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The Cream of Eric Clapton

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'Eric Clapton: The Cream of Clapton' features 17 tracks, reaching back to the mid-1960's for a black and white Yardbirds performance (the feisty 'Louise' from BBC television), and pouring out a fairly generous helping of Cream before turning, for the most part, to Clapton's prodigious 1980's video productions. Unfortunately I've yet to see any footage of Clapton's years with Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos, and have all but concluded that there simply must be none, of any desirable quality, to avail ourselves of. I suppose everyone was thinking "we'll get around to it sometime", but once Blind Faith disbanded without producing a film record, someone should have had the foresight to commit Clapton and his Dominos to tape. Perhaps the closest we'll get is 'The Concert For Bangladesh' which featured Clapton and the Dominos backing George Harrison and friends.

The larger portion of these live recordings are exquisite and/or unusual performances of Clapton classics. The live concert segments from Cream, though slightly edited, are rather extraordinary, especially the dynamic performances of 'Crossroads' and 'Sunshine of Your Love'. All three members of the band are simply mesmerizing in their intensity. 'White Room' is a bit more bluesy than the pulsating studio version or even the cut offered on the 'Live Cream Vol. 2' album, but who's going to complain about another chance to witness this track live? Unfortunately 'I Feel Free' and 'Strange Brew' are lip-synced television performances, and Jack Bruce has to be one of the poorest lip-syncers around. At one point he simply sticks his tongue out while the vocals continue unabated, mocking the artificiality of the situation. Since Cream was certainly a talented live band one must assume the lip-syncing was a television producers regretable call. Unexplainably, Clapton lip-syncs to 'Strange Brew' (the track is sung by Jack Bruce) while sporting an unbelievable upswept permed hair-do, and in both songs bassist Bruce is playing a standard six-string. It's really best understood as comic relief.

One other captivating track is drawn from Clapton's appearance on the BBC 'Old Grey Whistle Test', as Eric emotes on Bob Dylan's 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' with Yvonne Elliman (who first gained fame cast as Mary Magdalene in 'Jesus Christ Superstar') adding back-up vocals. This 1977 performance is the only 1970's track the video offers, giving us a glimpse of Eric as he battled through years of drug abuse and depression. It's refreshing to see the vitality Clapton regained in the 1980's, but this 1977 performance has an undeniable depth and feel to it, most probably produced by Eric's struggles.

Of the remaining tracks, 'Badge' is the earliest (from 1985), and the MTV video of 'Forever Man' (from 1988) is the latest, so this is where the bulk of the footage is drawn from. There are some interesting performances, including an overheated duet with Tina Turner ('Tearing Us Apart'), and a gently seductive rendition of 'Wonderful Tonight' featuring Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. Clapton is supported by an unending procession of back-up bands, including a reggae outfit underscoring 'I Shot the Sheriff'. And needless to say there is a wealth of guitar virtuosity on display, all of it of the electric variety. There isn't a single occasion where Eric picks up an acoustic instrument. He meanders effortlessly from blues-rock ('Louise') to psychedelia ('Strange Brew'), to electric-blues ('Worried Life Blues'), to classic mainstream rock ('Layla', presented as a video collage from 3 seperate performances), to spiritual ballads ('Holy Mother').

Although this 1989 video was predictably 1980's top-heavy, and although some of the more historic footage is edited, it remains a compelling video documentary of Eric Clapton's amazing career. Along with Neil Young and Bob Dylan, he is unquestionably one of the few 1960's superstars whose talents have proven to be timeless. 'The Cream of Clapton' is an admirable testament to that talent and perseverance. A new copy can be had for $2 plus shipping, so there is no excuse not to own this rewarding piece of rock and roll history.

As Clapton videos go this one is pretty good -- not as great as Unplugged but better than some of the others from the 70s/80s. Overall a good video for fans, with a nice mix of old and new(er) footage.

Good Points:
- E.C.: Layla, Cocaine, Wonderful Tonight, etc.
- Cream: Strange Brew, Sunshine of My Love, I feel Freee
- Rare Yardbirds footage
- for guitarists, the footage shows his playing (e.g fretting hand) better than many videos.

Interesting:
- Duet with Tina Turner

Not so good points:
- No Blues Breakers footage :(
- Too early for of the 90s blues, Change the World & Nor Tears in heaven
- a few non-descript songs from the 70s/80s(?)

Starting with the Yardbirds, and going through Cream and into the solo career, this is a beautiful encapsulation of Eric' live performance ability. The early years are raw and rough, and even though a couple of tracks are "Millie Vanillied", the power of those concerts before 1969 are stunning. The video skips over the forgetable 1970's for the most part, and then picks up with some blues versions of old Cream favorites. Badge is sensational, and Layla uses two or three different concerts to pull a montage of music together. You do not have to look very hard to see Mark Knoffler and Phil Collins showing up over the last 8 or 9 tracks, to great effect. Tina Turner provides duet material on one song, and session players provide the backup. The best thing about this video is the complete lack of talking and non music related interludes. It is 100% music and Eric at his best. Do not over look this one.

This video cuts right to the chase. You want see E.C. play and that's what you get. No annoying interviews with his gardener or over analysis by a doped up hippy, just perfect creamy dreamy playing from E.C. I love the way it spans over the years sometimes including different versions of the same song.

This would have been worth it just for the fact it had the original Layla (spliced from several performances, including one with Phil Collins backing up on drums. Now, I do like Clapton's accoustic version, but the original is so different that it is almost like two different songs. Bonus is frankly, everything else-- including 'Cocaine.' I also own 'Chronicles,' which I would also recommend. But to get the old stuff, electronic versions intact, better snatch this up. It is getting harder to find....

An excellent compilation. The quality of a couple of segments is weak (e.g. "Knocking on Heaven's Door") but on the whole a great video. Easily worth the price.

This DVD is great but instead of including some more of the '70s, they jump to live aid and other '85 shows which suck. "Badge" is pretty weak....they should have taken the footage of "Badge" in the 1975 tour...that was the best. The best song is "Knockin On Heaven's Door". I hope that in the future, a DVD of Eric Clapton in the '70s (preferrably 1975) will be made...anyone who says that the '70s were forgettable should pick up a copy was "EC WAS HERE" and listen to it....the best CD.

Not being a huge fan of Eric Clapton during his late '80s phase, I usually rewind this about midpoint, YMMV. The tape kicks off with a Yardbirds lip-sync from early '60s TV. There is no Bluesbreakers material, oddly, seeing as how that's where Clapton got his "God" reputation. Maybe it's because John Mayall, with his purist insistence on making everything as "authentic" (i.e. primitive) as possible, forbade any decent filming.

The Cream clips are the heart of the show, easily torching the surrounding material. Some songs are rather silly lip-synchs taken from TV shows--Jack Bruce even sticks his tongue out at the camera on "I Feel Free". The others are live cuts, and even in their edited-down form, they are not silly at all. "Sunshine of Your Love" is so hot that Clapton's fretboard nearly ignites. These clips seem to be taken from Cream's Farewell Concert, and the camera work is the same hippy-dip mess as on that production. "Badge", performed by Clapton's mid-80s band from the deleted _Eric Clapton Live Now_ video, wraps up the Cream material, and it is very fine (though second guitarist Tim Renwick runs out of ideas halfway through his solo).

Then there's the rest of Clapton's career. Though he never got hotter than he was in Cream, he did get bigger and more soulful. He plays a duet with Buddy Guy, miking himself up so loud that exactly one note from Guy is audible. (This bad habit is repeated on the _24 Nights_ video, where Robert Cray and Buddy Guy are so faintly mixed that even the cameraman can't tell which one is playing.) He indulges his "less-is-more" philosophy to the hilt on a barely-there cover of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". And then there's "Franken-Layla"--bits of at least three versions of this great song edited together. One bit is from his triumphant comeback at Live Aid.

The rest of the film is not very interesting. Skip to _Unplugged_ instead.

These are videos of the hits of both Eric Clapton and some of the early bands he was in such as "The Yardbirds" and "Cream." It guess you could call this an "anthology" as it shows the famous guitarist-singer from the early '60s through the '80s when this tape was made. Whatever the era, it's simply good rock 'n roll music.

Most tunes, even the very early stuff in which I didn't recognize the ultra-young, thin and beardless Clapton, are still good to hear and his guitar work has always been a pleasure. With each video, Clapton's appearance really changes.

When the video switches to color and to stereo, it really picks up steam. "Layla," "Cocaine," "Forever Man," and a "Tearing Us Apart" were the highlights for me. The latter was a duet with Tina Turner. "Layla" is uniquely done in that they mix several concert tapings into the song, but keep it cohesive.

Eric's appearance changed a lot but not his talent.

Through this video you will discover what's behind Mr. Slowhand's music. You'll see him as a teenager with the Yardbirds, the great age with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce in Cream, Eric and The Dominos, and E.C. in the younger 80's. It'd be good having something about the recent years, but you know... You can't have it all with just one video. I highly recommend it. END