EPHEMER A M AGA ZINE

NOVEMBER 2015

CROSSROA DS: CL A P T ONS COMEBACK

EPHEMER A M AGA ZINE

ALL THE ORIGINAL BLUES GUYS

WHEN
ARE GONE, YOU START TO REALIZE
THAT SOMEONE HAS TO TEND TO THE
TRADITION. I RECOGNIZE THAT I HAVE
SOME RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP THE
MUSIC ALIVE, AND ITS A PRETTY
HONORABLE POSITION TO BE IN.

Eric Clapton, 2015

37 EPHEMER A .COM

It's Clapton's by far most original interpretation of the blues,

since the hellhounds on his trail had a face: unrequited love. But
Clapton's guitar playing is still terrific. The thing is, he had seven
years of the most extraordinary, historic guitar playing ever and 40
years of doing good work. Clapton wanted to work with record producer Glyn Johns because he thought John's produced great work
with famous groups like The Rolling Stones and The Eagles and
understands how to work with both British and American musicians.
While in the studio with Johns, Clapton notes that the A-list producer
was very disciplined and disliked jamming, because it would kill important recording time. Although Clapton and his band were either
drunk or stoned nearly all the time when recording, Johns liked
Clapton's work and brought out the absolutely very best in every
musician. Layla was, for me, the last time everything the singing,
songwriting and guitar playing were all at the same high intensity
level. It's Clapton's most original interpretation of the blues, had
seven years of the most extraordinary, historic guitar playing ever
and 40 years of doing good work. Clapton wanted to work with
record producer Glyn Johns, because he thought Johns produced
great work with famous groups like The Rolling Stones and The
Eagles and understands how to work with both British and American

For his encore at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night,

Eric Clapton reconvened all four of the guitarists he had brought
on as guests in the show for a climactic tear through High Time We
Went, the Joe Cocker song. Their solos ran down the line, brief but
full of distinguishing traits: shapely but biting for Doyle Bramhall
II; ecstatic but measured for John Mayer; flinty and raw for Jimmie
Vaughan; fluid and singing for Derek Trucks. But there was no solo
by Mr. Clapton, who stood off to one side with a Fender Stratocaster, facing the others at times like an encouraging scout leader.
He radiated satisfaction and security, basking in the warmth of a
guitar-centric brotherhood and his exalted place in it. Why spoil
all that with his own exertion? Doesnt a gracious host let others
do most of the talking, even as he takes his seat at the head of the
table? Mr. Clapton had a commemorative hook for this show, and
for an all-but-identically plotted one in the same arena on Friday.
He turned 70 in late March; these were his only tour dates before
a series of concerts in the coming weeks at the Royal Albert Hall
in London. Thank you for coming out and helping me to celebrate
this wonderful birthday, he said at the top of the encore, in the
evenings single nod to the occasion.

38

CROSSROADS
CLAPTONS COMEBACK

CLAPTON HAS BEEN OUT OF

THE LIMELIGHT FOR YEARS;
W H E R E H A S H E B E E N , A N D
IS HE HERE TO STAY?

by James Rodgers
31 EPHEMER A .COM NOVEMBER 2015

32

EPHEMER A M AGA ZINE

NOVEMBER 2015

CLAPTONS ODYSSEY

ith a long history of brilliant

guitar playing, Eric Clapton is
by far the most important and
influential guitar player that
has ever lived, is still living or ever will live.
Do yourself a favor, and don't debate me on
this. Before Clapton, rock guitar was the Chuck
Berry method, modernized by Keith Richards,
and the rockabilly sound Scotty Moore, Carl
Perkins, Cliff Gallup popularized by George
Harrison. Clapton absorbed that, then introduced the essence of black electric blues: the
power and vocabulary of Buddy Guy, Hubert
Sumlin and the three Kings B.B., Albert and
Freddie to create an attack that defined the
fundamentals of rock & roll lead guitar. Intellectually, Clapton was a purist, although there
was little evidence of it in the beginning. He
supercharged every riff he knew, even things I
remember as note-for-note tributes, like Freddie King's "Hide Away," on John Mayall's Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton. When he soloed, he
wrote wonderful symphonies from classic blues
licks in that fantastic tone, with all of the resonance that comes from distortion. You could
sing his solos like songs in themselves.

33 EPHEMER A .COM

Layla was, for me, the last time everything

the singing, songwriting and guitar playing
were all at the same high intensity level. It's
Clapton's most original interpretation of the
blues, because the hellhounds on his trail had
a face: unrequited love. But Clapton's guitar
playing is still terrific. The thing is, he had
seven years of the most extraordinary, historic guitar playing ever and 40 years of
doing good work. Clapton wanted to work
with record producer Glyn Johns, because
he thought Johns produced great work with
famous groups like The Rolling Stones and
The Eagles and understands how to work with
both British and American musicians. While
in the studio with Johns, Clapton notes that
the A-list producer was very disciplined and
disliked jamming, because it would kill important recording time. Although Clapton and his
band were either drunk or stoned nearly all
the time when recording, Johns liked Clapton's
work and brought out the absolutely very best
in every musician.

Given the choice between

accomplishing something and
just lying around, Id rather
lie around. No contest.
-C l a p t o n o n h i s r e c e n t h i at u s

CLAPTON &
JOHN MAYER
AT MADISON
SQUARE GARDEN
EARLIER THIS
YEAR

CROSSROA DS: CL A P T ONS COMEBACK

EPHEMER A M AGA ZINE

ERICS BLUES:
SLOWHAND AT 70

or his encore at Madison Square Garden

on Sunday night, Eric Clapton reconvened
all four of the guitarists he had brought on
as guests in the show for a climactic tear
through High Time We Went, the Joe Cocker
song. Their solos ran down the line, brief but full
of distinguishing traits: shapely but biting for Doyle
Bramhall II; ecstatic but measured for John Mayer;
flinty and raw for Jimmie Vaughan; fluid and singing for Derek Trucks. By all other measures, notwithstanding the guests, the show was business as
usual for Mr. Clapton, whose mature performance
style has always suggested a master clinician more
than a showman. His band is stocked with longtime
associates who excel at laying firm bedrock, like
the bassist Nathan East and the drummer Steve
Gadd. A pair of background singers, Michelle John
and Sharon White, bolstered Mr. Claptons choruses, while Chris Stainton fleshed out the bands
sound on piano. Paul Carrack did some stirring
work on organ, and he took a soulful vocal
lead on a couple of songs, High Time
We Went and another Cocker staple, "You Are So Beautiful.Mr. East
stepped out front in a two, taking
Steve Winwood's lead vocals on
the Blind Faith song "Can't Find My
Way Home."

THE SHOWS
GUEST MUSICIANS
TAKE A FINAL BOW

Mr. Clapton drafted his set list as a pledge of allegiance: His own songs formed a minority amid covers
of his blues totems, including Bo Diddley, Johnny Moore,
Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters. But because Mr. Clapton has been traveling this road so long, those borrowed
blues also qualify as beloved fixtures of his catalog. Two
of his best moments came on a pair of Robert Johnson
tunes he has memorably recorded: Crossroads, with
winningly gruff singing and a stomping cadence; and Little Queen of Spades, with lapidary guitar interjections
over a slow, circuitous triplet beat.

Clapton celebrating his 70th birthday at MSG

Elsewhere, Mr. Clapton took what felt like a dutiful
tour through his hit parade, blazing through Bob Marley and the Wailers I Shot the Sheriff and bringing a
more unfortunate lite-reggae lilt to his ballad Tears in
Heaven. He played Layla in an arrangement similar
to the one on his 1992 album Unplugged, but with a
more unpredictable and expressive acoustic guitar solo.
Wonderful Tonight was warmed-over treacle, and an
inconvenient reminder of the constriction that age has
imposed on Mr. Claptons voice.

34

CROSSROADS:
CROSSROADS:CL
CLAP
APTONS
TONSCOMEBACK
COMEBACK

I AM VERY

MUCH AN
EMOTIONAL
WRITER. I DONT
REALLY KNOW
HOW TO TELL
STORIES OR MAKE
SOCIAL COMMENTS
ABOUT THE STATE THE
WORLD IS IN OR EVEN TO
HAVE ANY IDEA OF HOW
TO SUGGEST ANYTHING
THAT WOULD BE BETTER
YOU NOW. I HAVE TO BE
NAKED AND I HAVE TO BE
VULNERABLE AND I HAVE
TO LET THINGS AND I
HAVE TO LET MYSELF
FEEL ANYTHING.

CLAPTON, 2013
35 EPHEMER A .COM

EPHEMER
EPHEMERAAMAGA
MAGAZINE
ZINE

CREAM, THE YARDBIRDS, BLIND

FAITH, DEREK & THE DOMINOES;

70 years of rock, blues and guitar stances

ric Clapton turns 70 today. He has been

acclaimed as a guitar hero since he first
surfaced on the burgeoning London blues
rock scene in the early Sixties with the Yardbirds and the Bluesbreakers. By 1967, an anonymous
graffiti artist coined the phrase Clapton Is God. He
has been a global guitar legend for over fifty years.
But just how good is he really? Not being a virtuoso
myself, i decided to try it. But Clapton was slightly
ahead of the curve. And no one reason may have to do
with his ne fanatical blues purism. Clapton was playing
guitar from thirteen and the first music he fell in love
with was American blues. A young middle class boy, he
had a record player, and spent his time recording.

If think if you really love the music youll start to

express it your own way. Its almost impossible not to."
All these different guitarists would have their famous
five licks, and Clapton. He mastered those early blueprints to perfection, so he had a dozen licks, then two
dozen, and he would link them all up on the pentatonic
blues scale in ways that gave him almost unlimited
twists and wiggles, played utterly heroically, I think.
With a history of alm If there is a guitarist who the rock
world universally acknowledges as number one, it is
not Clapton, how seeking out obscure imported vinyl to
learn from. Claptononce explained to me. "You had to
consciously steer a path towards black soul or blues.
And then something happens.

THE ERIC CLAPTON GUITAR STANCE SPECTRUM

Unsurprisingly,he can be very languid but when

he wants to step it up, he channels some kind of thug
mentality, hes got such fury but his deep understanding of scales means he can play his way out of
any tight corner. Hes pretty sodding fantastic. What
gives Clapton a unique place in history, however, is his
timing. "And then something happens. If you do your
work and do your best to carry the burden of the past
and the fellowship of the blues, so you know youve
done all your research and youve studied everything
you can, All these different guitarists would have their
famous five licks.

If ever. Jimi Hendrix appeared on the London

scene in late 1966, and by all accounts his sudden
emergence really shook Clapton's confidence. "You
never told me he was that good!" a chain smoking
Clapton complained to Hendrix's manager Chas Chandler after the American prodigy jammed with Cream
at Regent Street Polytechnic If there is a guitarist ly
acknowledges as number one, was that good!" a chain
smoking Clapton complained to Hendrixs manager
Chas Chandler after the American prodigy jammed with
Cream at Regent Street.

36