[Today: Laying in the groove with Eric Clapton...]
Eric Clapton disappeared from public view for three years, beginning shortly after the 1970 release of the album Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs with pseudonym band Derek & The Dominos. During that time Clapton played one concert (George Harrison’s Concert For Bangladesh), gave no interviews, and developed an addiction to heroin. Pete Townshend was able to coax him out of seclusion for the January 1973 show that would become Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert, but it was with the 1974 release of 461 Ocean Boulevard that Clapton re-established himself as a star of the first order.
The band on this album isn’t the most talented group of musicians that Clapton ever played with, but they get locked into a solid groove early and don’t let go. The lack of showboat solos put some reviewers off, but Clapton blends in marvelously with the band. As he told Rolling Stone in July of 1974, “That’s what I really like doing — just sitting down with people who play anything and finding the lowest common denominator that we can all groove with and getting something going.”
What they got going was an outstanding mix of covers and originals, including an interpretation of Bob Marley’s ‘I Shot The Sheriff’ that shot to #1, a dirge-like take on Johnny Otis’ ‘Willie And The Hand Jive’ that has become a staple of Clapton Greatest Hits packages, and rearrangements of Robert Johnson’s ‘Steady Rollin’ Man’ and the traditional ‘Motherless Children’ that amount to brand new tunes. But it’s with the originals that Clapton really hits the mark – ‘Mainline Florida’ ‘Let It Grow’ and ‘Give Me Strength’ toe the line between mellow and weary, and sound like confessional slices of his state of mind at the time.
461 Ocean Boulevard was an essential album for me during college. I passed on a $2.95 LP copy that my roommate Jonesy promptly scooped, and over the next thousand-or-so listens, he never failed to remind me how much I’d dropped the ball. I’m just glad he didn’t, and I got to live around this album during those years. I finally got my own vinyl copy shortly after college (for $1.95 – take that Jonesy!), but this album will always remind me of sitting in the sunshine, sipping a beer and shooting the breeze.
Listen: Steady Rollin’ Man
Listen: Mainline Florida
Tags: 461 Ocean Boulevard, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Johnny Otis, Jonesy, Robert Johnson, University of Oregon
14 January 2009 at 2:10 pm |
a common comment among all responses to your zappa post was “i guess i don’t get it.”
eric clapton is one of those artists for me, and albums like this are why. this album puts me to sleep faster than the final round of the British Open.
can somebody clue me in?
14 January 2009 at 6:04 pm |
Great album.
And if memory serves me right, I believe the I Shot The Sheriff was recorded in 1 take and after Clapton had only just listened to the song a few times.
Going on my t-table right now.
It’s true: Clapton is God.
15 January 2009 at 12:34 pm |
This is better appreciated on vinyl in my opinion. The songs are perfectly grouped for an album-side listen.
19 January 2009 at 10:42 am |
Ahh those trips to the House of Records. If I’m not mistaken you brought home Decade that day, so it was a pretty successful day all around.
When I listen to this album I always imagine Clapton alone on a beach with his guitar. The music coming from my speakers is the finished mix that Clapton hears in his head as he sings quietly to himself.
Thanks for the memory Dan.
By the way I paid $1.95 for my copy. Ha!
28 January 2009 at 11:21 am |
Foiled once again by Jonesy!
461 and Neil Young’s Decade were key albums during college. Epic day at the House Of Records…