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For such a short-lived band, it really cast a huge shadow over music for the next 50 years.
For the last few days I have given the original album a deep listen, as well as the live shows and the Tedeschi Trucks Band excellent concert performance.
Of course, hard to improve on the original. Talk about hitting on all cylinders...it has been said that Clapton needed someone to give him some focus, and Duane Allman provided that for the Layla project. Interestingly, Clapton gave most of the solos to Duane, but he plays some awesome rhythm as well as background solos even on the Duane parts. They double some of the famous riffs like the intro to Layla. Clapton was unsure of his songwriting at that point, but every one is a keeper, and the covers they play are excellent as well.
The live performances without Duane suffer due to Clapton's tendency to meander while soloing, and probably the prodigious drug use on that tour. Elton John opened for them, btw. However, when Clapton was on, he was phenomenal, as on Key to the Highway, even better than the album version, IMO.
If anyone can play the stuff live it would be Tedeschi Trucks, as Derek was named after the album and played Duane's guitar parts with the ABB. Here's a smoking version of Have You Ever Loved a Woman--really digging Trey's guitar here:
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03-12-2025 01:50 PM
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Trivia--Layla was a flop on its release. It wasn't until 2 years later when Atlantic included the song Layla on The History of Eric Clapton and released it as a single that the song took off, and the album started selling.
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I saw a video recently where a guy broke down all the layers of guitars on the intro to Layla. It was pretty cool. Gotta see if I can find it now...
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Some beautiful Gibson tones. Why does EC insist on playing a Strat with that boost circuit?
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Here's the one to check out. Stunning sound with everyone in absolutely top form along with Jim Gordon taking one of the best rock drum solos I've ever come across on 'Let It Rain':
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An interesting thing about how it takes some sophistication to really understand what you’re hearing when you listen to that album.
My father was an excellent guitar player, and naturally growing up in the 80s and 90s, he would regularly play things like Van Halen, note for note stuff from that album etc. So at maybe 16 years old, I remember seeing the Clapton is God stuff, and sat down to listen to the album. I listen for a few minutes and thought, no big deal.
Maybe five years later, I was in music school and decided to do the same thing
“oh, I get it now”
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You mean producer Tom Dowd? Nice interview with him in the studio where he discusses the creation of the album.
Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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I like the late 60's Cream stuff, but that sound wasn't suitable for roots rock, which is what DATD, Delanie and Bonnie, etc., were making. Originally Posted by garybaldy
He used Brownie the Strat he got in 1967 on Eric Clapton and Layla. Many people say it was an incredible tone, though Blackie--the guitar he played mainly after Brownie--didn't have as nice a sound.
I love the tone on those 2 albums. In concert in 1970 he tended to play a much heavier sound with a lot of wah-wah. Not as effective for that kind of music as what he did in the studio.
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The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East and History of Eric Clapton are two of the albums that got me interested in guitar and great music in general. Another was Santana III. I haven’t listened to Layla in quite awhile. Some of it seems a bit out of tune to me, and it makes it hard to listen to. It’s a genius record that probably could have been better if they notched the drugs back a little bit. But, Duane and Clapton were my early idols. Duane still is.
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Still my favorite Clapton album. “Hitting on all cylinders” about says it.
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Nah, it was just some YouTube dude holding a guitar. This video is much cooler. Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
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These Fillmore East bootlegs are the best live recordings of D&tD I've heard. There are some live TV performances that IMO are pretty lame. SFAIK, no recordings of the two times Duane Allman joined them have ever turned up. Truth is, D&tD was as much Bobby Whitlock's band as Clapton's, and more evidence that Clapton with a strong creative partner is qualitatively better than Clapton left to his own devices.
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I bought that History Of Eric Clapton album when it was released -- I was all of 11 years old -- and listened to it non-stop. My Mom once insisted that the only reason I listened to the tune "Layla" was to annoy her, she literally couldn't imagine anyone actually enjoying that song! Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
The photo on the album cover is probably responsible for my long-term love affair (unrequited) with the Gibson S-400CES. [edit: Which Wikipedia insists is a Byrdland. Anyone know for sure?]
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On forums you will often read lamets to the tune of Clapton sounded better on a Gibson, he should never have played strats. Layla, and in particular Key to The Highway and Have You Ever Loved a Woman, feature some of his strongest playing, and with a sound to match. This, along with Gilmour, was instrumental in igniting my love for strats, as well as getting me to pick up the guitar in the first place
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I don't know, I was - and to a certain extent still am - quite indifferent to EC to the point where I used to say that he sounds like "restaurant music" until I heard his earlier stuff played on Gibson. When it comes to Strat players, I'd take John Mayer, SRV, Jeff Beck, DG or Buddy Guy any day.
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In 1970 I got down to transcribing the solo of Badge from the record and learned it note for note. I may still have been 13. EC, then, was my reason for living. I was so lucky to have experienced that time and to have had an electric guitar - even though it was a Futurama II, soon followed my a Harmony Meteor. EC's Gibson days were incredible for a young wannabe guitarist. Originally Posted by jazzloverfat
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I think the strat sounds on the Layla album are great. Ditto for the Howlin' Wolf London Sessions, and maybe a handful of other things after. It was pretty much all down hill downhill from there, both tone and playing-wise. Originally Posted by Average Joe
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Speaking of the London Sessions, the position 2 sound EC pulled from his Brownie Strat on 'I Ain't Superstitious' is hard to beat. Originally Posted by John A.
Guitar solo at 1'10":
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I've never listened to that album before. It really sounds strange to hear Howlin' Wolf being submerged by admittedly very accomplished players and a very sophisticated horn section. Hubert and the boys seemed to provide a much more sympathetic and ground-breaking backing. Originally Posted by PMB
No one anticipated that switch from overdriven Gibson to position 2 strat. There's a thesis in there, if it hasn't already been done
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This is one of my favorite albums with EC. Originally Posted by PMB
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I think the Derek Eric was Clapton during his peak emotional creativity phase. I would take that up to 461 Ocean Blvd. and maybe one album past that. That was when I really dug his work. After that he became more cognitively creative and most of his subsequent work lost something for me. I don't even think he was straight until a few albums after 461, so I can't say I liked Clapton solely based on him being an alcoholic or addict. Probably pretty natural to transition creativity modes somewhere along the way.
Layla (both the song and the album) is fabulously engineered IMHO. There is a rhythm part in the song that is somewhat buried in the mix but it is the main device to pull the verses together. You can tell that Clapton spent some time getting it right. Not an easy rhythm part to play.Last edited by lammie200; 03-21-2025 at 05:58 PM.
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Eric was such a great singer. As much as I love his guitar playing on both electric and acoustic, his songwriting and singing are even more impressive.
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I have a soft spot for his sound and playing during the Armani years, what with the huge amps and that mid boost. The songs are 80s pap, but he could play when he got sober. And there's about 15-20 forgettable years between Layla and Journeyman. Originally Posted by John A.
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Some interesting things about DATHD playing Little Wing. This concert took place a little over a month before Hendrix died. DATHD performed Little Wing since the summer of that year. They toured before recording the Layla album which was released about 3 weeks before Hendrix died. So, it is very likely Hendrix heard the DATHD version only a short time before he died. Originally Posted by PMB
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That's probably my least favorite sound of his, and I can't stand the gated snare sound and overall production of that record, but de gustibus yada yada. I like From the Cradle, and a song here and there on several others, but it's hard for me to get all the way through most of his albums post-461 Ocean Blvd. Overall, I find him to be a very odd phenomenon. He was really an innovative and compelling musical figure for those few early years, then basically no musical growth (and considerable regression at times) at all for the 50+ years that followed (though, to be fair, his singing did get better). I can't think of anyone else quite like that. Originally Posted by Average Joe
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