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Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers & Almost All Of Layla

Posted by Mark on May 17, 2018
Posted in: Music. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment
allman brothers beacon eric clapton

Playing Key to the Highway. So good.

The Allman Brothers & Eric Clapton

Beacon Theater 2009

Man, the Allman Brothers were great. I’m sorry that I didn’t realize how great they were, before they disbanded. I never saw them live to my shame. Well, if you know the Allmans at all you probably remember that they would have week long residencies at New York’s Beacon theater. During 2009 they were joined by Eric Clapton.

Clapton has been a fan of the Allmans since day one. Duane was in Derek and Dominoes, and the deluxe version that album has a long jam with the Allmans back in 1970. Amazing. The Allmans (to me) are everything the Grateful Dead are said to be.  That’s not a war cry, just an opinion.  I’ve written of my love of them before.

This show is incredible. I am in awe at the level of interplay, and musical genius, are at work here. Clapton fits in perfectly but in no way overshadows. It’s both a testament to the quality of the Allmans, as much as Eric’s. It makes me sad that he (Clapton) never again went for a real tight but loose jam band, after the Dominoes. I get it. Cream was a nightmare of drama and fighting, Blind Faith was also rife with drama (cough… Ginger Baker… cough), and then the Dominoes faded away into heroin addiction, and alcoholism.

On With The Show

SET LIST: 01. Introduction 02. Key To The Highway 03. Dreams 04. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad 05. Little Wing 06. Anyday 07. Layla 08. Ending

As you see there is a decent chunk of the Layla album represented, both (I think), as a celebration and a homage, to Duane Allman, and all that could have been. The beauty of the set is 100% in the Layla vibe, while completely being Derek Trucks’ and Warren Haynes’ 21st Century creation. The old were great in the way that they were back in 1970. There’s no redefining or modernizing.

The rhythm section with two drummers, and a percussionist, is truly key to this performance, and the Allman Brothers Band, as a whole. Jaimoe and Butch Trucks (RIP) deepen the groove, while making the drums sound like one drummer with four arms. I love them. Oteil Burbridge plays bass so deep in the pocket that you don’t notice that he’s the mortar holding all this together.

I LOVE THIS SHOW. Watch it. Listen to it. Keep listening. It’s astonishing good. My word good not good as newspaper word good, so if you’d like a professional review of this set, here’s the original New York Times write up. Enjoy. I hope you like it.

Watch Derek And The Dominos On TV

Posted by Mark on March 14, 2017
Posted in: Music. Tagged: , , , , . 2 comments
derek and the dominos

This was an American band.

Eric Clapton’s Fertile Years

The In Between Years

Derek And The Dominos are an anomaly in the career of Eric Clapton. Everyone knows about Layla, and the story behind it (kinda), but few know the album itself. It’s fucking great. You must listen to it fully.

After the breakup of Cream, and then the formation and immediate dissolution of Blind Faith, Eric Clapton was tired of being Eric Clapton. He was not tired of being addicted to heroin yet, though. He was still all thumbs up on that.

Eric Clapton was only 25 in 1970, yet he had already been famous for 7 years. He was the guitarist of the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream for fuck’s sake. Cream. For that alone he would be in the hall of fame, and that was just one charm on the bracelet. And then Blind Faith which also was huge. Holy Shit. It’s a lot. Eric was a little freaked out being God. He toured with his Blind Faith opening act,  Delaney and Bonnie, where he was fairly anonymous. It’s also where he met up with the fellows who would become the Dominos to his Derek.

Around this time (1970) George Harrison (bosom chum of Clapton) had just left the Beatles and was recording All Things Must Pass, his bestest solo album. It also featured all the other Beatles, just not all together (now), along with a bunch of fucks who would end up being the Dominos. Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, Dave Mason (kinda), and Jim Gordon.  American fellows and exceptional musicians. They had swing, they had that southern Lynyrd Skynyrd shimmy. Seriously, listen to the music on Layla. It is pure Southern swamp. Hell, it could be Muscle Shoals.

Take a look at the above performance on the Johnny Cash Show. They’re tight. They sound great, and it has a country groove to it. Derek & The Dominos kicked ass.

So, where were we? Ah yes, Eric Clapton took George Harrison’s band as his own. That’s not all he took. Wink.

The Longing Of Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton had fallen in love with his best friend’s wife. Pattie Boyd Harrison has had more famous songs written about her than anyone else I can think of. Here’s some off the top of my head:

  • Something
  • For You Blue
  • Layla
  • Bell Bottom Blues
  • Wonderful Tonight

There’s an article about 10 songs about her on Mental Floss, but the ones above are the biggies.

Eric Clapton’s Layla era songs are full of longing, regret, defiance, and conflict. The boy is hurting, but he’s in love. Look at the video below and see that even decades later, there’s still emotion he can tap into. Also, look at what a good singer he became.

Ok. This post has taken forever, over days, so I’m just going to birth this half formed, rather than let it languish in eternal almost done.