I’m going to jump around a bit here and cover his solo career second and then Derek & The Dominoes last so excuse me for the historical gap, though his solo career did begin before The Dominoes. However, the song I’m covering comes way after that period – almost a decade and a half.

For being just one man, Clapton’s solo career can probably be described as the definition of eclectic to some. What do I mean by that? Well, think of it this way: a band like The Beatles had four people with different musical tastes all giving input; Clapton’s one man. Get it? The blues roots are there and prevalent in everything he did, but the musical genres those roots allow him to cross are staggering. Skiffle, rockabilly, pop, country, soul, reggae, et cetera; in the last post when I was referring to all his genres, most of them can be found here. Whereas Cream was psychedelic rock rooted in blues, The Yardbirds were blues-rock, Blind Faith was progressive blues, and Derek & The Dominoes were southern blues rock; Clapton’s solo career covered all of that and more. Why bring this up? Well, do you know how hard it is to pick out your favorite song or album from just one band doing one genre (a la Cream)? Imagine how hard it is to pick out your favorites for such variety.

Eric Clapton, 461 Ocean Boulevard, Slowhand, Money And Cigarettes; these albums are some of his best work and some of the best albums ever, but each is so varied. His self-titled keeps the soul-rock that he just immersed himself in with Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett (didn’t hurt that they helped produce) like the hit “After Midnight” as well as the funky “Bad Boy.” 461 showed the heroin-free Clapton with an extremely stripped down sound which is really evident in his cover of “Willie And The Hand Jive” and his only original on the album “Let It Grow.” Following the intense Layla sessions, this is a huge contrast, but also very symbolic. Then we had the extremely polished and insanely accessible album Slowhand which is most well known for the hits “Cocaine” and “Wonderful Tonight,” but also had one of his best southern jams in “The Core” and an angelically soothing instrumental piece “Peaches & Diesel.” Finally, Clapton seemed like he wanted to get back to some blues foundations and utilizing his guitar way more (the presence of Ry Cooder probably helped this, but will discuss that in the finale of the chronicles) for his album Money And Cigarettes. This album was the first for him since he quit alcohol. When he quit heroin, we got an insanely laid-back album. When he quit alcohol, he must have decided his guitar-leading tracks were really it for him. This album produced the track I’m going to talk about, but I’d be remiss to not to mention the personal attack of “The Shape You’re In,” the rock nostalgic that defined him in “I’ve Got A Rock N’ Roll Heart,” and the extremely driving Clapton anthem “Ain’t Going Down.” I will say that I skipped a bunch of albums here and there, especially some good ones like Backless, and we’re going to stop here instead of going on to his Phil Collins-era and his great album Journeyman, but go ahead and check out “Forever Man” and if you’ve never heard “Tears In Heaven,” now is a good time. The man’s been at it since 1970 with solo stuff; I had to draw a line somewhere!

All those songs I mentioned are among my favorite Clapton songs as is this next one. I can’t really pick it out of the bunch and say I like the most though, but it definitely does show up a lot when I go through my Last.fm playing history. “Pretty Girl” is a song from Money And Cigarettes that really exemplifies Clapton’s ability to make a great, slow, love ballad while keeping his guitar at the forefront. Written for his wife Pattie Boyd (the ultimate rock muse), it basically talks about a man’s wife, all she’s done for him, and his feelings towards her. Pretty straight-forward love ballad, but spectacularly memorable all the same. Musically, the guitar line is a fairly common trick of breaking down chords, but the use here sets the tone wonderfully. The simple riff during the chorus, to me, sums up how simple the message of the song truly is. Then there’s the fabulous guitar solo which does more to speak of the girl’s beauty than Clapton’s voice ever could. It really follows the same formula of “Wonderful Tonight” with using the swooping guitar to send a message of love, but it’s definitely more effective here. I will say that it lacks that instantly recognizable guitar riff, but more than makes up for it in all other categories.

Song: Pretty Girl
Artist: Eric Clapton
Album: Money And Cigarettes
Year: 1983

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Now, where we were? Favorite bands and artists? Well, we’ve covered Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante, The Beatles, The Who, The Clash, and Little Richard. Who else is there to cover? Well, maybe three to four more and sadly, the one we are going to cover today might take a while to cover.

Eric Clapton.

Really, I could get away with just that, but just writing about Clapton sends me through a gamut of musical emotions as I play back the hits he’s put out over the years so indulge me for five minutes. The Yardbirds, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Cream, Delaney & Friends, Blind Faith, Derek & The Dominoes, and his successful solo career; there’s a wealth of material here that is really untouched by 99% of musicians out there. As well as being overly abundant, it’s also amazingly varied. Blues, psychedelic, progressive, southern rock, country, reggae, pop, rockabilly; in most of these cases, Clapton was at the forefront for these emerging genres. For others, he was the first to get the word out in a big way for it such as reggae with Bob Marley & blues with Robert Johnson. Even his step-in roles for other bands jump out immensely. I mean, I listed Bluesbreakers and Delaney and those were really just minor stints with the band & look what it did for them: Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton, easily one of the best blues-rock albums out there. If we were to look for just one-off shots with bands, go no further than “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with The Beatles.

I’ve been following the pattern of my favorite artists here by talking about them, talking about my favorite album, and then giving my favorite song. While I’m going to do that with Clapton, I would be very lazy to just pick one song especially when he was really part of bands that were entities among themselves, not just driving forces for Clapton. Honestly, the material put out by The Yardbirds, Cream, Derek & The Dominoes, and his solo career are so vastly different that I doubt you could even play them together on some radio stations. So I’ll split Clapton up into three parts covering my favorite three moments of his career. Sadly, I’ll be overlooking some things like The Yardbirds and Blind Faith, but very quickly I’ll just throw some words down. The Yardbirds were the definitive blues band to me. Just for Five Live Yardbirds, they will always hold a spot in my heart. Check out that album or just listen to “Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl” (blistering Clapton solo). Jumping further, I just love Blind Faith. Only one album deep in material, but I can listen to it all day long. Influence and importance really not that much in hindsight, but Clapton working with Winwood did churn out a lot of good material & kept the Cream ball rolling a little for those missing it. I absolutely adore “Had To Cry Today” not only for Clapton’s complex, yet simple guitar work, but Winwood’s blistering vocals which always has me singing along like I’m auditioning for Traffic. Both great so check them out. With those out of the way, let’s talk about the band that really cemented Clapton’s name: Cream.

By the point in time of Cream, Clapton was recognized as one of the best, if not the best, guitarists in the world. Jimi Hendrix hadn’t hit big yet and Clapton was the one to hold the prized crown for guitarists so much so that someone famously spray-painted “Clapton Is God” on a subway wall. He had left The Yardbirds because of their recording the pop song “For Your Love” and, in his eyes, abandoning blues. He went to the Bluesbreakers, but felt Mayall was confining to a degree. Clapton needed a change and he got it when he met famed drummer Ginger Baker (one of my personal favorite drummers). Baker got the idea of a super-group (the first) of extremely talented & respected musicians and Clapton readily agreed as long as Jack Bruce came in too. Bruce, a talented bassist, & Baker were in the Graham Bond Organisation together and definitely didn’t get along to the least, but they still all came together to form a band. Of course, the Baker & Bruce feud (with Clapton mediating) would ultimately lead to the band’s undoing. It would even make The Beatles bickering minor as Baker would turn up his bass amp so loud as to deafen Baker who still has permanent damage in his ear. But for a short time, the world had its band with the “cream of the crop” in each instrument. Cream was born. Starting with blues rock first, they slowly, but surely changed to psychedelic music and put out music that would define the late 60s musically such as “Strange Brew.” Their blues roots were always there though like with the Robert Johnson cover of “Crossroads” which still marvels guitarists to the day.

It was their second album that really did push the boundaries of their blues-rock foundation. Disraeli Gears in 1967 was really their breakthrough album as it contained their most famous song, “Sunshine Of Your Love.” While still containing some blues marks on it, it was really the psychedelic push that defined it which started even as you looked at the album cover. When first getting into the band, this was the album I played on repeat constantly. Cryptic songs like “We’re Going Wrong,” fun British songs like “Mother’s Lament,” and one of their best songs in “Tales Of Brave Ulysses” (which of all the links here, click that one); the material on this album was defining for Cream in my eyes. Yes, it was great to get blues music on the last album and I do love their cover of Spoonful, but where they took blues music was amazing and definitely a precursor to where Led Zeppelin would go. Remember this: while John Bonham was celebrated for “Moby Dick,” Cream had released a similar song years earlier on their first album entitled “Toad” which definitely has better drumming to me. Yes, I know; second time I’ve trashed his playing on it. On point though, with eleven great songs, I never can bring myself to skip even if I’m late, Disraeli Gears has it all for this Cream fan here.

There is one song on this album that summed up everything I loved about Cream and that’s the one I’m going to give to you guys here though. While I love “I Feel Free,” “Sunshine Of Your Love,” “Tales Of Brave Ulysses,” “White Room,” & “NSU,” it really was this song that had everything for Cream in one song for me. “SWLABR“. You can’t even say it it’s that good! Clapton’s driving guitar riff with solo licks that seem to hover in the air above it like it’s guarding the song’s very well-being. Bruce’s catchy, yet ambiguously confusing (it stands for she was like a bearded rainbow) lyrics that come out of his mouth in such a roar that it’s almost leading the song to starts & stops. Baker’s little fills that fit in perfectly between each section & Clapton’s licks. I adore this song and it really is the song I look forward to as soon as the record is on. I hope you love it too so check it out below:

Song: SWLABR
Artist: Cream
Album: Disraeli Gears
Year: 1967

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