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461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: 461 Ocean Boulevard
  • Artist name: Eric Clapton
  • Year: 1974
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: RSO Records
  • Collection: Essex
  • Distinguishing characteristics: clipped top right corner
  • Buy it on Amazon: $32.47

461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t know if I’ve ever listened to this record before, but I don’t think I have. It’s the first Eric Clapton solo record that I’m reviewing, but he has also been on:

What I expected

I want to believe that this is going to rock, but I recognize that it’s beach-themed and also represents the time in Clapton’s life when he was covering Bob Marley, so I don’t think I can expect very much.

What it was actually like

Some of these songs were very much in the style of Eric Clapton up to around 1970. Motherless Children, for example, was a blues classic that absolutely rocked, starting with a powerful electric guitar that proceeded for a while before any vocals. When the singing did commence, it wasn’t that good, but I loved the rapid drumming with a bit of organ in the background, and felt that Clapton turned it into an awesome rock song with a fantastic riff.

Mainline Florida was another electric blues song that was great, but with bad singing, and his electric version of the classic blues song I Can’t Hold Out was quite good, but the Son Seals version blew it out of the water.

Then there were several songs of filler crap: the easy listening Give Me Strength, and Please Be with Me, a boring folk rock that might have been good if he had played it three times faster.

Of the three reggae-type songs, Get Ready was the worst because it really didn’t want to be a reggae song at all, and had to be squeezed into that format. Willie and the Hand Jive was a little bit better, because there was so much for Clapton to do musically with its Bo Diddley beat, but the vocals were absysmal (the New Riders of the Purple Sage version was far superior, and as I wrote then, “Eric Clapton should have just copied what NRPS did”).

And while of course I Shot the Sheriff is a rather silly song in the first place, as starting material it gave Clapton the biggest opportunity for success, which worked out well, as he did make it into the best reggae song on the record – but it was also clear that it had the most attention in the studio, as all of its elements were much better produced.

His cover of Robert Johnson’s Steady Rollin’ Man sounded very funk to me and I thought it was great, and on this record of strange songs and strange combinations of songs, perhaps the strangest altogether was Let It Grow. I had a hard time placing it musically because it was rock, and not blues or reggae, and did have electric guitar, and reminded me a bit of… I wasn’t sure what… but could it have been Pearls Before Swine?

Grade

4/5: would listen again

An Anthology of British Blues, Volume 2 (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

An Anthology of British Blues, Volume 2

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

This is the second volume of An Anthology of British Blues, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. I gave it 5/5.

What I expected

Electric blues.

What it was actually like

I liked this, but not as much as I liked the first volume.

One highlight was the three Eric Clapton / Jimmy Page instrumental songs: Draggin’ My Tail, Freight Loader and Choker. The second of those was just each of them with a guitar, and it felt like a great privilege to hear those two guitar legends playing against each other like that; the third was with drums and had more of a rock sound.

Mayall’s On Top of the World also had a rock sound, but upbeat and danceable, and was almost pop enough to have been the Monkees or something similar (Roll ‘Em Pete was the most fun and upbeat song on the record).

On the subject of the Monkees, McPhee’s Someone to Love Me was a fast tempo blues song with a great bass line like you can hear in early Kinks records. I liked that it had just a taste of a little harmonica that went a very long way – though I also liked how much the Dharma Blues Band used harmonica in Dealing with the Devil (a lot).

My favorite song was Savoy Brown’s version of the Otis Rush song I Can’t Quit You Baby, since I know it and love it mainly as a Led Zeppelin song, but lots of groups have covered it too, including the Rolling Stones.

Grade

5/5: love it

An Anthology of British Blues (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

An Anthology of British Blues

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not familiar with this compilation, though I do know some of the artists on it, and the song Tribute to Elmore, credited to Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, is likely to be one and the same as Tribute To Elmore James on Second Album by Roy Buchanan.

What I expected

Electric blues.

What it was actually like

This was outstanding and I loved it.

The best songs were the faster ones with a lot of energy: I’m Your Witchdoctor; I Tried, which was very piano heavy; I Feel So Good, which also had a lot more piano and a very prominent harmonica; and Flapjacks, an organ-led instrumental.

I also loved Tribute to Elmore. When reviewing Roy Buchanan’s Second Album, I wrote:

My favorite, though, was Tribute To Elmore James, which may have been exactly why the electric blues was invented in the first place.

And that’s still true.

Snake Drive and West Coast Idea were both slow Eric Clapton instrumentals. The former was the most barbecue restaurant song on the record, and the latter was much more complex with harmonica and guitars playing against each other.

Cold Blooded Woman was also much slower, as was Ain’t Gonna Cry No More, which had a great guitar solo, and I liked the harmonica that really added a lot without grabbing too much attention. Telephone Blues was similar, with amazing guitar and percussion.

To my delight, I was not even bothered by the horns on You Don’t Love Me.

Grade

5/5: love it

Blind Faith (1969) (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Blind Faith
  • Group name: Blind Faith
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: ATCO Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $19.99

Blind Faith (1969)

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have listened to this record at least once, but not recently.

What I expected

Hard rock, electric blues.

What it was actually like

This was quite good, despite its sometimes questionable vocals.

Had to Cry Today had the most beautiful guitar riff, and I think I could listen to it all day.

A high point was Well All Right, a 100% perfect song that I somehow managed to reach 2023 without realizing was actually a Buddy Holly cover (!). And now that I know, here is Santana’s version.

A low point was Do What You Like, which definitely had strong parts, but at 15:20 minutes long could easily have made space for two or three more songs. Ginger Baker is certainly the greatest rock dummer of all time[1], but did he really need to be given that much time, almost an entire side on an LP, for this extended jam? I don’t think so.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 In a multi-way tie with Ringo Starr, John Bonham and Keith Moon.

On Tour with Eric Clapton by Delaney & Bonnie (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: On Tour with Eric Clapton
  • Group name: Delaney & Bonnie (with Eric Clapton)
  • Year: 1970
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Atco Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $28.47

On Tour with Eric Clapton by Delaney & Bonnie

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m pretty familiar with Eric Clapton, but I’ve never heard of Delaney & Bonnie or this record.

What I expected

Blues rock.

What it was actually like

This live record was phenomenal. Was it blues rock? Sure, I guess, but it was really a soul record. Is electric soul a thing? Maximum soul? Whatever the term for it is, I’m so impressed by it and, like Sweetheart of the Rodeo yesterday, it was extremely consistent, so most of the positives about any single song generally applied to the rest of them.

I loved the bass line on Things Get Better that was behind me and to my left, and the fast tempo, and the guitar blasting through my right speaker.

Poor Elijah – Tribute to Johnson (medley) had a fantastic guitar riff, and I loved the drumming. It was so good! Here’s an acoustic version that I’ve got playing as I write this.

Only You Know and I Know had some excellent and really intricate guitar work, with phenomenal drumming, and I loved how the guitars sang to the drums.

There was a beautiful guitar solo on I Don’t Want to Discuss It, which was much more of a soul song, – but electrifying! I was so happy with how they electrified it.

Another one that had an excellent danceable soul sound was Where There’s A Will There’s A Way, and Comin’ Home was another with an amazing guitar riff.

I knew before I even started playing the record that I would love Little Richard Medley – Tutti Frutti/The Girl Can’t Help It/Long Tall Sally/Jenny Jenny, but having heard it, I would have given the whole record 5 stars just for it (and here’s the cover of Tutti Frutti that I listen to most).

That’s What My Man Is For was the slowest song on the record – I knew there would be at least one slow song on it – but I still thought the vocals were fantastic and the pounding drum was perfect.

If there’s anything that detracted from the record overall, maybe it was the horns. I did like them at some points, but thought they were a little over used by around 25%.

This was an outstanding record and, though there was nothing metal about it, I can easily tell how it would have been a major influence on what later became heavy metal.

Grade

5/5: love it