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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The triumphs and tragedies of Clapton presented, June 17, 2005
As the 1980's opened, Clapton seemed more tuned into the mainstream without sacrificing any of his vital bluesy guitar and his throaty vocals. The Clapton Chronicles pick up where Cream of Clapton leaves off.
The engaging radio-friendly "Forever Man" from the Phil Collins-produced Behind The Sun continued Clapton's run on the pop charts, with his signature wailing blues guitar in full form. However, it turned out to be his last Top 40 hit for a while. Also from that album was "She's Waiting" with its pounded out synths in the chorus. It ends interestingly with frenzied accompaniment by some female backing singers, snare drum and piccolo.
"It's In The Way that You Use It," from the Color of Money soundtrack and also on his August album, was the first solo song I heard from him thanks to MTV, still with the full sound of guitars, synths, saxes, and brass. Other tracks from August not on here that I enjoyed were "Run," the ballad "Holy Mother," and his duet with Tina Turner, "Tearing Us Apart," so 1986 wasn't a bad year for him.
Next he released Journeyman (1989), which critics showed as a return to form, and even his best album since Slowhand, as seen with Bo Diddley's righteous "Before You Accuse Me," which is simply marvelous pure blues, and where he gets help from Robert Cray. This album was produced by Russ Titleman, who had revitalized Steve Winwood's career with Back In The High Life and Roll With It and indeed, "Pretending" could've fit on Roll With It. Chaka Khan helps with backing vocals here, ironic as she did the same for Winwood's "Higher Love." "Bad Love" gets a boost from Phil Collins on drums and backing vocals. There's less of the synths and more traditional rock instrumentation, which explains Journeyman's reputation as Clapton's best 80's album.
Then came 20 March 1991, when his four-year old son Conor was killed in a fall. Following an extended absence, he came out with the heart-wrenching "Tears of Heaven," sung in a delicate falsetto, from the Rush soundtrack. With "Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven" and the resolve of "I must be strong and carry on/'cause i know i don't belong here in heaven" the reference is more than clear. This gave him the first of two Grammies for Best Record. The version here is the original studio version.
From the Grammy-winning Unplugged, there is the considerably slowed down version of "Layla." Its tempo is indeed a reminder of its blues roots. This peaked at #12, two positions below of its studio counterpart peak. The live version of "Running On Faith" originally from Journeyman, is also included.
His second Grammy came with the Babyface-produced "Change The World" from the Phenomenon soundtrack. This Top Five ballad had a notably more romantic and theme, albeit mellowed, and with a more with a nice pop-soul backing vocal troupe.
A handful of the songs here denote how much Clapton was sobered by his tragedy, reminded perhaps of mortality in general. "Blue Eyes Blue" from the Runaway Bride soundtrack, shows a more subdued Clapton: "it was you who put the clouds around me/It was you who made the tears fall down." "River of Tears" with its funereal airy synths by Simon Climie of Climie Fisher fame who co-produced the album Pilgrim, of a man trying to start over after a split-up, and the #16 single "My Father's Eyes," also from that album attest to that. On hearing "how could I lose him?" and "Through the distant clouds of tears/I'm like a bridge that was washed away" there is a sign that Clapton was still mourning and pouring it into these songs.
Where the 80's showed him holding steady, the 90s showed him winning more music recognition and glory, but at such a heavy price. Small wonder he was drowning in a river of tears.
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69 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Clapton as mainstream pop artist. BORING!!!!, July 24, 2003
Yikes! It's sad to think that this is what most people think of Eric Clapton as, a poppy Top-40 balladeer. Listen to this album, and you'll be befuddled as to why Clapton is considered an esteemed guitar god. Most people who buy this album probably don't even realize that Clapton is a guitarist! Sure, he's holding a guitar on the cover of Unplugged, but he probably just uses it as a prop like Elvis did. Right?That's the impression that many people are probably getting about Eric Clapton nowadays. Very sad considering how great he once was. This is a guy that was once one of the greatest guitarists in the world, second only to Jimi Hendrix. A man whose playing launched a thousand hard rock and heavy metal bands. And thirty years later, THIS is the kind of drivel that people know him by?? In my humble opinion, the only great material on this CD are the songs from Unplugged. It would make much more sense just to buy the Unplugged album. On that CD, Clapton's playing (even on acoustic guitar) is stunning and firmly rooted in the blues. The Clapton Chronicles, however, manages the feature only the least bluesy and most pop-oriented songs on Unplugged. Go figure. The songs from Journeyman are pretty good too, but missing the excellent "Old Love" featuring Robert Cray on guitar. Journeyman was an oasis of quality in a desert of slick 80's pop. That album presents us with the closest thing that The Clapton Chronicles has to a blues song: the cover of Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me. There's no way around it: Clapton's contemporary material lacks the passion and excitement of his 60's and 70's work. Someone who loves and appreciates Clapton's best work will be bored to death by this CD, and rightly so. If you want to hear the best of Eric Clapton's 80's and 90's output, then you need to toss "The Clapton Chronicles" in the garbage can and buy three CDs: Unplugged (1992), From The Cradle (1994) and Riding With The King (2000). These three albums are really the only latter-day examples of Clapton's virtuosity. From The Cradle (Clapton's best and most intense album since the early 70's) has not even a single track on this collection! It's a glaring omission that suggests that the makers of this compilation sought to ignore Clapton's status as a blues player in favor of his more radio and mainstream-friendly fare. Consequently, they have turned him into a boring AOR hack. Clapton is still capable of great things, but when he panders to pop radio like this it's easy to forget the heights that he once soared to. If you're one of the poor souls who has fallen victim to this one-sided portrayal of Eric Clapton, then here are the albums that you need to hear immediately: "Five Live Yardbirds" - The Yardbirds (1964)
"Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton" - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1966)
"Fresh Cream" - Cream (1966)
"Disraeli Gears" - Cream (1967)
"Wheels of Fire" - Cream (1968)
"Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" - Derek and the Dominos (1970)
"Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert" - Eric Clapton(1973)
"Just One Night" - Eric Clapton (1980)
"From The Cradle" - Eric Clapton (1994)
"Riding With The King" - B.B. King/Eric Clapton (2000) Those albums will give you a glimpse of what The Clapton Chronicles is sorely lacking. You will see what he is capable of when he is truly inspired, and you will never want to listen to an album like Pilgrim or August again.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The quintessential 90's Clapton, November 6, 1999
By A Customer
A lot of people might say that the album has too much recycled stuff, and that might be true. Still, it contains some of Clapton's best recent work from Unplugged and Pilgrim (Plus some soundtrack stuff!), and is an excellent example of Clapton's deviation from his Yardbirds/Dominoes days. If you are missing one of the above albums, or better yet, both, this disc is a great buy.
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