Customer Reviews

Time Pieces: Best of Eric Clapton

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this disc used for a great price and it is more than worth it. It gives me a Clapton fix when I need it and delivers a great group of his songs/hits. If I want more, I know there are other albums with Clapton that will fill the void that this album leaves but I have no problem with this one. If you are a Clapton disciple, you might buy this one but you'll surely own much more, too. If you just need a jolt of Clapton, grab this one.

When I was getting into guitar playing and music and Clapton and all I bought this and it was a really good intro into the world of Clapton and blues guitar. You get a lot of good clapton songs here like the D+D classic 'Layla' and the killer songs 'Wonderful Tonight' and 'Cocaine' all three of which were mega hits, but anyways those songs are great and all the songs on here but you must dive into Claptons albums to get his best work. But this is a great way to start.

For those not quite sure on whether or not Eric Clapton is for you, then this album is a good place to start. The eleven tracks on this album from the 70's are indeed some of Clapton's greatest moments despite being during his torrid drug and alcohol abusing days.

This is a excellent introduction to Clapton and after listening to it you should know whether the rock/blues style of Clapton is for you. For those who already appreciate Clapton's genius and wish to have a comprehensive compilation album, then you may wish to give "The Cream of Clapton" a listen - it has 19 tracks, 8 more than this album. Cream of Clapton also encompasses some of his Cream hits and includes hits from the 60's-80's. However his most successful and critically aclaimed decade was the 70's -and every track on Time Pieces is highly commendable.

The reason I chose to buy this album once [again] while already owning 1995's "Cream Of Clapton", which includes classic Cream material from the '60's, then his solo hits up to 1981, and 1999's "Clapton Chronicles-Best Of"-his recent material from the '80's to '90's, is that I was extremely disapointed to learn that "The Cream Of" left off one my favorite Clapton classics "Lay Down Sally", as well as his version of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", and something else I had never heard of before which I don't like as much, "Willie And The Hand Jive". The other 8 songs are included on "Cream", so it's really just the former two that I like being the reason this collection is a must. That said, I own this CD again, and I like it for the two that "Cream" doesn't have, but after looking over "Time Pieces 2-Live In The '70's", I've decided to skip that one. Nobody's written about it yet, anyway. So there it is. Now I shall proceed to write my reviews of the other two compilations, coming soon to a webpage near you!

This is one of the most lively cds I have ever had.The songs in it are like gems. The best thing about clapton is that he is a perfectionist, he borrows raw songs from friends like J J Cale(After Midnight, Cocaie) and polishes them and make them perfect for the listener. Not only that he is good at improving other people's songs, but he is also the master of writing wonderful songs( Layla, Wonderful Tonight, Lay Down Sally) that are real music to one's ears. All the songs in this compilation are lively and ever green for those who know what the music really is.

Starting with Layla, this collection pretty much puts all of Clapton's most worthwhile tracks of music from the past several decades on one cd. These are the more recent classics and this is a very good album. I especially liked Wonderful Tonight, which is a very beautiful song.

However, with the exception of Layla, none of these songs feature any particularly clever or extraordinary guitar playing. VH-1 recently did a survey of music critics and musicians to list the 100 greatest rock guitarists of all time and Clapton was listed as No. 1, ahead of Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana??!! If that survey was conducted in 1975, I would not object to Clapton being placed in the top five, but in the year 2000, come on! Name some artist who Clapton has significantly influenced - I can't think of a single one. He simply has not shown any remarkable guitar skills in the past quarter century on any of his albums. If you have heard of Clapton's prowess as a guitarist and are seeking audio proof of his skills, you won't find much of it here. These are by and large, songs that were hits on the radio. If you want to hear examples of Clapton's work when he truly was a great guitarist, buy Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, when he was the lead guitarist with legendary Brit bluesman John Mayall. Additionally, buy all of Cream's albums.

To summarize, a strong album displaying Clapton's talent at writing popular songs that received much radio airtime. This is not the cd for music fans looking for examples of the man's [former] brilliance on the guitar.

This is a fossil - and I don't mean Eric Clapton - although he is approaching 64 - but rather the 11-12 track CD from a major label [Polydor/Universal Music Group in this case] with absolutely no liner notes. Why spend the amount asked for this when, for a few dollars more you can get a decent multi-track compilation? For example, The Cream Of Clapton, also from Polydor but with 18 tracks. There are others like that with all or most of the songs contained in this one if you search carefully.

On the other hand, the AAD sound on this release is excellent, and it does give you nine of his best hits registered from 1970 to 1980 for Atco and RSO. This includes his only # 1 Billboard Hot 100, I Shot The Sheriff, from 1974, and the second charted version of Layla [the nickname of Patty Boyd who was George Harrison's wife from 1966 to 1974, and then was married to Clapton from1 1979 to 1988]. Both were billed as Derek & The Dominos, a group which also included Duane Allman, and the initial shorter single went to # 51 Hot 100 in the spring of 1971. The one presented here is the 7:10 LP version from the Derek & The Dominos Atco album "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs" which peaked at # 10 in July 1972.

Indeed, the only significant [Top 40 Bot 100] selections from that period NOT presented here are 1976's Hello Old Friend which reached # 24, 1979's Watch Out For Lucy, the flip of Promises [# 6 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 9 Hot 100] and a # 40 on its own, and 1980's Tulsa Time, his cover of the Don Williams 1978 Country hit which made it to # 30 [they include the flipside, Cocaine, which is regarded as a "follow-along" hit]. His rendition of Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door, although released as a single in 1975, did not chart, while Swing Low Sweet Chariot comes from the 1975 LP "There's One In Every Crowd."

To sum up, if you are searching for only a few of Clapton's hits and they happen to be in this volume, and you don't really care about liner notes, this is a good buy. Otherwise look deeper into the Amazon vaults.

As for the charge elsewhere that Clapton was overrated, well, let's look at the facts. Starting out with The Roosters in his native U.K. in 1963 when he was just 18, he was a member of The Yardbirds from 1963 to 1965 where he was given the nickname Slowhand, then John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1965/66 followed by his formation of Cream with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce in 1966, and then Blind Faith in 1968. He also worked with John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and Delaney & Bonnie, and in 1970 formed Derek & The Dominos. He was inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame in 2000. Certainly not the history of an "overrated" guitarist.

While the joke about Clapton (like coffee) sucking without Cream isn't true, he certainly made his best work in the '60's. Which is why I'd point any Clapton newbie to The Cream of Clapton, rather than Timepieces, since it contains not only all of his solo hits (which are a mixed bag, I'll admit, but there are some good ones), but also offers up a few Cream, Blind Faith and Dominoes tracks. This mainly focuses on solo Clapton, other than Layla (with Derek & the Dominoes - NOT the only good song the band recorded!) This can be good - after all, you get After Midnight, I Shot the Sheriff, Let It Grow, Cocaine and Lay Down Sally. But on the other end of the scale, Wonderful Tonight, Promises, and his take on Knockin' on Heaven's Door - not bad, just mediocre. And I'm sorry, but Wonderful Tonight and Promises are hellspawn - along with I've Got a Rock 'n' Roll Heart (sounds like he never frickin' PLAYED rock), they constitute my Axis of Clapton's Evil. The absence of Let It Rain SHOULD be an enormous red flag, since it's far and away the single best song of his solo career. Motherless Children is also missed, and as I said before, a few '60's tunes would've been appreciated.
This is completely worthless now that The Cream of Clapton exists, but if that's considered contraband where you live (but this one isn't - hey, stranger things have happened), Timepieces makes for a good alternative.

...not only is this the perfect auto CD as the Amazon reviewer above indicates, it's the perfect CD for those people who have much more to do than sifting thru a five CD box set looking for that "oh, yeah!!!" tune...all of these tunes have that quality about them. I always did love "Layla" and "I Shot the Sheriff" and "After Midnight" but, I did not recall the jam "Cocaine" when it came out....and although I did not do any and am quite aware of the song's chutzpah at the time it was recorded, I think its a great tune, period. For you ladies looking for a perfect gift for whenever and whatever you and your man seem to be celebrating, be it the holidays, anniversary, birthday...get the dude this and watch him plug up his invisible Fender to an non-existent old skool Vox and jam. He will be very, very happy, trust me.

This tape has accompanied me on every road trip I have taken. There's something about the open road and this music that just goes together. It is the nicest little compilation of a rockin' artist who continues to rock on.