Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
by Derek & The Dominos

Great band cutting loose, recorded badly but what can you do. Even if you're sick of the title song, the first three sides are great for just hearing Clapton and Jim Gordon and all these guys doing their thing.

Bobby Whitlock, of course, is the piano player and second singer on this album. If you go to YouTube and find his channel, he has in the last few months been doing a bunch of little talks sitting at a table with his wife, reminiscing about this album and All Things Must Pass especially, and his encounters with other rock stars, everybody from Keith Moon to Elvis. He has many, many stories and thoughts about this album, he's been putting up a video nearly every day recently; highly recommended.

He responds to comments sometimes, but I don't have the guts to ask him how he feels about the sound quality of the thing. The legendary producer Tom Dowd gets lots of respect, deservedly so for much of his other work. But this is a great album for the playing, not for the sound, which is famously bad. One thing Whitlock did take exception to was Dowd saying in his memoirs that they had run dry of inspiration after the first three songs and then Duane Allman came in and energized everything. Whitlock said that was totally false and is angry that Dowd wrote it and made it history. Anyway, in addition to being a natural born musician, he's a good storyteller and you might want to check out his channel.
(Edited)

‘Layla’ is an extremely raw album with minimal production and a loose, laid back feel. It is also an emotionally raw album with Clapton’s soul laid bare. He was in turmoil during this period with personal problems involving Patti Boyd, then George Harrison’s wife, running like a thread through the album. He was also indulging in heavy drugs, which would result in heroin addiction and a personal rejection of his ‘guitar God’ status.

Despite these difficulties the playing is exceptional with Clapton being spurred on to greater heights by Duane Allman’s sublime slide guitar playing. The two join together effortlessly throughout the album and the extended jams are a joy.
(Edited)

When this album was released, it was trashed, except for praise for the title track. Years later, it was reappraised as Clapton's greatest album. I don't agree with either of these views.

The former seems like it was expressing disappointment in Clapton not recreating Cream. The latter seems like it was taking the amazing story behind the album and trying to blend that with what is actually heard on the album, inflating it to a legendary status that it clearly does not deserve. The album is indeed very good, but it is not the legendary magnum opus that so many people claim it to be; at least that is my view, and I'm trying to be as objective as possible.

I believe this is an album of OK songs with no memorable melody or lyrics. However, the playing is so good, that it pushes this batch of OK songs up to a very good level, making the album a strong showcase of musicianship.

The title track, which stands apart from my thoughts listed above, is far and beyond anything else on the album; a true classic song that is consistently played on the radio to this day. However, this might have something to do with the multiple authors of the song (including some people who are not credited).

Also, for some reason, sides 1 and 2 have a distinctly different sound than sides 3 and 4.

The album is worth one listen, but not over and over again, in my opinion. 9/10! (Edited)

From Jasonconfused TOP 100 COMMENTER 11/14/2012 19:49 | #55008 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I truly believe this is the greatest love album ever. Arguably Clapton's greatest work. And Duane Allman's contribution cannot be described in words. RIP Duane! A complete masterpiece. Bell Bottom Blues is a tearjerker. (Edited)

A school mate lent his vinyl copy to me some thirty years ago and I was blown away back then, listening to it on a fairly low quality 'music centre'. So after all those years I have bought my own mint vinyl copy and am listening to it through decent audio kit! It is in my opinion, the best work Eric Clapton turned out, much as I like his Cream work and 461 Ocean Boulevard, this album has tremendous 'feeling' and is a classic blues rock masterpiece. (Edited)