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WHO DOES'NT ENJOY ERIC CLAPTON AWESOME MY RATING 50 STARS
This is no longer just a case of a very untalented hack trying to make a buck, but now borders on offensive. I forever recall a picture of a wall somewhere in England with the words "Clapton is God" scrawled on it. No one will dispute that. However, unless you are a guitar player, no one wants to hear his long winded solo's, particularly the blues derived ones, which is one of his sad fortes. I remember that the picture that I saw had a dog in the corner of it urinating on this wall. That he has absolutely nothing left to say or contribute, but that of course should hardly be revelatory to any of us. Nothing of this kind can be as abhorrent as "his" version of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff". What is EC trying to tell us with this release, half of which is over 30 years old.
Oh wow, this is really kind of embarrassing. When you cover someone's song and go to great lengths to imitate the person, release the sad creation as a single, you are merely trying to make a buck. I've placed "his" in quotations because it can hardly be called his own as his chief goal seems to be to mimick this song to the point in which uninformed listeners might think Marley had an estranged English half brother. I'm sure young Gordon Sumner aka Sting was taking notes. Crapton is just another in the long line of aging British rock stars who plundered, stole, and fed the blues to a white audience without so much as changing a note. He is just another washed up wanna-be, who made his bones on blues derivative rock and roll. 77 people have reviewed this item as if there's anything new to be found. As if this isn't the umpteenth compilation of hits (mostly from the 60's and 70's) by Clapton and his handlers with a view to soaking up yet another dollar from his slavish and somewhat judgment impaired fan base.
It contains of course the obligatory, pitiful "Wonderful Tonight" which I suspect is a much played anthem for married couples trying to reignite the passion of a decaying relationship just before an evening of disappointing sex. Not content to rip off blues alone, Crapton plunges deep in to the heart of Jamaica and brutally assualts reggae as well. There is no point in covering someone's song unless you revamp it, turn it into your own. But the real disgrace is Crapton's pathetic and poorly conveyed Jamaican accent. Blues based rock, blues stolen rock if you will, is the most boring, inane waste of time in music rivaled perhaps only by Crapton's non-bluesy compositions and covers.
Many of them contain a common theme in Crapton's lyrics, that he's been dumped and made to look like a loser and an imbecile (by something other than his music). The object lesson obvious; even a dog shows more intelligence, taste, and judgment than your average Claptonian. As for his orginal compositions, this collection contains all the 70's staples that the myriad others do. It's hard not to feel crapton when you've just handed down your money for something that's more or less identical to 55 other compilation ablums out there, save maybe a few newer songs who I'm sure no one is very interested in anyway. Musically, it is a carbon copy of the original Wailers song.
He isn't any kind of a songwriter, which accounts for the inordinate number of covers he has released throughout his squalid career, many of which were released as singles as I'm sure his handlers advised him he had a much better chance of getting a hit with a carbon copy version of someone else's song than one of his own third rate compositions. As a guitar player, he's quite skilled. When I say blues derivative, I mean ripped off totally.
The caliber of music and the number of tracks keeps you listening for a good car ride. It's everything a Clapton fan would want to listen to.
The packaging is very nice. The LP's were as flat as can be - no warping or cupping. I won't address the content of the collection since that's already been done in most of these reviews.
The vinyl is heavy and quiet. I often have that problem with the new vinyl being produced. I played it on my vintage Pioneer system from the mid-1970's and it sounds great.
I recently received this 4-LP vinyl set from Amazon. The mastering was done at half-speed. I would highly recommend this collection to anyone who listens to vinyl LP's and wants a nice Clapton compilation for their collection.
I was very impressed with this collection on vinyl. The inner sleeves are high quality.
A decade of free form music. It goes something like this: Well Clapton was tired of being labled God and sick of the guitar hero questions. What a waste of talent. This is just a cop-out reasoning for his sell out years.
It is a fact that he is no longer the same guitar player. Not THE GRASSROOTS singing MIDNIGHT CONFESSIONS which is pretty much what this collection of Clapton material reminds me of. About 37 years ago this guy could play the hell out of a guitar. But ever since 'I SHOT THE SHERIFF', it seems that maybe he was hit in the head by a van or a bus. He was tired of dealing with fans who were obsessed with THE YARDBIRDS AND CREAM. After all, do you read the same books you read when you were 30 years younger.
A time of great guitar players. He hasn't played a decent guitar solo since CROSSROADS on WHEELS OF FIRE. The only thing I could compare this with would be the band COOL BLUE. Clapton was great in the 60's. So he found a new style of music to sit easy with. A garage band that tried to play blues and failed endlessly. It is an opinion that some people do not prefer his song writing.
Even songs like LET IT RAIN are sort of southern rock in style and do not represent his talents from within. He took on a singer songwriter role. I have heard the same statement time and time again from fans of his latter material. Music that sounded like THE BAND.
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