Slowhand at 75

Eric Clapton turned 75 this week [March 30^th].  It seems like he’s been in the music game forever.  Since he made his first record with the Yardbirds in 1963, for somebody my age it has been forever.  He made his fearsome God-like reputation by the age of 25, and he had all the music from since the days of John Mayall, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek & the Dominos behind him.  Then he fell in love with another man’s wife, fell into a heroin habit and dropped out of sight.  Pete Townshend getting him to play a concert at London’s Rainbow Theatre really was an act of altruism.  That one act alone didn’t awaken EC from his drug-induced fog, but it was a first step.  This week Guitar World magazine did an article on what they thought were the best things he’s done under his own name.  As musically-opinionated as I am, I think half their list is wrong. 

Comin' Home [Delaney & Bonnie w/ Eric Clapton, 1970] – Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett were the opening act for Blind Faith’s only tour of the US.  EC tired of the star trip in Blind Faith and sought anonymity while playing with Delaney & Bonnie.  Even George Harrison went on the road with them in Europe after Abbey Road was finished.  This song was the beginning of EC’s recorded collaboration with the duo.  Good stuff.

Easy Now [Eric Clapton, 1970] – Long before he Unplugged in 1991, EC played this acoustic gem from his solo debut.

Let It Rain [Eric Clapton, 1970] – The solo debut featured players who would become the “Dominos” to EC’s Derek.  This is a song from EC’s solo debut that I will never tire of hearing, unlike Layla or I Shot the Sheriff.  A true story – the first time I saw EC at Red Rocks in 1983, he sang this song an it immediately started raining. He really is God… 😊 By the way, that’s Stephen Stills playing the solo.  EC would later return the favor on Stills’ eponymous debut.

Motherless Children [461 Ocean Boulevard, 1974] – After lying low for three years with a heroin habit, 461 Ocean Boulevard is Slowhand’s comeback record – and it’s a pretty good one.  I overlook I Shot the Sheriff because it’s one of those songs I can go the rest of my life without ever hearing again, and I’d be ok with it.  Motherless Children is a traditional blues that comes storming out of the gate to begin 461 Ocean Boulevard.  It’s a great concert opening number, too [as I saw and heard for myself in 1985 at Red Rocks].  EC is no Duane Allman on electric slide, but he’s good enough here.

Let It Grow [461 Ocean Boulevard, 1974] – This is a love song for the ex-Mrs. George Harrison.  Once you get past the mushy “love is lovely” bit, there’s some fine playing here.  EC plays a very tasty dobro solo.

Steady Rolling Man [461 Ocean Boulevard, 1974] – Look! A Robert Johnson song!  And a very well-done version of a Robert Johnson song to boot.

Mainline Florida [461 Ocean Boulevard, 1974] – Clapton’s second guitarist George Terry wrote this one.  Sometimes it’s best to save your best song for last to have your public wanting more.  This song fits that description.  Check out EC on the talk box.

Better Make It Through Today [There’s One in Every Crowd, 1975] – This song is about as laid back as Clapton could get without being boring.  That said, organist Dick Sims plays a wonderful Hammond B-3 solo.  It’s all about the song and the spirit, and Sims brings it home.

I Found a Love [There’s One in Every Crowd outtake, 1975] – I first heard this on the Clapton boxset Crossroads [1988].  This has more energy than all the songs from There’s One in Every Crowd put together.  That’s probably why it wasn’t included on that album – it would have stuck out too much.

County Jail Blues [No Reason to Cry, 1976] – In 1968, EC heard The Band’s Music from Big Pink, and according to him it changed his life.  He wanted to quit Cream and join The Band.  The problem was The Band already had a pretty hot guitarist [and a better songwriter] named Robbie Robertson.  In 1976, The Band joined him to make No Reason to Cry.  Ron Wood joins the fun with a nasty acoustic slide.  Richard Manuel’s piano adds the right touch; gives the song a more bluesy edge. EC doesn’t sound too bad, either. It’s a fine song on an otherwise forgettable album.

The Core [Slowhand, 1977] – Slowhand’s post-Layla output was usually very laid back.  This song is an exception.  Instead of another guitarist, EC duels with saxophonist Mel Collins.  Twice during this eight-minute workout [3:53-4:46 and 7:29-8:45, if you’re curious] EC reminds us there’s a guitar hero hiding in plain sight.

Mean Old Frisco [Slowhand, 1977] - EC demonstrates he’s a pretty decent acoustic slide player.

After Midnight [Just One Night (live), 1980] – EC has recorded this JJ Cale number three times – once for his solo debut, another time for a beer commercial.  This one recorded live at Tokyo’s Budokan absolutely smokes.

Double Trouble [Just One Night (live), 1980] – This one is a fine Otis Rush blues originally released on No Reason to Cry.  There’s loud and there’s very quiet, thanks to the polite, reserved Tokyo audience.  At times it’s so quiet you can hear Slowhand gently picking Blackie during the solo.  The studio version is good – this version is better.

Cocaine [Just One Night (live), 1980] – This one borders on having been heard too much.  This version from the Budokan is twice the length of its studio counterpart. Both EC and Albert Lee get the chance to stretch out.

Everybody Oughta Make A Change [Money & Cigarettes, 1983] – This blues from Sleepy John Estes sees Slowhand playing with Ry Cooder on slide guitar.  It seems EC doesn’t really push his playing unless somebody like Duane Allman is pushing him.  Since Duane was dead for 12 years by the time this was made, Ry Cooder was a suitable substitute.

The Shape You’re In [Money & Cigarettes, 1983] – Instead of Ry Cooder pushing him, Albert Lee does the honors on this one.  Newly sober, EC had written this as a warning to his wife Pattie, who was a bit of a wino herself then.

Forever Man [Behind the Sun, 1985] – This one is a sentimental favorite.  This was written by professional songwriter Jerry Williams.  The production screams “1980s”, but it has one standout feature; Clapton’s Black Stratocaster “Blackie” had not screamed like this since the Layla era.  When fist hearing this I thought “Eric, where have you been all these years?”

Before You Accuse Me (Take A Look At Yourself) [Version 1] [Blues – 1999] – Eleven years before he released this song on Journeyman, EC recorded two versions [electric and acoustic] for his 1978 album Backless [or as I like to call it, Spineless].  This song is better than anything you’ll find on Backless.  It’s better than the version from Journeyman, too.

Five Long Years [From the Cradle, 1994] – Clapton always claimed to be a blues guitarist.  He always kept one foot in the blues by including at least [at most, usually] one blues song on every album he made.  In 1994 he finally jumped in the deep end and finally mad an album of nothing but the blues.  From the Cradle was recorded live on the floor, but it suffers from one thing – Clapton’s singing.  Some white men [Gregg Allman comes to mind] can sing the blues and convince you he’s living them.  Eric Clapton, English white guy, is not one of them.  That being said, the playing is superb. 

It Hurts Me Too [From the Cradle, 1994] – See my comments for Five Long Years.

Riding With the King (w/ BB King) [Riding With the King, 2000] – There’s no pretense at playing the blues here – just Eric Clapton and BB King getting together on a John Hiatt song and having a great time.  I love it.

If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day [Sessions for Robert J, 2004] – EC actually made two albums dedicated to Robert Johnson – Me and Mr. Johnson and Sessions for Robert J. [both 2004].  Like From the Cradle, these were recorded live.  But this version was caught during a rehearsal for one of EC’s Crossroads guitar festivals.  Bassist Nathan East is caught saying “this sounds better than the record.”  Indeed.

Milkcow's Calf Blues [Sessions for Robert J, 2004] – see my comments on If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day.

I will end my list here.  Slowhand has had some good moments.  Unfortunately for those of us who love his playing, he has nothing to prove.  It’s as if he’s been sleepwalking in Adult Contemporary Hell since he quit heroin.  Most of this list sounded almost too laid back at the time those songs first appeared.  Now, compared to his output since he “unplugged” [he emasculated Layla! - unforgivable], this output between 1974-83 is golden.  He was a drunk then, but his music was better.  Sometimes I miss the old Slowhand.

A post-script – there are two sessions EC did with other people that are just as godly as what he did with Cream and Derek & the Dominos.  One session is well-known – the other is not.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps [The Beatles, 1968] – This is a no-brainer.  Slowhand’s solo is nothing if not iconic.  One never heard soling like this on a Beatles record.  John and/or Paul usually gave George two bars to make a short musical statement, then get out so the singing would resume.  But since this was George’s song, he wanted the other Beatles to take it seriously [they hadn’t, yet].  He didn’t mind having a better guitar player on his song.  Whatever was good for the song was good for George.  Once George brought Slowhand to the studio, everyone was on their best behavior and this song got the attention that it deserved.

Go Back Home [Stephen Stills, 1970] – Stephen Stills’ eponymous album debut has the distinction of being the only studio album [not a compilation] to feature the playing of both Jimi Hendrix [Old Times Good Times] and Eric Clapton [Go Back Home].  Legend has it that Slowhand was warming up while listening to a playback of the song so he could become familiar with the piece before recording.  Unbeknownst to Slowhand, Stills recorded the practice run-through, and when it was over, he said to Clapton “we got it”.  Clapton thought he could do better, but having listened to the final product, Stills’ instinct was the right one. Ordinarily I would say that, nine and a half times out of ten, Hendrix would blow Clapton’s doors off.  But given what Clapton played for Go Back Home and what Hendrix played for Old Times Good Times, I can make the apples-to-apples comparison and I declare Clapton the winner, just this once.

2 Nights with the Allman Brothers Band – Between 1992 and 2014, March meant only one thing to Allman Brothers Band fans – their annual homestand at their home away from home, New York’s Beacon Theatre.  The band usually had guests sit in with them.  In 2009, they dedicated their Beacon run to Duane Allman and their 40^th anniversary as a band.  The band wrote a letter to EC, and Derek Trucks delivered it.  It was simple – “We’re the Allman Brothers Band.  We’re celebrating the legacy of Duane Allman – please come.”  On March 19 & 20, EC joined the Allman Brothers Band.  The songs they played over the two nights included: Key to the Highway/Dreams/Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad/Little Wing/Anyday/Stormy Monday/In Memory of Elizabeth Reed/Layla.  I have both nights – they were beyond great.  When it was all over, EC was heard to whisper to Derek Trucks that he hadn’t played like that since 1969.

Now I’ll leave with a taste of Eric Clapton at his best. This is a clip of him playing a Derek & the Dominos song that didn’t see an official release in completed for until 2010 – Got to Get Better in a Little While

Tony's Guitarist Picks - George Harrison [Part Two]

Beatles recording engineer Geoff Emerick [RIP] wrote a book about his experiences recording with the Beatles titled Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles.  In his book, he made the absurd claim that George Harrison “couldn’t play guitar” simply because it took George awhile to think of guitar parts that would complement the songs of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.  The book was very deferential to Paul McCartney, whom he would always refer to as “Paul”, whereas he would refer to John Lennon and George Harrison as simply “Lennon” and “Harrison”.  Where he still alive, I would have some choice words for Mr. Emerick.  But since he is no longer among the living to defend himself, I’ll simply state that Geoff Emerick was wrong.  Bob Dylan liked George’s musicianship, and was in awe on George’s knowledge of “all those chords”.  Mike Campbell owes much of his style to George Harrison. George Harrison would have been 76 this week.

As I said in Part One of my blog about George as a guitarist, George wasn’t a show-off.  Most of the guitarists that I list as favorites play solos that last longer than most Beatles songs.  That kind of playing was not in George’s toolbox.  He played whatever the songs of Lennon and McCartney required.  What amazed me about George Harrison is that once he wasn’t a Beatle, he became a better guitar player.  I attribute this to Delaney Bramlett.  After Abbey Road was in the can, George [with Eric Clapton] toured England with Delaney and Bonnie & Friends.  It was during this short tour that George learned from Delaney how to play slide.  Unlike most slide players, George’s slide playing didn’t come from the blues.  His playing is unique in that it reflects his love for Indian music.  His slide emulated the Indian sounds he heard in his head and with his heart.  Like his playing with a slide, you can practically sing his slide solos.  As for his other solos, the norm for George would be eight bars, but sometimes he got to stretch out a little bit longer.

Here are my favorite musical moments from George.  Mostly they are guitar solos for the songs of Lennon and McCartney, but others are songs that I like that don’t have any solos at all [you’ll know them when you read them].

I Saw Her Standing There – What a great way to start a recording career.  This song from Paul [with a little help from John] was the first song from the first album, Please Please Me [1963].  By Beatles standards the solo is a long one [16 bars].  More than fifty years after this track was cut, you can still feel the excitement bursting from your stereo speakers.

Don’t Bother Me – This was the first song he wrote [other than any instrumentals].  He said he was sick in bed at a hotel in Bournemouth, and he was doing an exercise to see if he could write a song.  Even George didn’t care for it, but I love it and the solo.  It’s not like The Doors’ Robbie Krieger’s first song [Light My Fire], where the first song he wrote in his life was a #1 hit [where do you go from there?].

A Hard Day’s Night – The iconic chord that introduces the song is the “Big Bang” of the British Invasion.  The sound of the solo sounds lightning fast, but George couldn’t play that fast [not yet, anyway].  He played the solo at half speed and an octave lower.  George Martin doubled the part on piano.  What you hear on the record is tape at twice normal speed.  Once it came to playing live, George got it [the Hollywood Bowl shows are evidence].

You Can’t Do That – The twelve-string riff from this song from John Lennon is George’s.  John plays the solo [a rarity], but George keeps chugging along with the riff.  At the time, 12 string electrics were virtually non-existent.  George was given his by Rickenbacker when the Beatles first came to New York in February 1964 [Remember, Mike Campbell’s first Rickenbacker 12-string came off their assembly line right after George’s].

 

Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby – George Harrison was the Beatles’ Carl Perkins guy.  At one time before they got signed to EMI, he used the pseudonym “Carl Harrison”. Many English guitar players were influenced by the blues.  George was influenced by rockabilly.  George plays two solos, the second of which is another long one by Beatles standards [24 bars].

Norwegian Wood [This Bird Has Flown] – George introduces the sitar into Western music and finds his musical identity.  ‘Nuff said.

Nowhere Man - This solo is at the top of my list.  This is what a Stratocaster with no effects sounds like.  I still have no idea how he got that “ping” at the end of the solo.

Drive My Car – The idea for the arrangement for this song by Paul McCartney was George’s idea.  He had been listening to Otis Redding's Respect.  He suggested that Drive My Car's bass and guitar parts should play similar lines in an approximation of Redding's bass-heavy sound.  That’s why you have such a unique sound here.  According to George: “We laid the track because what Paul would do, if he's written a song, he'd learn all the parts for Paul and then come in the studio and say, 'Do this.' He'd never give you the opportunity to come out with something. But on Drive My Car I just played the line, which is really like a lick off Respect, you know, the Otis Redding version – and I played that line on guitar and Paul laid that with me on bass. We laid the track down like that. We played the lead part later on top of it.”

If I Needed Someone – After Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark and David Crosby saw A Hard Day’s Night, Roger McGuinn got himself a Rickenbacker 12-string.  George said this track was inspired by the Byrds’ The Bells Of Rhymney.  This was the only George Harrison original [from Rubber Soul] that the Beatles would play live.

Taxman – George’s song that started Revolver, and it’s a great one. George shows off his rhythm guitar chops while Paul lays the lead.  He had some uncredited help from John on the lyrics [And my advice for those who die, declare the pennies on your eye…].  For me, this song was a statement that George could write songs as good as John and Paul.

I’m Only Sleeping – This is John Lennon’s song, but he wanted a backwards guitar solo.  How do you play a guitar solo backwards?  According to Geoff Emerick, it took George six hours to figure out how the notes he would play could be transposed backwards to give the solo a “yawning” feeling.  And he did it a year before Hendrix did it on Are You Experienced?

Let It Be – I have five versions of this song, four of which are completed studio versions, the other is a demo found on the deluxe White Album from last year.  Each studio has a different guitar solo.  The single version is probably the best known of them all [and my favorite of the four].  The second version from the Let It Be album is recorded with a Les Paul, and has a dirty, aggressive sound.  The first and second versions actually have the same basic track, just different solos.  The third version [from Let It Be…Naked] has George playing through a rotating Leslie speaker.  The fourth studio version [from the hits collection 1] is a remix of the first version.  It keeps the solo played on the single, but you can hear elements of the Leslie from the Let It Be…Naked version.

Come Together – This is the last great Lennon Beatles track, which kicks off Abbey Road.  It’s as bluesy and as swampy as the Beatles would ever get.  You don’t hear George until John is halfway through his electric piano solo, but when he makes his entrance he provides a textbook lesson on string bending.  At 3:02, you can hear him doing volume swells on the guitar, followed by more BB King-like soloing as the song fades.

Something - George cut this one live with an orchestra in one take.  As the story goes, there was some much overdubbing of instruments on this song that there was only one track left on the tape, and that was saved for the orchestra.  This didn’t faze George in the slightest.  He said he would play along live with the orchestra, such was his renewed confidence in his abilities.  He nailed the solo in a single take, shredding Geoff Emerick’s claims that George couldn’t play.

My Sweet Lord – This is the first recording where you hear “George Harrison – slide guitarist”.  Phil Spector baked the studio reverb into the recording of the entire All Things Must Pass album, and it gives this song and others a HUGE sound.  Not only was there a big 12-string guitar sound, and the Wall of Sound orchestra, George overdubbed many backing vocals [all those Hare Krishnas] which he dubbed the “George O’Hara Smith Singers”.  Whether or not it was an unconscious rip-off of the Chiffons He’s So Fine, this is a great sounding record.

Isn’t It a Pity – George recorded two versions of this song.  The better-known version appears on the first side of All Things Must Pass.  One word can describe that version – “majestic”.  The other is more of a dirge, which is ok.  The longer version is better. 

Cloud 9 – After laying low for five years [Gone Troppo was done in 1982 before he took a break], George did Cloud 9 in 1987.  The title cut has him dueling guitars with Eric Clapton.  EC does his usual thing but somewhat restrained while George keeps up with him on slide.  Keith Richards describes his rhythm/lead playing with Ron Wood as an “ancient form of weaving”.  EC and George do the same thing on Cloud 9.  This is magical stuff.

When We Was Fab – George kept his Beatles past at arm’s length.  When he finally came to terms with having been a Beatle, he wanted an I Am the Walrus vibe.  And like I Am the Walrus, there isn’t much guitar to be heard, but that wasn’t the point.  I think he captured the Walrus vibe magnificently here.

Handle With Care – Coming hot on the heels of Cloud 9 came the Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1 in 1988.  Warner Brothers wanted a B-side for the single This Is Love [from Cloud 9].  Either he or the record company [I don’t remember which – it’s immaterial] didn’t want the B-side to come from the album.  If you listen to the lyrics of When We Was Fab and Handle With Care, one hears the story that was started on one was continued with the other.  Maybe that’s why I like to hear them back-to-back.   Mike Campbell told the story of how Tom Petty called him to come to the studio to lay down the ending solo for the song.  For whatever reason he couldn’t get it.  George played it himself and nailed it.

Tweeter and the Monkey Man – A Wilburys track, my favorite after Handle With Care.  This hilariously funny homage to Bruce Springsteen was written mostly by Bob Dylan and Tom Petty.  However, there is a nasty twelve-string slide played by George.  His slide part appears throughout the song.  For me, that’s the hook – it starts the song.  Once you’re hooked, Dylan and Petty’s lyrics keep you interested for almost six minutes of fun.

Cheer Down – This was written with Tom Petty for the movie South Pacific [so he said jokingly in Japan].  The last 1:40 is all solos [very “out-of-character” for him], like a guitar duel, only it’s George vs. George.  The world loves a clown…

Lift Me Up – This is the third song from Jeff Lynne’s Armchair Theatre.  That’s George playing the slide solo at the end.

That Kind of Woman – After years of playing hard rock and heavy metal, Gary Moore decided he would be a bluesman.  Gary Moore’s Still Got the Blues came out in March 1990.  George gave him this song and traded solos with Gary Moore.  Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 came out in October 1990.  Gary Moore returned the favor and played the blistering lead guitar on their song She’s My Baby. 

All She Wanted – This from the Electric Light Orchestra’s album Zoom.  It was one of the last things George recorded.

Woman Don't You Cry for Me – This is the first song from 33 1/3, his first album for Warner Brothers on his own Dark Horse label after leaving Apple.  George shows that it is possible for a white Englishman to get funky.

Any Road – “Give me plenty of that guitar…” This is the first thing you hear to start George’s last album, Brainwashed.  I’m a firm believer in “truth in advertising” and George delivers plenty of guitar.  His main axe on this song is a ukulele, over which he plays plenty of slide guitar.  “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there”…very cosmic.

Back Off Boogaloo – This was Ringo Starr’s second single from 1972.  Like It Don’t Come Easy, this too was produced by George.  His slide is all over this one.

I’m the Greatest - For the Ringo album [1973], John, George and Ringo were all on I’m the Greatest with Billy Preston and Klaus Voorman, just one Beatle shy of a full reunion. George played all the fills, and a nasty guitar during the song’s fade-out.

I’ve Got a Feeling – This one is live from the Apple rooftop, January 30, 1969.  John plays the riff while George gets a big sound out of a Fender Telecaster [of all things].  When George enters the song, he makes his presence known immediately. I remember seeing the movie Let It Be, where Paul describes how he wants to hear the lead guitar sound like it's falling off a cliff. I can't remember if it was George or John trying to get what Paul wanted, and one can hear a studio outtake on Anthology 3 where George can't quite get it. But when it came to time play it live on the rooftop, George nailed it.

One After 909 – This one is live from the Apple rooftop recorded in 1969.  It sounds like the guys are having fun.  This is proof that the Beatles could cut it live.  George’s lead playing is flawless.

Octopus's Garden – From Abbey Road, George played the opening riff, and he played another solo in the middle.  This sounds like George’s Chet Atkins influence coming to the fore.

Here Comes the Sun – This song from Abbey Road is one of George’s finest.  It was a spring day in 1969 and George didn’t feel like going to work at Apple one day.  He went to Eric Clapton’s house instead.  Whilst wondering around EC’s backyard, he picked up an acoustic guitar, and this song popped out.  It is one of happiest songs George ever did.  If you’re wondering, he put a capo at the 7^th fret.

Old Brown Shoe - This was the B-side to The Ballad of John and Yoko.  I think it’s the first time one can hear George playing a slide on a Beatles song, but I can’t be sure.  But the solo is a very nimble little exercise played on a Telecaster through a Leslie speaker.  Throughout the song, you can hear the same guitar-bass playing in unison like they did on Drive My Car.

You Never Give Me Your Money – This Paul McCartney song from Abbey Road is his commentary on the Beatles business problems.  It starts as a simple piano melody, then suddenly switches to a faster boogie-woogie part, which is a fondly nostalgic look back at the early Beatle days that describes the magic feeling with nowhere to go.  After a lengthy [by Beatles standards] guitar interlude, then it’s rock city.  John’s holding down the rhythm while George steps on the gas.  You can hear over the repeated chant of "One two three four five six seven, all good children go to heaven" a motif of guitar notes that would later return as the bridge between Carry That Weight and The End.  That chiming, sparkling guitar is all George.

I Want You [She's So Heavy] – John Lennon played a rare lead on this song, with George providing the fills. But after you hear John’s final “she’s so…” then begins the long playout with a massive guitar wall of sound with many guitar parts played by both John and George.  The Moog synthesizer starts off like a wind in the distance and then becomes a hurricane with the John/George guitar wall of sound.  The listener is lured into a trance until the music suddenly stops, snapping the listener out of the trance.  It’s still a mind-blower for my kids.

Gimme Some Truth and How Do You Sleep? – Gimme Some Truth from John’s Imagine album first appeared during the Beatles Let It Be sessions.  Resurrected for Imagine, this song has elements of the Phil Spector “wall of sound” [he co-produced with John & Yoko].  George plays one of his most nasty slide solos of his life [0:50 – 1:15] which cuts through the wall of sound like a stiletto.  It was on the Imagine album where John said George was playing the best guitar of his life.  When I first heard it and How Do You Sleep? so many years ago, I did a double take, thinking to myself “that’s George?”  I checked the liner notes and sure enough, it was George.  These are “we’re not worthy” moments.

What Is Life – You’re recording your first proper solo album after leaving the biggest band on the planet, Eric Clapton plays lead on most of the songs while you play rhythm.  That album was George’s All Things Must Pass, arguably the best Beatle solo album of them all.  On this song, the roles are reversed – George plays the fuzzy lead guitar riff while EC plays rhythm. 

Day After Day – George produced roughly half of Badfinger’s Straight Up album before he had to tend to the arrangements for staging the Concerts for Bangladesh.  Before he handed the production reins over to Todd Rundgren, George asked the band if he could play on this himself.  I think the slide part that starts the song is Pete Ham, but the rest of the slide parts are all George.  There’s some beautiful playing here.

Hey Bulldog – The terms “screaming guitar solo” and “George Harrison” are, for the most part, mutually exclusive.  Not so with this hidden gem from Yellow Submarine.  George uses a Gibson SG here.  This one is the nastiest solos George recorded with the Beatles.  After spending most of the previous year NOT playing guitar, he laid down this blistering solo.

Dear Prudence – The main guitar motif played throughout this song from the White Album is fingerpicked by John Lennon.  George doesn’t make an appearance until the 1:40 mark.  George uses two guitars to weave a guitar tapestry throughout that gives the songs a “trippy” quality.  From here the song keeps building up to a climax, which comes at 3:35, where the song starts to fade as it began, with John fingerpicking alone.

Happiness Is a Warm Gun – This is another fingerpicking exercise from John Lennon.  George often cited this song as one of his favorites because of the time changes.  The song has four distinctive parts, with time changes between 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 9/8, 10/8 and 12/8 time signatures and tempo changes to match.  George enjoyed navigating the twists and turns of the song.  His fuzzy, distorted Stratocaster has and “acid rock” vibe to it.  Great string bending here.

Savoy Truffle – This one from Side 4 of the White Album is an ode to Eric Clapton’s sweet tooth.  Most of the words came directly from a box of Good News chocolates.  This song has a great horn section, but the guitar greatness comes from George’s tasty solo [no pun] between 1:27 – 1:50.

If Not for You – The only Dylan cover I like more than this one is Hendrix’s take on All Along the Watchtower.  More acoustic slide greatness from George.

It Don't Come Easy – Ringo Starr’s first hit.  Produced by George, he also plays all over it.  The Leslie guitar intro is George.  This is a great record.

Sue Me, Sue You Blues & Soft-Hearted Hana – both of these tunes, recorded five years apart, are played on acoustic slide guitar.  Sue Me, Sue You Blues [from Living in the Material World] is George’s commentary on the Beatles’ legal woes. Soft-Hearted Hana is a more light-hearted affair that discusses the effects of “magic mushrooms”.  The song’s speed is varied at the end to give the listener a woozy, drugged-out feeling.  At first, I thought there was something wrong with either the record or the turntable.  But the disoriented feeling was done deliberately.

The Lord Loves the One (That Loves the Lord) – All Things Must Pass featured Eric Clapton and Dave Mason in addition to George.  On Living in the Material World, George is the only guitarist.  The song has an acoustic beginning, which he strums throughout.  He has the slide pop up in bits and pieces throughout, but at 3:53 until the songs conclusion [4:35] he performs a very tasty slide solo, about 15 ½ bars worth.

So Sad – Dark Horse doesn’t have many songs to recommend it, but this one caught my ear the first time I heard it 40 years ago.  The main guitar here is a twelve-string acoustic, with plenty of electric slide throughout.  The song begins and ends with an eight-bar instrumental passage played on the acoustic twelve-string, and for me that’s the song’s hook.  Originally recorded for Living in the Material World, this song paints a bleak picture of George’s failing marriage to his first wife, Pattie. 

Photograph – George co-wrote this song with Ringo Starr.  It appears on Ringo’s eponymous album [Ringo] from 1973.  Like So Sad, Photograph is about lost love and was also first begun during sessions for Living in the Material World.  Of course, after George’s death the song took on a new meaning.  There are no guitar solos.  George’s 12-string acoustic guitar is part of the song’s Spectoresque wall of sound.

Marwa Blues – Every now and then George would cut an instrumental.  This one from Brainwashed impressed the Grammy people enough to give him the award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Stuck Inside A Cloud – Dhani Harrison once said that if his dad had a favorite song on any album, he would place it as the seventh song.  Stuck Inside A Cloud is the seventh song on Brainwashed.  I think this was the only song where George addressed his declining health and his quiet despair.  There’s beautiful slide playing here.

The End - Paul, George and John each play three little two-bar solos, in that order. John has a raunchy, distorted guitar tone on his Epiphone Casino, Paul also plays a Casino but his style is more stinging and a bit frantic [think Taxman and Sgt Pepper]. George is more melodic and polished, and plays a Les Paul. According to engineer Geoff Emerick, they did the soling in one take.

Part One - http://tonysmusicroom.blogspot.com/2013/02/tonys-guitarist-picks-george-harrison.html

Tony's Guitarist Picks - Eric Clapton

“Guitar?  Eric Clapton?”  Robbie Robertson uttered these words when introducing Eric Clapton during The Last Waltz.  It is not a stretch to think that the man’s name and the instrument he plays are synonymous.  During his time with John Mayall in the mid-1960s, graffiti of the slogan “Clapton is God” popped in London.  EC was embarrassed [and still is] about that slogan.  He stated he wants to be the greatest guitar player, but he isn’t it.  He may not be God, but he has influenced more guitarists than anyone can count.  His importance cannot be discounted nor underestimated.

It seems like Eric Clapton has been around forever.  That’s probably because his career as a professional musician is just a few months shorter than the time I’ve been alive and kicking, so for me it has been “forever.”  His resume reads like a Who’s Who of the rock era – The Yardbirds, John Mayall, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek & the Dominos, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Stephen Stills, Roger Waters, the Allman Brothers Band, The Band, Pete Townshend, JJ Cale, Buddy Guy, BB King, Howlin’ Wolf, Otis Rush, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Rogers, George Harrison, John Lennon, Carlos Santana, Taj Mahal, Bob Dylan, Sting, Elton John, Jeff Beck, Steve Winwood, Phil Collins, Mark Knopfler, Sonny Landreth, Freddie King, Dr. John, Delaney & Bonnie, Billy Preston, Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, Toots Hibbert, etc. etc.

Several years ago, Rolling Stone magazine asked contemporary musicians to write about “The Immortals – The Greatest Artists of All Time.”  Steve Van Zant got the honors to write about Eric Clapton.  He wrote the following:

Eric Clapton is 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 Freddy -- to create an attack that defined the fundamentals of rock & roll lead guitar.

Maybe most important of all, he turned the amp up -- to eleven. That alone blew everybody's mind in the mid-Sixties. In the studio, he moved the mike across the room from the amp, which added ambience; everybody else was still close-miking. Then he cranked the fucking thing. Sustain happened; feedback happened. The guitar player suddenly became the most important guy in the band.

I must say, I find it hard to disagree with Little Steven.  My first guitar hero was George Harrison.  All you need to know about George is this – he was the lead guitarist in The Beatles. ‘Nuff said.  But George had to please three other guys in the band, so he couldn’t play long guitar solos.  Clapton never had that problem.  In the bands he played [John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos], HE was the star. 

John Mayall gave EC the room to stretch out and play.  In Cream, he was in a band of his peers with Jack Bruce [bass] and Ginger Baker [drums].  He had to play out of his mind night after night in order to keep up with those two.  EC had first envisioned Cream as a blues trio with a singing and composing bass player.  The first Cream album, Fresh Cream [1966], was split between blues covers [Spoonful, From Four Until Late, I’m So Glad, Rollin’ and Tumblin’] and originals [N.S.U., Sweet Wine] written by Jack Bruce or Ginger Baker.  It was a fairly bluesy affair with a jazz feel.  However, their second album, Disraeli Gears [1967] was a mixture of the blues, jazz, psychedelia, and hard rock.  One song, Outside Woman Blues, was not written by the band.  This is the album with Sunshine of Your Love, a song with a hard rock riff so indestructible and recognizable you know what it is in only four notes.  This is the album where one hears the wah-wah for the first time on songs like Tales of Brave Ulysses and World of Pain.

In Blind Faith, he chose to downplay the whole “guitar hero” thing.   His final band before disappearing for three-years because of a serious heroin habit was Derek and the Dominos.  He was the front man/leader for the first time, he could play what he wanted to play [the blues], he had a fellow traveler and blues enthusiast in Duane Allman to prod him and kick his ass, and he had a muse: Patti Harrison.  There is nothing quite like the feeling of unrequited love to spur a songwriter to create art.  The art form that is the blues is full of stories of heartache, loneliness, pain, betrayal, and the only album recorded by Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, has blues to spare.  The Layla album is Clapton’s masterpiece.  On EC originals like Layla and Bell Bottom Blues, and on blues standards like Key to the Highway and Have You Ever Loved a Woman, the guitar took center stage.  The Layla album is a guitar lover’s dream.  The interplay between EC and Duane Allman was somewhat competitive, but only in the sense that each player made the other reach down and bring out his “A-game” to impress [not upstage] the other.

After three years of self-imposed drug exile, EC finally got around to making records again.  But there was a change.  EC downplayed his guitar hero image.  He preferred a more song-oriented, laid back approach.  He could still burn when he wanted to, but then it was clear that the halcyon days of Cream and Derek & the Dominos were well behind him.  The 1980s was somewhat of a guitar revival for EC.  This coincided with him getting sober.  Until then he had traded one addiction [heroin] for another [alcohol].  But with albums like Money and Cigarettes [1983], August [1986] and Journeyman [1989], EC’s playing regained a vitality that had been missing since 1974.  Regardless of your opinions of his material during this time, the fire for playing rekindled.  After his son died in 1991, EC’s music descended into what I call “Adult Contemporary Hell,” where he is currently stuck.  Every now and then he would emerge with blues albums [From the Cradle, Me and Mr. Johnson, Sessions for Robert J],  reunions [Cream in 2005, Steve Winwood in 2009], or collaborate with others [JJ Cale, BB King, and Wynton Marsalis].  Outside of those projects, his current music makes his 1970s output look lively.  But I come here not to damn his records, but to marvel in his playing.

Influences:  Robert Johnson, The Three Kings [BB, Freddie, & Albert], Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin.

The solos.  So many great solos, so little time…[yeah, I’m a big fan of Cream…]

1.      Crossroads [Cream - Wheels of Fire, 1968] – Clapton at his best

2.      While My Guitar Gently Weeps [The Beatles – The Beatles, 1968]

3.      Go Back Home [Stephen Stills – Stephen Stills, 1970] – the “take” was EC practicing:  Stills loved it and kept it

4.      White Room [Cream - Wheels of Fire, 1968]

5.      Sunshine of Your Love [Cream – Disraeli Gears, 1967]

6.      Tales of Brave Ulysses [Cream – Disraeli Gears, 1967] – EC introduces the world to the wah-wah pedal

7.      Strange Brew [Cream – Disraeli Gears, 1967] – copped note-for-note from Albert King

8.      Sitting on Top of the World [Cream - Wheels of Fire, 1968]

9.      Badge [Cream – Goodbye, 1969]

10.  All Your Love [John Mayall – Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, 1966]

11.  Hideaway [John Mayall – Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, 1966]

12.  Steppin’ Out [John Mayall – Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, 1966] – Cream smoked on this one as well…

13.  N.S.U [Cream – Fresh Cream, 1966]

14.  Sweet Wine [Cream – Fresh Cream, 1966]

15.  Presence of the Lord [Blind Faith – Blind Faith, 1969]

16.  Let It Rain [Eric Clapton – Eric Clapton, 1970] – he made it rain at Red Rocks – I know, I was there…

17.  I’d Have You Anytime [George Harrison – All Things Must Pass, 1970]

18.  Bell Bottom Blues [Derek & the Dominos – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, 1970]

19.  Key to the Highway [Derek & the Dominos – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, 1970]

20.  Have You Ever Loved a Woman [Derek & the Dominos – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, 1970]

21.  Double Trouble [Eric Clapton – Just One Night, 1980]

22.  Cocaine [Eric Clapton – Just One Night, 1980]

23.  Further On Up the Road [Eric Clapton – Just One Night, 1980]

24.  The Core [Eric Clapton – Slowhand, 1978] – EC awakens from his 1970s slumber…

25.  Little Red Rooster [The Rolling Stones – Flashpoint, 1991] – EC “punks” Mick Jagger, and Mick knows it.  Keef loved it.  The look on Mick’s face says it all…[see video below]

26.  Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right [Bob Dylan 30^th Anniversary Celebration, 1992]

27.  Here in the Dark [Taj Mahal – Phantom Blues, 1996]

28.  It Hurts Me Too [Eric Clapton – From the Cradle, 1994]

29.  Five Long Years [Eric Clapton – From the Cradle, 1994]

30.  Stormy Monday [Cream - Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005, 2005] – even Ginger Baker said “wow!” when EC was done…

31.  Voodoo Chile [Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood – Live From Madison Square Garden, 2009] – Hendrix!

Little Red Rooster – The Rolling Stones w/ Eric Clapton [Live, 1989]

The Blues.  Eric Clapton’s biggest influence is the blues.  He left The Yardbirds because For Your Love was too commercial for his taste.  He formed Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker with the idea that he could be Buddy Guy with a blues trio [it didn’t quite work out that way].  Since his early 1970s battle with heroin addiction, EC has focused more on playing songs rather than being a guitar god, but he has always kept one foot in the blues.  One will usually find at least one blues song on Clapton albums from the 1970s.  Polydor made a compilation of these songs [Blues] in 1999. 

He made three blues albums on his own [From the Cradle, Me and Mr. Johnson, Session for Robert J], collaborated with BB King on another [Riding With the King], and JJ Cale on yet another [The Road to Escondido].  Unplugged is mostly blues [for the record, I hate what he did to Layla on Unplugged – enough said].  Though Clapton’s blues singing sounds exactly like what it is [a rich white English guy trying to sing the blues], his guitar playing more than makes up for it.  The productions of his blues records are slick, but the material he works with are far and away much better than the “Adult Contemporary Hell” stuff he’s done for the past twenty years.  His playing on From the Cradle is the grittiest, nastiest playing he’d done in many years.  He put away the Strats and pulled the Gibsons out of storage, and the results speak for themselves.  He played electric slide for the first time in a long time.

 

Tidbits.

His two biggest riffs aren’t his.  The riff from Sunshine of Your Love was written by Jack Bruce.  One night in 1967 Jack Bruce and EC attended a Jimi Hendrix Experience concert.  After the show, Jack Bruce went home to write with Pete Brown.  Jack came up with the riff on a double bass.  The riff from Layla came from Duane Allman.  While recording it, the song needed an intro.  Duane had an idea – he took the vocal melody from Albert King’s song As The Years Go Passing By and sped it up.  Voila!

EC’s Guitars.

1.      The Fool – A 1964 Gibson SG was EC’s main guitar during the Cream years.  The guitar got its nickname because it received a psychedelic paint treatment from a collective of Dutch artists named The Fool.  EC gave the guitar to Jackie Lomax, who later sold it to Todd Rundgren for $500.  Rundgren later auctioned it for $150,000.   It was auctioned again to another collector for about $500,000.

2.      Brownie – The “Layla” guitar, and his first Stratocaster.  It’s a 1956 Fender Stratocaster with a two-color sunburst finish and a maple fingerboard.  He bought it secondhand in 1967 for £150 just before going to New York to record Disraeli Gears.  He recorded both his solo debut Eric Clapton and Layla with this guitar. EC later auctioned Brownie for $497,500, the proceeds of which go to his Crossroads Centre.  Paul Allen bought it and put it on display at the Experience Music Project in Seattle.  Fender builds a custom Brownie line, and for a cool $15,000 you too can own one.  I’ll pass, thank you…

3.      Blackie – In 1970, while in Nashville, EC bought six Fender Strats.  He gave one each to George Harrison, Pete Townshend and Steve Winwood.  He kept the other three, took the best parts from each and assembled “Blackie.”  This was EC’s main guitar for the rest of the 1970s.  EC finally retired Blackie in 1985.  Like Brownie, EC auctioned Blackie, again with the proceeds going to the Crossroads Centre.  The Guitar Center payed $959,000 for Blackie.  Fender made 275 replicas of Blackie.  Good luck buying one though – they’re sold out.

The Wah-Wah pedal.  Before there was the wah-wah pedal, there was the “tone pedal,” which George Harrison used on Beatles tracks like Yes It Is and I Need You.  But the tone pedal evolved into the wah-wah pedal.  EC first acquired a wah-wah pedal from Manny’s Music while Cream was in New York recording Disraeli Gears.  He put it to immediate use on Tales of Brave Ulysses.  The wah-wah is all over White Room [Wheels of Fire – 1968].  EC pioneered its usage, and guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan ran with it.  EC doesn’t use it in the studio anymore, but he still gives it a workout when he plays live.  Witness this live 2004 version of Got To Get Better in a Little While, a track from the never-completed second album from Derek & the Dominos:

Got To Get Better in a Little While

The Leslie Speaker.  The earliest usage of a Leslie speaker with a guitar that I can remember is Badge, which appears on Cream’s Goodbye album.  He used it on Doing That Scrapyard Thing from the same album.  This effect is usually associated with George Harrison, who used it on You Never Give Me Your Money, Carry That Weight, and Let It Be.  But as he was with the wah-wah pedal, EC pioneered the use of the Leslie rotating speaker with the guitar.  He hasn’t used it since.

The Woman Tone.  This was the guitar tone he used while with Cream.  With a Gibson SG guitar, roll the tone all the way down [either “0” or “1”] and the guitar volume all the way up.  On the amp, max out the treble, mids and bass controls as well as the distortion.  This tone is all over Disraeli Gears, most especially Sunshine of Your Love and Outside Woman Blues.

The slide.  EC doesn’t play slide much.  When he does it’s usually with an acoustic to play acoustic blues.  Every now and then he’ll use it with an electric, as he did on several tunes on From the Cradle.  I saw him use it once live – Tulsa Town and Motherless Children was the one-two opening punch the second time I saw him at Red Rocks in 1985.  He should do it more often.

The acoustic.  Prior to his Unplugged album, EC didn’t play acoustic much.  He used it on a handful of songs prior to 1992 – Anyone For Tennis [Cream], Can’t Find My Way Home [Blind Faith], Mean Old World [EC & Duane Allman], I Am Yours [Derek & the Dominos], Easy Now, Give Me Strength, Please Be With Me, Let It Grow, Better Make It Through Today, Pretty Blue Eyes, We’ve Been Told [Jesus Is Coming], High, Alberta, Mean Old Frisco.

Where the nickname “Slowhand” came from.  While he was in The Yardbirds, whenever EC broke a string he’d stay onstage to replace it.  Audiences would respond with a “slow handclap.”  Giorgio Gomelsky, who managed The Yardbirds, gave him the nickname “Slowhand.”  It was a play on words.   It had nothing to do with EC’s ability to play guitar.

Ubiquitous Songs That Can Be Retired [and I won’t care…].  There are some songs in his repertoire that have been played [and played, and played…] on the radio.  If I never hear them again it won’t bother me.  They are:  Layla, I Shot the Sheriff, Wonderful Tonight, Lay Down Sally.

He’s still got “it.”  His studio albums have long since become bland snoozefests from Adult Contemporary Hell, but live he’s still the real deal.  The man is 68 years old and he’s still got “it.”  The “it” I’m referring to is the ability to play jaw-dropping solos and school younger players.  I saw this for myself last week when watching videos of the Crossroads Festival in April.  EC got onstage to play with the Allman Brothers Band.  The song they played was Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad [from Layla].  Warren Haynes [who is no slouch on the guitar] had his eyes glued to EC’s fingers when he took a solo.