminded why he was B.B. and Clapton wasn't. Just remembered the first time I saw him, Harvard Stadium, 1970, Butterfield (post Bloomfield), James Cotton and BB. They were all on top of their game.
 
To be fair there's not really any bb King I want to listen to after the early 70s either
 
Skywalker said:
I confess to offering this thread rather out of my bewilderment regarding the man’s popular acclaim. In a world of amazing and expressive guitarists, Clapton doesn’t even make it onto the map for me. Technical ability… OK. Soulful or hot blooded expression… No way ! His cover hits of JJ Cale songs are shamelessly lacking in any artistic interpretation. Even his upbeat cover of “After Midnight” is taken from Cale’s first upbeat single.(check it out on YouTube if you haven’t heard it already 👍). Clapton’s albums are great for winding down and signaling the end of a party in my experience. The tediously persistent riff in “Layla” will have people backing out your door like your dog was trying to hump their leg.
While I give him wholehearted credit for his historical roll in bringing electric guitar more to the forefront of Rock&Roll, I can’t help but feel that he left the White Room to wander around being above all a nonevent, typically performing lamely as a guest star and looking like someone has stuck him on a broomstick.

No doubt I will be putting some noses out of joint here, but the truth is…I wish I could find more to appreciate in Clapton, so I’m actually quite eager and open to persuasion…. Honestly I am !😅
Click to expand...
I'd love to hear you trying to do today what he did in 1968, his command of phrasing and major vs minor scales is unparalleled.



Right off the bat, tutor describes the project as "ambitious", well said.



Comments at the top of the comments.

"That second solo has haunted me for the past 55 years. Nice job."

"This was so heavy in 1968 you can’t even imagine it today."
 
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Well , as Jeff beck said , he knows his way around a Stratocaster.
I recall his Phil Collins years, it was ...huh...can't find the words...
I agree EC can be boring and stiff . He kinda became generic in the 1980es, FM radios, Tina and Joe Cocker pasteurized stuff. "You want some rock, open the tap"....
I like that he backed JJ Cale and his genuine appreciation of Cale's music . I'm still trying to nail his licks in "Hideaway". ( "I ain't got you" is fun to play!) The early years are raw and brilliant .(That's what "early years "mean, folks!) Layla is a bit over the top .He should NOT have covered"Little wing".
I steal some his licks now and then, those I can actually figure out..No goosebumps , maybe , no slouch either..
 
Guildedagain said:
I'd love to hear you trying to do today what he did in 1968, his command of phrasing and major vs minor scales is unparalleled.



Right off the bat, tutor describes the project as "ambitious", well said.



Comments at the top of the comments.

"That second solo has haunted me for the past 55 years. Nice job."

"This was so heavy in 1968 you can’t even imagine it today."
Click to expand...

The second solo in the live Crossroads from 1968 is top 5 all time IMO.
 
Shamelessly stealing a joke that I saw posted here, I will say I always felt that Clapton was like coffee, great with Cream.

He was also great with Mayall's Bluesbreakers. But just so so with the Yardbirds, not that he was there long enough to produce a definitive body of work.

I suspect that psychologically damaged by the toxic mess of the Jack Bruce-Ginger Baker vitriolic love-hate/matches-and-gasoline relationship, Clapton, probably suffering some sort of musical PTSD, retreated from the pursuit of virtuosity. It was also the time of The Band's highly influential scam in which a group of highly proficient and experienced killer musicians pretended that they were amateurs in an effort to capture an authentic Rootsy sort of feel. Clapton, failing to notice The Band's cleverly disguised virtuosity, was seduced and distanced himself further from his own virtuosity.

Then came the wasted years of opioid and alcohol induced haze all through which his strong underlying competence allowed him to produce a string of proficient and financially successful, radio friendly Pop/Rock albums. In retrospect, these seem comparatively dull now, highly proficient, but dull. I believe that Clapton, himself, has said that he does not like listening to them anymore because he can hear how drunk he was.

If you want to see how great he was/is/can be, watch the Cream re-union DVDs. All the musicians present, Bruce, Baker, and Clapton are better than they were originally, more disciplined, more focused, more technically accomplished, and not stoned or drunk out of their minds.
 
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