Eric Clapton "Forever Man" 1983-2014(rec) 2015(comp)****

It is a clear sign of the depreciation of the CD as a medium, that a well-curated compilation of a major artist was given away free with a Greek weekly newspaper immediately after its release. On the one hand this doesn't bode well for the value of my own collection (mostly CD's, following the great vinyl purge) on the other hand it was a cheap way to delve into the post-classic Clapton period, which is under-represented in my collection. The first "Studio" disc here does a good job of cherry-picking tracks from 16 (if I'm counting correctly) albums spanning a period of 31 years. Even so, there's little that's essential. Sure he had hits in the 80's, but they were mostly commercial pop with R&B leanings, comparable to what Robert Palmer or Joe Cocker did in the same period. "Forever Man" is probably the best of them while "I've Got a Rock N Roll Heart", "Pretending" and "Bad Love" are also typical of this style. "It's In The Way That You Use It" is more of the same, but I set it apart because of its use on The Color Of Money movie (that Martin Scorsese has a great taste in music). His 90's recordings are more interesting, as that decade found him clean and sober for the first time after a long while, even after fate dealt him a cruel hand: losing his 4-year-old only son in an accident, a tragedy that inspired his best-selling ballad "Tears In Heaven". Another -bittersweet- ballad, about their last father-and-son exit, was "Circus" while more slow songs from the same period include "Change The World" and "My Father's Eyes" - the latter not from personal experience: Clapton never knew his father who disappeared after leaving his teenage mother pregnant. He was subsequently raised by his grandparents, and was initially told that his mother was an older sister. With such a back-story, is it surprising he ended up playing the blues for a living? And it's on the blues covers that Clapton shines: songs like "Motherless Child" from the 1994 collection From The Cradle and "Little Queen Of Spades" from the 2004 Robert Johnson tribute Me And Mister Johnson, or the B.B.King duet "Riding With The King". More 00's recordings include the bluesy "Got You On My Mind" and "Travelin' Alone", his cover of J.J.Cale's "Call Me The Breeze", and "Anyway The Wind Blows" from their collaborative album Road To Escondido (2006). Rounding up the more recent recordings are the reggae-ish "Revolution" (2005) and soul rocker "Gotta Get Over" (2014) featuring Chaka Khan. Rich as Disc One is, though, it still doesn't justify the subtitle "Best Of Eric Clapton". That's where Disc Two comes into play: while the recordings come from the same period, they include live versions of his best 60's and 70's hits: "Badge", "Sunshine Of Your Love" and "White Room" from the Cream period (from 1991's 24 Nights), an acoustic version of Derek & The Domino's "Layla" which went on to become a huge hit, just like its parent album Unplugged (1992), "Presence Of The Lord" of his Blind Faith days, taken from Live from Madison Square Garden with Steve Winwood (2009), and great performances of solo hits "Cocaine" and "Wonderful Tonight". Unexpected treats include the funky Buddy Miles cover "Them Changes" from the aforemetioned collaboration with Steve Winwood, and an earnest cover of "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizzard Of Oz. The rest of the disc is comprised of blues covers ranging from exciting to nothing less than workmanlike. Say what you will about the man, he can really lay it down live..

STUDIO DISC
**** for Anyway The Wind Blows, Motherless Child, Little Queen Of Spades, Tears In Heaven, Call Me The Breeze, Forever Man, Riding With The King, It's In The Way That You Use It, Got You On My Mind

*** for Gotta Get Over, I've Got A Rock'n Roll Heart, My Father's Eyes, Pretending, Change The World, Circus, Travelin' Alone, Revolution

** for Bad Love, Behind The Mask

LIVE DISC
***** for Wonderful Tonight, Cocaine, Layla (Unplugged)

**** for Sunshine Of Your Love, White Room, Worried Life Blues, Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (Unplugged), Them Changes, Goin' Down Slow

*** for Badge, Walkin' Blues (Unplugged), Presence Of The Lord, Hoochie Coochie Man, Over The Rainbow

Eric Clapton and Friends "The Breeze: An Appreciation of J.J. Cale" 2014****

Eric Clapton must surely be JJ Cale's biggest fan. For his very first solo album he recorded a cover of then completely unknown Cale's "After Midnight". He then had a big hit with another Cale song, "Cocaine", while he recently recorded a whole album with him ("The Road to Escondido"). This fascination isn't all that apparent if you compare their playing styles: Cale's is fluid and relaxed, while Clapton's can be loud and fiery. Anyway, Cale's unfortunate passing last year led Clapton to curate a tribute album to him, with himself playing guitar and singing on some songs while various "friends" provide vocals & second guitar. These include Tom Petty, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Don White and country legend Willie Nelson. Other guest guitarists include Albert Lee, David Lindley, and Derek Trucks while Cale's widow Christine Lakeland helps with backing vocals. All artists approach their source material with respect (perhaps too much respect), resulting in beautiful and understated performances and an album that is quite homogenic and manages to exude the same feeling as Cale's own. "Same Old Blues" is probably the only song where Clapton's style is readily identifiable, as he mostly prefers to play close to the original rather than rock it out like he did with "Cocaine". Knopfler on the other hand makes "someday" sound like Dire Straits without straying too far since his style was always closer to that of Cale's. Opener "Call Me the Breeze" is indicative of the album, rolling along nicely with fantastic guitar work, although it still isn't as good as Lynyrd Skynyrd's version. "Rock and Roll Records" featuring Tom Petty is another winner. Not being familiar with the original versions of this or "Someday", I was much more pleased with these than e.g. "Lies", a great performance of this hit that is nevertheless so close to the original it's like listening to karaoke. John Mayer was known to me by name only but his singing here and on "Magnolia" convinced me to search for more. "Sensitive Kind" features fellow Okie Don White on vocals and is a delicate ballad that reminds me of Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight". Once more, although flawless, not my favorite cover of this song-that would be John Mayall's. "Cajun Moon" and "I Got the Same Old Blues" are two bluesy numbers by Clapton while "Songbird" and "Starbound" feature country legend Willie Nelson on vocals. He makes no effort to imitate JJ's singing and he songs are the better for it. "I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)" is a fast country number while "The Old Man and Me" sports a hypnotic bossa/blues rhythm. "Don't Wait" and “Train to Nowhere” are a couple of very successful collaborations between Clapton and, respectively, Mayer and Knopfler. Overall, the album manages to convey Cale's spirit and provide an enjoyable listening experience with some virtuosic but restrained guitar playing. Nevertheless I, for one, would like to hear such good musicians give their own version of the songs and preferably expand them beyond the 3-minute mark. Faithful as it is though, it makes for a good introduction to JJ Cale's music and should convince newcomers to dig deeper. If you're one, I'd suggest to get any of his first 5 albums, although you can't go wrong with anything bearing his name (As his critics like to point out, they all sound more or less the same).

**** for Call Me the Breeze, Rock and Roll Records, Someday, Cajun Moon, Don't Wait

*** for Lies, Sensitive Kind, Magnolia, I Got the Same Old Blues, Songbird, The Old Man and Me, Train to Nowhere, Starbound

** for Since You Said Goodbye, I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me), Crying Eyes