Customer Reviews

Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Eric Clapton

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This is a great collection of material from the Clapton vault...some will be very famillar..but there are a few rare gems on this CD..a'la a live Derek&Dominos Crossroads. There are no modern Clapton cuts here...but for me thats ok. I always liked Clapton's more direct tone...before all these techno freeks started building pedal boards and custom amps...thats when everyone started sounding the same to me. Really, has Clapton ever sounded better than he did on the Blues Breaker album? Just a Les Paul into a Marshall combo...one of the most delious guitar tones I've ever heard. Just pop this in your cars CD player and drive.

A ten-track CD is not very impressive, not even when one song is a self-indulgent 16 minutes long (the live "Spoonful").
But if you're looking for a collection of Eric Clapton's bluesiest material, some of which is quite rare, check out this installment in the "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues" series.

This is mostly 60s and early 70s material, songs recorded by John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek & The Dominos ("Crossroads" in an eight-minute live rendition). And while this is only a fraction of the blues recorded by Eric Clapton, it shows how important Eric Clapton was in leading the blues renaissance in rock music.
Highlights include the acoustic slide guitar-fest "Mean Old World", which features the late Duane Allman, the smouldering slow blues "Have You Ever Loved A Woman", Otis Rush's "All Your Love", and the aforementioned "Crossroads", and while this is obviously not a career-spanning compilation, it would be a very nice supplement for the "mid-level" fan who wants to dig a little deeper.

This CD basically covers 3 phases of Clapton's career
The first phase would be John Mayall. The second would be Cream and the third would be Derek and the Dominoes.
The first phase includes "All your love" and "Steppin out" both are very solid however, from his Mayall days he does several other songs that are just as worthy. One would he "Hideaway" and another would be "Ramblin on my mind"
Next as I said is his Cream phase. Rollin and Tumblin is a shortened version of Robert Johnson's "If I had possession over Judgement Day" I would recommend the version on "Me and Mr. Johnson much more than I would this one.
I'm so Glad is a Cream anthem and I'm not even sure it is blues. They could have made a better choice here. Like maybe "From four until late" for instance.
There is a song with Howlin' Wolf that to me is not very interesting.
From the Dominoes phase they have picked "Have you ever loved a woman" which to this day could be his finest moment with the blues. He still does it in concert.
"Mean old World" is next and it is with Duane Allman on acoustic slide guitar. I like thie duet a lot.
And finally he does "Crossroads" which to me is good but the Cream version on Wheels of Fire is much better.
This is still a very good blues album. It is for collectors like myself. It is worthy of any blues collection.

This doesn't do Eric's blues work justice. It's way too brief and
some of the ssongs included are debatable.
And that no Yardbirds era track is included is a shame.
If you want to have Eric's Blueswork only- you should get
Bluesbrakers with Eric Clapton
Blues (2cd collecting many of his blues nmbers culled from albums
between 1970 -1992, far from perfect, but still quite good)
From the Cradle
Me And Mr. Johnson
Riding With The King
Sessions for Robert J.

CD in excellent condition as advertised. Delivery was fast and service was great, would buy from this seller again. CD has some good songs on it but I find myself skipping past the first half of the album. CD recommended for hardcore Clapton fans but not the average listener.