Eric Clapton

"Bet you didn't think I knew how to rock and roll ..." Well, to tell you the truth, Eric, we
had begun to wonder. What with all the running around you've been doing of late, we'd
begun to worry that you'd become just another studio musician, hobnobbing with the rich
and famous. After all, overexposure to Leon Russell has been known to turn some people
into wind-up tambourine-beating rocknroll dolls. But no. Even though it's a "supe... More >

One great r&b instrumental ("Slunky"), two tracks that deserve classic status ("After Midnight" and "Let It Rain"), two that don't ("Bottle of Red Wine" and "Blues Power"), and well-played filler. I blame a conceptual error, rather than Clapton's uncertain singing, for the overall thinness. As a sideman, Clapton slipped into producer Delaney Bramlett's downhome bliss as easily as he did into Cream's blues dreamscape, but as a solo artist he can't simulate Delaney's optimism. I mean, a party song called "Blues Power" from a man with a hellhound on his trail? (Grade: B)