Details
Track Listing
DISC 1: STUDIO BLUES:
1. Before You Accuse Me (Take a Look at Yourself) Version 1 - (previously unreleased)
2. Mean Old World
3. Ain't That Loving You
4. Sky Is Crying, The
5. Cryin'
6. Have You Ever Loved a Woman
7. Alberta - (previously unreleased)
8. Early in the Morning
9. Give Me Strength
10. Meet Me (Down at the Bottom) - (previously unreleased)
11. County Jail Blues
12. Floating Bridges
13. Blow Wind Blow
14. To Make Somebody Happy
15. Before You Accuse Me (Take a Look at Yourself) Version 2 - (previously unreleased)
DISC 2: LIVE BLUES:
1. Stormy Monday
2. Worried Life Blues
3. Early in the Morning
4. Have You Ever Loved a Woman
5. Wonderful Tonight
6. Kind Hearted Woman
7. Double Trouble
8. Driftin' Blues
9. Crossroads
10. Further on up the Road - (previously unreleased)
Album Notes
Contains 5 previously unreleased tracks.
Personnel: Eric Clapton (vocals, guitar, dobro); Albert Lee (guitar, background vocals); Duane Allman, Freddie King, Dave Mason, Ron Wood, George Terry (guitar); Dick Sims (piano, organ); Bobby Whitlock (piano); Gary Brooker (keyboards, background vocals); Chris Stainton (keyboards); Carl Radle, Dave Markee (bass); Jamie Oldaker, Jim Gordon, Henry Spinetti, Al Jackson (drums); Sergio Pastora (percussion); Yvonne Elliman, Marcy Levy (background vocals).
Recorded between 1970 and 1980. Includes liner notes by John McDermott.
Digitally remastered by Suha Gur (Universal Music Group Studios).
Prior to Eric Clapton's pop- and MTV-driven mid-'80s work, he spent the '70s and early '80s playing languid, singer-songwriter soft rock evocative of J.J. Cale and Don Edwards. But Clapton always kept one foot in the blues of his youth. BLUES brings this material together in one place and throughout, Slowhand taps into an inner spirituality that does these blues standards well.
The first disc contains studio recordings that include tributes to many influences including Elmore James ("The Sky Is Crying") and Willie Dixon ("Meet Me [Down At the Bottom]"). Most impressive is a stripped-down version of Little Walter's "Mean Old World," in which Clapton and Duane Allman duet using National steel and slide guitars. The tempo picks up during an alternate version of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" that becomes a rollicking shuffle and a cover of Muddy Water's "Blow Wind Blow" in which Clapton's guitar parries with Gary Brooker's piano. On disc two, "Live Blues," Slowhand's playing deliciously simmers on material by Robert Johnson and Otis Rush. He eventually cuts loose as he trades licks with his hero Freddie King on a joyous cover of Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Further on Up the Road."
Industry Reviews
4 stars out of 5 - ...a credible overview is now easily attainable....this collection tells [Clapton's story] with insight and flair.
Rolling Stone (08/19/1999)
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