The entire Eric Clapton discography is hard to really be separated into any distinct eras half the time.
Many people might remember when he transitioned into becoming a singer-songwriter or the acid freakouts that he got up to with Cream, but for ‘Slowhand’, he was merely a musical troubadour working his way through whatever musical genre that he fit in with. But even throughout a lifetime of classics, there are bound to be those few records that stand out as true masterpieces.
When talking about Clapton, though, it’s hard to really narrow that down to one distinct section. As much as fans might claim that hearing him working with John Mayall or the Cream days should be considered the highlight of his career, you’re leaving a lot of great music on the table if you consider that the beginning and end of his impact on music. There’s a lot of great music to be found in his later years, and yes, that does include the moments when he delved into adult contemporary music.
A lot of fans coming to him for the licks probably weren’t going to be as interested in a tune like ‘Wonderful Tonight’ or anything, but for anyone getting introduced to his music at this stage, he was blossoming into a decent singer-songwriter. He may have had his fair share of demons throughout his life, but even when he stripped everything down on Unplugged, you could still see why he was a living legend.
He didn’t have all of his effects pedals to help him out, but with one guitar in his hand, tunes like ‘Nobody Loves You When You’re Down and Out’ are as engaging as the riff in ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ or the solo from ‘Crossroads’. But while the acoustic rendition of a tune like ‘Layla’ is absolutely beautiful for what it is, no reinterpretation was ever going to be able to measure up to what Derek and the Dominos did with it.
After all, that version of Clapton was still reeling after falling in love with Patti Boyd, and the one Dominos album may as well have been a cry for help from him. He didn’t know how to function without her, and despite laying down a few of the best songs of his career, getting everyone from Duane Allman to Bobby Whitlock in the supergroup perfectly fit with the emotional power the record needed.
It may be known as one of the most celebrated albums in his catalogue, but ‘Slowhand’ could admit that the public did have a decent point in putting it at the top of their list, saying, “I’m very proud of the one album we made and that song. You never really get used to having ownership of something that powerful, and it still knocks me out every time I play it. It’s almost like I wasn’t in that band. It’s just a band that I’m a fan of.”
If you take the subject matter out of the equation altogether, though, the music is practically telling the story for Clapton half the time. The harmonies on ‘Bell Bottom Blues’ between him and Whitlock are absolutely beautiful, and when Allman takes his slide guitar into the stratosphere on ‘Layla’, it always feels like he’s going through the sound barrier and into your heart.
While Clapton’s eventual marriage to Boyd didn’t end up lasting as long as he hoped, the reason why this album has remained so powerful is because you can hear the raw emotion in there. Hopefully not everyone will have to experience going after their best friend’s wife, but anyone who knows a thing or two about heartache knows these songs like the back of their hand.
