Eric Clapton

A collaborative effort with Bob Dylan and the Band, No Reason To Cry has the great "Hello Old Friend," as well as a bunch of songs that sound more like the Band than Eric Clapton. It probably works better in theory than in practice, but this is still a decent effort.

With No Reason to Cry, Eric Clapton has left the Miami studio where he recently fashioned,
from blues, gospel and reggae, one of the most personal and convincingly haunting sounds
around. The new album was made in Los Angeles with predictable results: the carefully
sculpted, spiritual style of Clapton and his band has been replaced by a series of musical
formulas. Southern California cannot be indicted for Clapton's failure, and there'... More >

A well-made, rather likable rock and roll LP that shows more pride and joy than the standard El Lay studio product, probably because the characters here assembled don't do this kind of thing all that much. The words are trite but the singing is eloquent and the instrumental signature an almost irresistible pleasure. But what does it all mean? (Grade - B-)