The Many Faces Of Eric Clapton

[kenposurf]

Forgot to say Welcome Diane ! Here's a couple from that "unreleased" vid...

[tamborineman]

Welcome Diane.
If I had to pick only one guitarist who has been my major influence, it would be Clapton.
I was assigned his Beano album by the manager of my band back in 1967. I'm still working on it! I also LOVED the Cream era and his work with the Beatles also from the same time period. His more recent stuff, I'm sure, has infuenced some of our younger members in a negetive way but one must remember he was breaking new ground back in the 60's. Forty years later he is still at the top of what has become a very huge and competitive buisness.
Some of his 70's and 80's stuff was very disapointing but despite all his problems he is still with us doing some fine work with the Concert for George, The Guitar Festivals, and his promotion of many Blues roots players. Bravo Eric.

[rickenbrother]

Cream - "Crossroads" Live
Eric, Jack and Ginger at their finest!

[annabella]

Thanks to everyone for your warm welcomes and for posting on this thread. I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts and learning even more about the artist I’ve admired all these years. I enjoyed the video clips as well. Besides the great music, one thing that always intrigued me about Eric Clapton was his ever-changing appearance. While most artists seem to maintain one particular look, Eric found a different style for each phase in his career.

I almost had a chance to see him live back in 1982, but just missed being able to get tickets. I was really disappointed. Some of my favorite songs include: Tales of Brave Ulysses, Crossroads, I feel Free, White Room, Badge, Bell Bottom Blues, After Midnight, Let it Grow and Layla,

Eric Clapton has stood the test of time, and has beaten the odds. He had his hurdles to overcome, but did not self-destruct like so many others in his field. Even after losing his son, he continued to move forward. I think he’s a very strong person, and I hope to hear much more from him in the future.

[shamustwin]

I saw Clapton twice in the early 00's
Once on the bill with Elton John. They did not play together, but it was greatest hits night for both artists.

Clapton was on fire, played about everything I'd have wanted him to play.

I saw him again after he released his blues CD, and it was a night of nothing but the blues. Again he tore it up.

The man is versatile and a virtuoso.

His autobiography is an honest telling. It's good to know he has faced his past demons, and has come through a contented man.

[8mileshigher]

Diane -- congratulations on your appointment to the RRF. Great topic you have chosen.

You and Aitch and a few others mentioned Blind Faith. The fan's web site "Well All Right" is really great. Lots of interesting "trivia" collections and pictures and info about this very short-lived band, in a very unique time in music history when Clapton and Winwood had both quit the bands they were with and struck out to create a new sound. Check it out for some of the many faces of Eric Clapton.


http://www.angelfire.com/wi/blindfaith/

http://www.angelfire.com/wi/blindfaith/bfportal.html


Regards
Rich F.

[annabella]

Very interesting stuff Richard. I enjoyed the website. The album that I had was just a white cover with a pic of the band on the front. I knew of the controversial cover, but I didn't know how it came to be. I think the music was great, and it's too bad the band was so short lived.

[donnellbw]

I saw Cream live in San Francisco at Winterland (the old ice skating rink converted to a music venue). In those days "Dance Concerts" used venues
with no seating, just a bare floor where people could move around and mingle. Usually people were friendly enough to let you get up close to the stage. In this case the stage was a big platform about 6 feet tall set against one side centered on the "50 yd. line".

As they lights went down for the change over to Cream we could hear the road crew actually hammering Ginger Baker's drum set to the plywood
stage deck thinking "THIS is going to be good!"

Cream played like a runaway locomotive at full throttle. Their 3 players sounded like 10 as they interwove together and Jack Bruce's ardent,
plaintive singing drove things nicely. Eric had his "fro" style hair and the technicolor SG just blistering away.

I was somewhat disappointed watching the latest Cream revival in the NYC broadcast. I know they are older, but the tempos were way too
slow, and Eric's "new" sound with the strat and hand-wired Fender amps (vs. the older humbucker Marshall sound) was lyrical, but just too
"thin" for my ears- kind of like a cap gun vs. dynamite.

For me, "Crossroads" played live was, and is, unsurpassed in the "power trio" genre'. At the same time, in watching recent interviews, I appreciate
Eric even more now hearing how he wanted to get Cream together because he felt that musically they had something special, as well as his
work with providing rehab for people with some of the same problems he has had. Talented and generous of heart.

[ben_brown]

Only what he played in Cream for me. I know he was in the Yardbirds, but I like Beck-era Yardbirds better.

Jimmy Page was also a member of the Yardbirds at one point.

[mgauction]

Welcome, Diane! I can hear "Crossroads" countless times and never get tired of it.

[annabella]

Same here Mike; one of my favorites!

[paologregorio]

Only what he played in Cream for me. I know he was in the Yardbirds, but I like Beck-era Yardbirds better.

Jimmy Page was also a member of the Yardbirds at one point.

Don't care much for him either.

At the very least, he ought to be El Kabonged for writing "Stairway to Heaven".
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[lennon211]

My favorite period of Clapton's career is in the mid-late '60's. From the Yardbirds through the Bluesbreakers, into Powerhouse and then Cream. I fell into the Yardbirds through some tracks that I heard from the Jeff Beck era (my favorite period of theirs) and then began to work my way backward to the days before "For Your Love" and found Clapton's contribution to the band. As for Cream, that happened more or less by accident. After enjoying both phases of Clapton it seemed logical to fill in some holes.

For those that don't know, Powerhouse was Eric Clapton with Paul Jones (harmonica) and Jack Bruce (bass) from Manfred Mann, Steve Winwood (vocals) and Pete York (drums) from the Spencer Davis Group, and Ben Palmer on piano. Ginger Baker was supposed to have been a part of it but wasn't available. The sound on Powerhouse is very proto-Cream. After the '60's, there are some songs of Clapton's that I get into but those are fewer and they do seem like they come from a different artist.

[drumbob]

I liked Eric from Mayall to Cream to Derek & The Dominos. When he started playing a Stratocaster, that's when I started losing interest in him. I have seen Eric live four times, and am sorry to say, was disappointed every time. Once, he was so drunk, he couldn't remember song lyrics, and his guitar playing was awful. Fans pelted his limousine with garbage as it drove away. Now, he's become such an established figure, he can do no wrong.

I thought the Cream reunion was a waste of time; three old men who sounded like old men, cashing in for the money. All my friends went, and all of them later had rationalizations about it.

"They weren't great, but it was good to see them again."

"What do you expect? They're older now."

I know 63 year old men who play rock 'n roll with the same fire they did when they were teenagers; The Remains, with all four original members present.

Eric's recent album, Home was totally boring.

Sorry, Mr. Slowhand has been too inconsistent over the years for me.