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Eric Clapton - There's One in Every Crowd Audio CD

A fair review of the Eric Clapton "There's One in Every Crowd" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Eric Clapton reviews here, or go back to the Eric Clapton tabs.

Eric Clapton Band: Eric Clapton
Title: There's One in Every Crowd
Rating:
Release Date: 1996-08-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: We've Been Told (Jesus Is Coming Soon) 2: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 3: Little Rachel 4: Don't Blame Me 5: Sky Is Crying 6: Singin' the Blues 7: Better Make It Through Today 8: Pretty Blue Eyes 9: High 10: Opposites

Overlooked mellow Clapton
This release is definitely not where I would recommend starting for anyone who is just beginning to explore Clapton's music. This is very mellow Clapton. However, this is by no means a bad album. If you already own a lot of his music and are looking to explore some of Clapton's "second tier" albums, this is definitely worth owning. "Better Make It Through Today" is a great song. The rest of the album is very laid back with a bluesy feel.


Mellow Period
I really like this album from Clapton's mellow 70's period, especially 'Better Make It Through Today', which would have fit nicely on his '461 Ocean Blvd' album.


Not DVD-Audio
This is
a DTS 5. Review's not about the album itself but the mastering quality. 1 mastered disc and NOT DVD-Audio. Would do everyone good if Amazon knew the difference.

However, the improved quality from a CD mastering is obvious. Not sure if this is just due to re-mastering for DTS or the sampling itself. If you the right audio setup (I have an HTPC with M-Audio Revo 7. 1, Rotel pre-amp and amp out to Sonus Faber Concertos and Solo for the front and B&W for the rears), the quality shows through obviously. Imaging is not the best, but, I can live with that just to hear the nuances that you'd appreciate in this kind of music.


Misunderstanding Clapton
On this album there's barely a flicker of a Clapton blues solo to be heard. There's One In Every Crowd, the rather overlooked follow-up to the excellent 461 Ocean Boulevard, marks the beginning of Clapton's career when he decided that he no longer wanted to be known just as a bluesy lead guitarist. What you get instead is a series of songs some good, one or two mediocre, and a mixture of gospel, reggae and light pop. Most of the songs in this set are composed by Clapton, who plays in a very laid-back style. In fact this style was already beginning to emerge on his preceding solo album (461 OB). But it's taken much further here. By this stage Clapton was pleasing himself and not his fans, who were still clamoring for his fiery Cream style solos. Here he just sings, strums rhythm guitar, a few short non-bluesy solos here and there, and fair use of the Dobro, an instrument that took his fancy for a few years. The same backing musicians as used on 461 OB are present here.

It's not that this record is bad or even boring. It isn't. Bland, it maybe to those who were heavily into Cream or Derek And The Dominoes. But I really like most of the tracks especially Pretty Blue Eyes, with its lilting acoustic guitar solo, High, and the gospel-like We've Been Told. But the outstanding track is the highly soulful and moody Better Make It Through Today. This shows a side of Clapton that he failed to capitalize on later albums. TOIEC is just so different in style to what Clapton had been doing and was famous for, only a few years earlier. It's hard to believe this is the same guy. However he was to continue in this vein for years to come and on some considerably worse albums than this one.

To sum up if you like the unplugged side of Clapton without his bluesy guitar, you may well get to enjoy this album, as most of the songs are up to standard and grow on you after a few plays. Otherwise, if you haven't the patience or time, best stay away.


Sheer mediocrity
But his solo career was consistently inconsistent. In the '60's, you could expect great things from anything Clapton released, and you'd usually get them. On the high end of the specturm are discs like Unplugged and 461 Ocean Blvd. On the low, Back Home and Backless (any album with "back" in its title by Clapton is bound to suck). This occupies the space between the two - killer in places, filler in others. A bare minimum of blues (the only blues song is The Sky Is Crying, and naturally it's the best here). Instead, it's all either reggae, completely insincere soft-rock or slightly harder, but still completely insincere relatively hard rock. Of course, the soft rock's hard to listen to, but nothing's as bad as Wonderful Tonight (though Pretty Blue Eyes and High come close), and I like Better Make It Through Today. No, the best stuff here is the reggae (Swing Low, Sweet Chariot) and the rock (Little Rachel). If you're a Claptonophile, buy it if you wish, and I will insist you could do much worse. But don't expect Layla. .


You can see a complete list of all Eric Clapton discography, or go back to the Eric Clapton tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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