The E.C. defense:
Want proof Clapton was truly great?-- not "god"... (that was Jimi, even Eric admitted! Beck, Gilmour, Santana, & Lifeson were better too)... You must follow your ears to the right evidence!
You have to listen to the right/ best E.C. stuff! Yes, he was very inconsistent, & later commercial/ boring... but his best stuff is as good as anybody's except Jimi:
--"Layla (and other Love Songs)"... One of the 10- best studio albums ever-- simple! (& thankfully it's a double- album!). Amazing/ stupendous/ untouchable!! True, Duane Allman contributed equally as Eric... but whether he was "on the stuff" during the sessions or not, Eric's playing there was mind- blowing too! (never "sloppy!" Master blues- rock guitar, totally heartfelt & soulful... electric & acoustic). Very easy to pick out Erics' leads from Duanes' slide: please listen & judge for yourself. Huge credit too to Carl Radle, Jim Gordon & Bobby Whitlock-- all All- stars themselves!! (bass, drums & keyboards/ vocals, respectively)...
--"Disraeli Gears" and "Wheels of Fire"-- the Cream works most mean, when they say Cream was among the best bands ever! (IMHO they blew away the Beatles if what turns you on is instrumental brilliance, & poetic/ "psychedelic" themes/ lyrics... So many killer cuts/ Eric riffs just from these two records alone: "World of Pain," "Tales of Brave Ullysses," "Deserted Cities of the Heart," "Crossroads," & the solo esp. at the end of "Dance the Night Away!"
-- E.C. (double- live) "Just One Night"... One of the "top-3" Live guitar/ rock albums ever!!
You won't get past the first cut ("Double Trouble") without agreeing E.C. is surely a "top- 5" rock- guitarist all- time! In fact, if you're like me you'll play that track 5 times before continuing on to the rest of the album!
Pretty much all E.C.'s other work, esp. solo albums were forgettable... except every now and then an awesome song or two would appear among 6-8 other weak/ filler ones... among these were: "Let it Grow" and "Mainline Florida" from "461 Ocean Bvld"... "Let it Rain" from "E.C."... and "See What Love Can Do" & "Just Like a Prisoner" from 1987's great "Behind the Sun" solo effort (w/ Phil Collins on 3 songs-- killer drums on "Just like a Prisoner")...
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