1
I didn't think I had anything to add until I was reminded this morning of all the songs he co-wrote on "Layla." You see, all the focus is on the title track, but it was never my favorite. Actually, there'd be three. First and foremost the cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing," which I considered definitive until Sting did his version, "Keep on Growing" and...
"Anyday."
"You were talking and I thought I heard you say
Please leave me alone
Nothing in this world can make me stay
I'd rather go back, I'd rather go back home"
Now I have to go back to "Little Wing," so my inbox isn't inundated with classic rockers pissed that I gave the Mr. Tantric Sex credit. No, Sting's take on "Little Wing" is not superior, but it reimagines the song in a heretofore unimaginable way... He quieted and slowed it down and added gravitas to the lyrics. Whereas Derek and the Dominos' version... It's the majesty of that intro guitar sound...
That cover of "Little Wing" is what turned me on to "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" which did not get good reviews and did not sell prodigiously upon release. This was back when you had to buy it to hear it and I did not, buy it, that is. Even though I'd seen both Cream and Blind Faith and bought all the albums, and loved so much of Clapton's initial solo LP only released the previous spring...how come nobody talks about "Easy Now"? You hear "Let it Rain" on the radio now and again. "After Midnight" became successful YEARS later as the soundtrack to a Michelob commercial, but it was just an album cut back in 1970, and I have to mention "Blues Power" too. But really, "Eric Clapton’s contemporary release, Dave Mason's "Alone Together," eclipsed the more anticipated LP. Only dedicated Dave Mason fans talk about his solo debut anymore, even though it's legendary throughout, stellar in both music and imagery/packaging. "Alone Together" had no hits, but in your bedroom or living room it sat on the turntable ad infinitum.
And, of course there's a connection. "Only You Know and I Know" was the standout track on Delaney & Bonnie's album "On Tour" released just months previously, featuring not only Clapton and Mason, but Bobby Whitlock.
Supposedly that's where Clapton and Whitlock met, when Delaney & Bonnie featuring Bobby Whitlock on keys opened for Blind Faith. And they worked together, on their own music and George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." Actually, that's the last time I thought of Whitlock, he went on record that the remix of that three record set was terrible. They shut him up soon thereafter. Although I dug deep and found out he was still alive and making music with his wife, CoCo Carmel. But to say Whitlock and his music were even on the radar screen would be charitable. He was just another dude who played with a legend and then faded into the woodwork. Or was he?
I mean I can list tons of band members for legends who are either dead or retired. Unless you were studying the album credits, you've forgotten them. Hell, Dallas Taylor and Greg Reeves even got album cover credit on "Déjà Vu," but neither wrote the songs, and ultimately their careers petered out, Taylor becoming a drug counselor and passing in 2015, Reeves still alive but unaccounted for.
Yet Bobby Whitlock... It's kind of like Harry "KC" Casey without Richard Finch. In truth, Clapton did have success sans Whitlock, but I believe, and most people would agree, he did his best work with the man from Memphis.
2
One of the exciting things of the past, a veritable anachronism, was going over to someone's house and being turned on to a record.
That was the first thing you did, check out their record collection, to judge their taste. You'd insist they play an album you wanted to hear but did not own, but other times they'd drop the needle on the vinyl and say YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS!
I've got to say, most of the time the taste of these people was substandard, but every once in a while...
So I was a freshman in college. And during January I made a friend at the end of the hall Denis Palmisciano, who brought me down to the second floor of Hepburn Hall to Dave McCormick's room, where all the action was happening. Why it took place in Dave's room, I am not sure. He was not the coolest guy in the dorm, his roommate kept the entire proceedings at arm's length, then again, Dave was welcoming, you could all join in.
Now Dave had the Moody Blues albums I did not. "In Search of the Lost Chord" and "To Our Children's Children's Children." At this point I know that the former is the group's best album. The latter is unjustly ignored.
Dave also played "Idlewild South"... He'd drop the needle on "Revival," and then the music would ultimately segue into "Midnight Rider" and the side would end with "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." That made me an Allmans fan.
And then there was "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs."
Of course I knew the title track, but I could never figure out why they stuck the coda on it. As for the riff... You know that was Duane Allman, which is why Clapton can't nail it live to this day. But other than that, the album was unknown to me.
Until I heard "Little Wing."
3
Now the goal was to have a stereo with huge speakers that you could turn up the volume on to the point where the whole room was enmeshed in the sound. You wanted to feel it, you wanted it to take you over, squeeze out all your other thoughts.
Listen to "Little Wing" on AirPods and it'll sound like music, but you won't FEEL IT! And that's how it was made to be listened to, LOUD! I'd go into Dave's room and insist he play it. I anticipated the spin. A song gets stuck in your head and you wait all day to hear it.
And that's the side with "Layla," so I heard it quite a bit.
But really, every other side is better, because they're dominated by Whitlock co-written rockers.
My favorite on the first side is "Keep on Growing." Which starts with a kind of shuffle endemic to the south. And the song was good, the unexpected pre-chorus was the kind of treat you no longer get, but it was the chorus that got stuck in your head:
"Keep on growing
KEEP ON GROWING"
Most people would cite "Bell Bottom Blues" as the best song on the first side. And it's damn good, but quiet in a way that the subsequent "Keep on Growing" was not.
However the song gained energy and embedded itself in your heart with its chorus:
"Do you want to see me crawl across the floor
Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back
I'd gladly do it because
I don't want to fade away
Give me one more day please
I don't want to fade away
In your heart I want to stay"
Clapton is imploring her with Whitlock adding vocal emphasis. And not only is the song loud, it's got melody! Too often absent from today's in-your-face rock music where noise triumphs.
The third side is a killer too. It starts with "Tell the Truth," with a walking line straight out of J.J. Cale's ultimate work and then the whole band swaggers down the pike. And then there's that slide guitar and a complete change which is utterly delicious:
"Whole world is shaking now, can't you feel it
New dawn is breaking now, can't you see it"
The entire album is filled with these unexpected changes, little flourishes that spike a spot in your body nothing else does, that illustrate the power of music, THEY JUST FEEL SO RIGHT!
And then there's the tear of "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad." It starts at full tilt boogie and you do your best to catch up with it. And, once again, the chorus sticks in your head.
But it's the second side that draws my attention, that sticks in my mind today on this album that was produced by Tom Dowd just like "Idlewild South," watch the documentary.
4
It's that flourish at the beginning, heralding the arrival of the king. Like the intro to "Little Wing" but with more lyricism, just a bit of subtlety.
But the magic comes right after the guitar blast, the entire track breaks down, you just hear Bobby Whitlock's organ and then a bit of guitar flourish on top. It's a complete change of mood. As if someone pulled back on the reins of your horse, slowed you right down and made you think.
But then there's an unforeseen swagger:
"Well someday baby I know you're gonna need me
When this old world has got you down
I'll be right here so woman call me
And I'll never let you down"
And you wonder why there were groupies...
And then halfway through the vocal drops out, everybody lays back and there's a guitar solo. Ultimately Clapton and Allman go at it together. This was back when records were cut not for the radio, but the listener...there were no constraints, the key was to get in the groove and try to transcend, deliver something that was based on instinct and feel.
But you still needed the underpinning songs.
And that's where Bobby Whitlock came in. He co-wrote each and every song I've mentioned above other than "Little Wing." Not that you'd know if it you hadn't read the credits...but if you had, you’d never forget him, and I and many more never did.
5
I'm guessing Whitlock could live on the publishing royalties. Then again, did Stigwood own the rights and Bobby only got half of the writers' share? Who knows. I hope the money was enough.
But Eric moved on. Deep into addiction. Ultimately returning with his 1974 comeback album, "461 Ocean Boulevard." He had a huge hit with a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff," but if you know the original, you'd declare the cover execrable...I certainly did, to this day I press the button when it comes on. Clapton did write "Let It Grow," probably the best song on the LP, but my favorite, "Mainline Florida," was written by George Terry.
From there Clapton went into the wilderness. Every album was eagerly anticipated and always disappointed, and then there was the complete surprise of 1985's "Behind the Sun," made with Phil Collins, Ted Templeman and Lenny Waronker."
Then Clapton had success working with Russ Titelman on "Journeyman," but most of Clapton's post "Layla" albums had a slew of covers, and most people cannot name a song from his post-"Layla" career other than "Tears in Heaven," whose lyrics were written by Will Jennings, and my favorite later period song "Change the World," co-written with the unduly unnoticed Wayne Kirkpatrick, who turned Little Big Town into stars. And I mention "Change the World" because although quiet and slickly produced, it's got the subtle magic and changes of the work Eric did with Bobby Whitlock. Turns out Clapton works best with a collaborator.
6
Now it sounds like I'm putting Clapton down. But that's not my point. He did have a slew of mediocre albums in the late seventies and early eighties, but my point is that comparing them to "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" there is no comparison. And why is that?
Well, got to give Duane Allman his due. Really. Music is not a competition, the greats all have a different style, and my absolute favorite has always been Jeff Beck, but in his short time here on earth Duane Allman left his mark. He both added to and inspired Clapton's work on "Layla." But without the songs...
Now I could go back through every one of Whitlock's credits. But I'm not writing a survey, a conventional obituary. Who knows why his success petered out. Do you know how hard it is to make it to begin with? And some people, having reached the mountaintop, just don't have the gumption to do it once again. It takes too much effort with too little psychic reward. Success didn't solve their problems, so why chase it again. Which is why so many turn to drugs, just to cope with the emotional roller coaster.
And I'm stunned how many outlets have featured a Bobby Whitlock obituary. I didn't expect it, because he's known primarily as a sideman. Never forget, it's DEREK and the Dominos. Whitlock was just one of the Dominos. Then again, as good as Jim Gordon and Carl Radle were, they didn't write the songs. And not only did Whitlock write, he played organ, piano and even picked the guitar.
Is that enough?
Well, at the end of the day all this will just be seen as part of Eric Clapton's oeuvre. The cast of characters changed, and he remained.
So...
It just comes down to the music. And "Anyday" resonates because of the power, one of the essences of rock and roll, and the lyricism and the dynamics. The critics missed it, they often do, they can't clue in to what is in the musician's head until they live with it for a while. "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" is now seen as one of the greatest albums of all time, a double to boot.
But ultimately it comes down to what these albums mean to you, the individual listener. Do you know them, do you play them, do they stick in your heart.
It's a challenging world out there. And if I want to get amped up, I play a record. But oftentimes I can just THINK of a record. And I think of "Anyday."
"Any I know, anyday, I will see you smile"
I'm smiling listening to this, and I hope you are too. There are no tears in heaven tonight, only joy. That's what's embedded into the tracks of "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs." And sans Bobby Whitlock's contribution there's no there there. May not take a village to make a record, but it certainly takes a number of people, at least in the pre-computer age, and Bobby Whitlock was one.
I remember.
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