Customer Reviews

The Layla Sessions: 20th Anniversary Edition

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First,we'll start with the first disc,which is a remaster/remix of the origanal "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs" album.

First,nothing was really taken or added to these tracks.The origanal album is 77:06 minutes long.This remaster is 77:00 minutes long.I can live with an album that is six seconds shorter.

The origanal version of this album,even the re-released remaster,sounds a bit muddy.By that I mean you can hear vocals,bass,drums,and in the background the other guitar and organ.

This new remix changes all of that.You can hear everything clearly,including all of Clapton and Allman's guitar parts.

Take for example the exellent song,"Why Does Love Got To Be Sad".In the origanal mix,when Clapton comes in twards the end of Allman's solo,it sounds like Allman stopped playing after a few notes.In this remixed version you can hear that he just moved lower on the neck,playing some very deep guitar lines.In the origanal mix this is burried under Clapton's playing.Now you can hear how it was meant to be heard,with both Allman and Clapton playing leads.

Plus,on tracks like "Anyday" and "Key To The Highway",you can hear Allman's slide parts much clearer.They ring out much more than the origanal versions.

Now,onto the jams disc.It should be noted that there are no vocals on this disc,just insturmental jamming.The first three jams are just Clapton and the other Dominos.Exellent playing,some of Clapton's best for sure.On the fourth jam,everything changes.This jam not only has Eric and the Dominos playing with Duane Allman,but also Dickey Betts,Berry Oakley,Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers.It is an insturmental take on Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor".There is no real virtuoso playing on this track (though Clapton,Allman and Betts were the most capable of any to do that),just clean guitar lines and a wonderful beat provided by Jim Gordon and Butch Trucks.Each guitarist takes turns playing.It is probibly the most exellent guitar playing ever put on disc.It was taken from the night Eric and Duane met,and the Allman Brothers came into the studio to jam with the Dominos.Out of an unreal 15 hours of jamming,all of which Tom Dowd smartly put on tape,this 12 minute track is the only part of it released.

On the fifth jam,it is what turned out to be the origanal line up of Derek&The Dominos,with Duane Allman.This jam is simmilar to the D&D/AB jam just before it for the first 8 minutes or so-just good easy playing between the two.Just at 8 minutes or so,things change.Allman slips on a slide and for the next 10 minutes you hear some of the most unreal slide playing ever.When Duane described his playing on this album,he called his own playing "something like a full tilt screech".That's about what it is on this track,and it is certainly the best screeching I have ever heard.

Now,for the alternate takes disc.Out of the three discs,I enjoy this one the least.The Tell The Truth jams are interesting,but after awhile seem boring and pointless without Allman's slide parts,which really make the album version of the song what it is.The tracks on this album that Duane perform on,which are all the Mean Old World takes and a few blues improvisions,are fantastic.The two versions of "Have You Ever Loved A Woman" on this disc,even though they do not have Duane Allman performing on them,are without a doubt much better than the album version.

Overall,if you are a Clapton fan and liked the origanal version of this album,you will LOVE this boxed set.It is worth every penny.

The reviewer below states the truth when commenting that the new remix emphasizes the guitars and de-emphasizes drums and bass. If you're only going to have one copy of this album, then you'll probably be better off with the original remaster.

That said, this remix is a dream for me because, finally, I can hear all the different guitar parts distinctly. Like the aforementioned reviewer said, the original remix was muddy -- you can usually hear the main lead line, and the rest are lost in the mix. This new remix brings out the other guitar lines to the front. So now, among other things, you can hear the three simultaneous leads in "Keep on Growing" crystal clear, and so on. More importantly, you can finally hear Clapton's slide countermelody to Allman's lead in the coda portion of "Layla"!

So... The original remastered album makes a more "unified" statement and is probably more listenable. It brings out the important melodies and relegates the rest to the background. This boxed set mix can sound a bit cluttered (so many guitar lines going at once can be distracting), but it's great for the collectors/completists and the guitar fanatics.

As for the unreleased material: "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" (alternate master #1) is, IMO, even (yes!) better than the album version (a pretty mean feat! ). I always love "Mean Old World," and I enjoy all the other outtakes as well. I do tend to find my attention wandering during the jams, mostly because they're so long. Much of it is very enjoyable, nevertheless.

I won't speak for others, but for me (Clapton completist/guitar fan) this set was worth every penny -- and that's the truth.

Well, now. I do not think, in the history of recorded music, that the moon and tides have ever been so right for a great album. Clapton was broken hearted, at the top of his game, his band was fantastic with two all-worlders on board (Allman and Gordon), two top sidemen (Radle and Whitlock), and he was ready to work.

The result is a double album that probably features the best pair of guitarists to ever grace an album. And do they grace it. After the third song, Duane Allman joined the ensemble for "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out", and he and Clapton proceede to tear the house down. I mean, if you want top notch, legendary guitar heroes trading licks, pushing the other to the limit, in all types of songs (not only da Blues is featured), then this is the top album of all time. Jim Gordon is just fantastic, and Radle is about as solid a bottom as it gets. Whitlock sings lead fairly often, keeping his keyboards in the background.

The original mix, as released on the double record set, was kind of "muddy". One had to put the treble all the way up to get a proper sound. The first CD release had the same problem. The mix on this version fixes some of that, thankfully. But, the new mix also brings out so much more. The rhythm and second guitars are much more up-front, allowing the listener to hear things the other mixes never allowed us to hear. Clapton and Allman's guitar fills are just mesmerizing, and there are a lot more guitar tracks on some songs than the original mixes ever let us hear.

The folks who think Allman out-played Clapton on the album need to give a listen to one of the alternate takes of "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" available on this "Layla Sessions" CD. Clapton plays a solo that defies description, notes flowing at a pace that makes a joke of his nickname. Hendrix at Woodstock in the "Woodstock Improvisations" may match it, but I've never heard anything better. It is absolutely blistering. It is a tie ball-game if I've ever heard one, two truly great musicians pushing and matching each other all the way through.

If you like blues-based rock and roll, with virtuoso guitars on prominent display, this is the holy grail.

Originally, I purchased the single Anniversary Mix disc that had been separated from the rest of it's set at a used CD store. Hey, I was in college at the time and was trying to broaden my palette. So, this newer mix was what I got to know over the years and really was none the wiser to the original.

Now, being 10 years after first having purchased the CD, I am comparing the two mixes side by side, switching between the two, and have come to a personal conclusion that is at odds with most of the other reviewers.

It's pretty clear to anyone who does a comparison between the two where you can rapidly swap between the two mixes, that the original mix is more dynamic; it just jumps out at you more. It also contains more high frequency content. There are a couple of possible reasons for this.

Someone probably surely more about the actual equipment history of this album. But from what I can gather, Criteria Studios at that time should have been outfitted with MCI consoles and tape machines built by Jeep Harned with "philosophical direction" provided by Tom Dowd. While the MCI consoles that became marketed later across the world (which later evolved into Sony's consoles) are solid state designs, it is possible that these early MCI consoles that Layla would have been recorded and mixed through were tube designs. Again, I might be wrong here and it is strictly open for conjecture from someone who absolutely knows for sure. For recording engineers like myself, older (more simple) console designs of that period and before are revered for their unique sonic character.

Now that brings us to the studio where the Anniversary CD was mixed: The Power Station. Today, The Power Station is now Avatar Studios in New York and Studio A (housing a very good sounding Neve 8068 console) has been mostly left the way it was in the days of the Power Station, with the exception for whatever the flavor of the month is when it comes to recorders. However, the time period of the late 80's and early 90's was a time when digital mixing was rampant (it's back unfortunately) and this is most certainly the case with the Anniversary Mix with it's ADD designation (the second D denoting that it was mixed to a digital format). The original mix was definitely an analog reel to reel (either 1/4 or 1/2 inch master) tape.

This is significant for when you mix to analog tape, an interesting phenomenon called "crosstalk" alters the mix ever so slightly. What happens is that the left and right channels of magnetic information stored on the tape interacts with one another as higher bursts of energy on each track often co-mingle in the space between them (and sometimes even bleed over to the other track ever so slightly). The result is, believe it or not, a much more strong center image which, when done properly, creates an even sound field. A technical engineer would say that this is a negative and undesirable side-effect of analog mixing since it is not what the engineer was hearing at the console outputs. However, a musical engineer would recognize that crosstalk is a beneficial thing to the music and the listener and would listen to the mix through the repro heads on the machine as it is being recorded so as to know exactly what is being committed to tape.

Digital mixes of the time of the remix are often sterile and severely lack the dynamic range and character present on that old "inferior" analog tape. What I have noticed in the Anniversary mix is a more cautious mix that fears sounds that jump run and play. The original tracks and comps were so good and whole (as well as limited; the drums were premixed to L and R tracks only) that only balancing, some compression here and there, and some time based effects were needed to complete the remix. However, the compression is perhaps a tad overdone, thusly preventing the mix to "live" as much as the original.

The original mix's reverb (really noticeable on the guitars) take more risks (and wins) and is either an EMT plate reverb or a live chamber (if Criteria had one). The predelay on the reverb might have been provided via a spare mix deck's repro head before the signal went to the reverb. While digital reverb was the rage at the time of the Anniversary Mix, I feel that it is likely that a plate reverb was used, but that the highs were rolled out more than on the original mix.

Give them both a comparison side-by-side and decide for yourself. Be sure to use a good copy of each (I would use at least a recent printing [Re-Master] of the original mix since the Analog to Digital converters and digital clocking are MUCH better now than at the dawn of the CD age - perhaps yet another strike against the Anniversary Mix).

After listening to all three CDs in this set, it's pretty apparent that had these guys stayed together for just two or three more albums, they'd have earned the supergroup status that they so richly deserve. This is some of the most intense, passionate, driving blues you'll ever hear, and it's an extra-special treat for Clapton fanatics like myself. Although he made it through his drug, alcohol and personal problems, the playing on this set illustrates better than anything else how his substance abuse and feelings for Patti Boyd left EC with no other way to express himself than his through guitar. Even more than "Layla," the two alternate versions of "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" on disc three are, without a doubt, the most intense, emotional, gut-wrenching cuts I've ever heard from EC in the 20+ years I've collected his music and seen him perform live. My only wish is that every purple-hiared, angry, tatooed, nose ring-wearing "modern rock" fan should be forced to listen to this set. Maybe then they'd realize that most of what they're listening to today is truly devoid of any tempo, rythm or innovative guitar work. Buy this. Trust me.

I would have to disagree with the gentleman below who likes the Original better. I have the original CD & the MSFL gold CD. I am currently listening to the SACD Hybrid which is undoubtedly the source for this remastered double CD (Disk 1). Man it is so much smoother. The veil is lifted. You can not put treble back where there was none but nevertheless this goes down like Johnny Walker Blue Label. Smooth. I much prefer this to the original. I have lived with the original for 30 years & I like it but todays electronics are so much better. Thanks to whoever spent the time to restore this classic album. This & Wheels of Fire sort of define an era. EC will be here in Bangkok the night of Jan 15 2007. Yeehaw!! Love you Duane.

Only three reviews below and none of them really tell anything about the product. Sure, if you're a Clapton completist, there's no way you're not going to have to have this. But what about the actual product?

First, the original album was remixed/remastered for this box. Great news, right? Wrong! The remix emphasized the guitars, while de-emphasizing the drums and bass. The result was a very disappointing mix, considering they mastered from the multitracks themselves. Remastering this album from the original multitracks was a dream come true for me, as I always thought the original mix was muddy. But there is no improvement over the original mix, in fact the contrary. In particular, compare Layla on this box with what they did on the remastered version on the Crossroads box. The Crossroads box version blows this one away! and is still the best Layla has ever sounded.

As far as the other two discs of outtakes and jams are concerned, I am happy to have them, but the fidelity is awful! Why? These should have been taken from first generation tapes, OR WERE THEY? I really doubt it. The sound is muddy, really lacking in the high end. There is precious little presence to anything in the mix. I'd bet something substantial that this was mastered from a safety copy.

So, there it is. A way to extract $ from Clapton fans, pay no new royalties or production costs, and offer a very disappointing product. Nice booklet, though.

One can hardly use too many superlatives when describing "Layla..." It is one of the essential recordings of
British blues, of '60s rock, of '70s rock (since it straddles two decades), of blues-rock, of guitar-rock, and of
rock 'n' roll in general. From the searing blues of "Key to the Highway," to the passion of "Little Wing" and
"Bell Bottom Blues," this album represents everything that Clapton fans love about him. Of course, the title
track is a musical monument in its own right, and its two halves (driving blues-rock opening, soothing but
emotional instrumental coda) neatly summarize the entire album. And, you know it's a great record when you
find yourself loving lesser-known album tracks even better than its radio classics. "Keep on Growing" and
"Anyday" are, in this reviewer's humble opinion, simply transcendent.

When people insist on listening to "classic rock" stations, and claim that no one makes good records
nowadays, "Layla" may very well be what they have in mind. It's what great rock is supposed to be.

Who knew they could make one of the all time greatest albums ever, even better? Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs is one of the most powerful, uplifting, deppresing, intence and beautiful pieces of music ever recorded. The musician ship is uncomparable to anyother. Eric Clapton's guitar playing was never better and was never filled with more emotion then here, and Duane Allman never played better slide guitar then he did on this record. Together you get two of the all time best guitarists ever playing together weaving in and out of each others leads and solos sewing one of the all times best guitar albums ever! Not to mention one of the all time best albums period and one of my all time favorites.

Disc two is full of live studio jams of the band jsut letting loose. Which is something all hardcore Clapton and Allman fans will love. The really cool thing about thses jams is that on a few of them The Allman Brothers Band comes into the studio and jam with Clapton and The Dominos, which makes for an interesting jam session. Not to mention anything with Dickie Betts on guitar is amazing and the three of these guys together well thats just like heaven for a guitar player to listen to.

The third and final disc is full of outtakes and early versions of songs which is cool. To hear how songs developed into what they were on the album. The guitar interplay on these songs is almost better then that of the songs on the album which is saying a lot concedering how amazing the album was, and still is to this day.

My only complaint is that the bands live album wasnt part of this set, but with or without it this is an amazing collectiong of music and guitar playing. Those who say you have to be a hardcore Clapton fan to enjoy this well I dont know abou that, but then again I am a hardcore Eric Clapton fan so there goes my argument. But either way no rock or blues or guitar collection should be with out the original album weather you get this version or the other, and you cant call yourself a guitar player if you dont own this album in some form.

I have the original release of this box set; the black box set... it's interesting to hear the evolutions of the songs as they are worked out in the studio; esp. with Duane Allman there for much of it; it was a suggestion from him to EC that made "Layla" the song of a generation instantly recognized by anyone that has taken a breath in the last 28 years! I enjoy the Jams (esp the "Tell The Truth" Jam) and the unfinished songs too! Really fine guitar work! If you like Clapton GET THIS CD!