elferoony Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 So I just got this record today. (C'mon, I'm only 17.) I was walking home from today and thought, materialistically, that buying a record would help give me more consciousness. Actually, I think I may be right. I was originally wary of a record that reworked 'Little Wing,' but I like the consistent feel of the album. It has a really heavy locked melody. The album feels full, and I like that. When did you guys first hear this record? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vin-erator Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I bought this record when it was released in its boxed set commemorating its 20th anniversary. I was about 23 then. I am a Clapton fan and have the majority of his releases. I listened to it over and over again for about a month. It had a significant effect on my perspective of the evolution of Rock'n'Roll. Think about it this way: Derek & the Dominos was Clapton's attempt at capturing the roots music being made by The Band. On Layla, et al, he pays tribute to the 50's (It's Too Late), Jimi Hendrix (Little Wing), Big Bill Broonzy (Key to the Highway), and releases what has been his most significant radio hit. How revolutionary a release this must have been in 1971? Vinny Cervoni vcbluzman@hotmail.com www.bluzberrypi.com www.42ndstband.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnbee Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 i got the album when it first came out (wheeze, cough, cough, creak,)and i seem to remember that it was panned by Rolling Stone magazine at that time. Goes to show you how much critics know. I love the tunes and the playing. Duane Allman and Eric Clapton playing together? Oh, to be a fly on the wall during thse sessions........... Those who can,do. Those who cannot, usually run the monitor mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I always thought it was a landmark album. BTW...it feels good to use the terms "album" and to hear a 17 year old use the term "record". "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriel E. Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I grew up with that record. My parents played it a lot when I was a little kid. Rediscovered it in my teens. A couple of years back I bought the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab remaster which sounds awesome. Still play it regularly. "You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael saulnier Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 Although this is clearly a CLAPTON album/cd... It's also features some of Duane Allman's coolest playing... the chemistry between Eric and Duane was great, and they both seemed to spur the other on... Supposedly heroin was a big issue with some of the players at this point, but the music was full of passion and fire in a way that few post-Cream Clapton efforts have been. Not only is it one of the Clapton's greatest works, it's on my personal TOP TEN list of ALL TIME albums/cd's... Why does love got to be so sad... Yeah, baby! guitplayer I'm still "guitplayer"! Check out my music if you like... http://www.michaelsaulnier.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Edwards Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I bought this two album set when it was originally released in '71. Clapton was a bit tired of being the center of attention so he was a "sideman" for a bit with Delaney and Bonnie. He loved playing with those guys so much that he repaid the favor by stealing a bunch of the band. Eric if you didn't already know can be a real SOB if he wanted to. In any case the album generally got panned in the rock press. They claimed there was too much filler and not enough good stuff, what a bunch of fools they all turned out to be. Duane and Eric turned out to be the best of heroin buddies and produced one of Erics best albums. On a side note Jim Gordon the drummer on that record killed his mother and died and is either still in jail or committed suicide in jail or something like that. Can someone correct me on this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriel E. Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 On a side note Jim Gordon the drummer on that record killed his mother and died and is either still in jail or committed suicide in jail or something like that. Can someone correct me on this one? Jim Gordon (who wrote the instrumental coda to "Layla" by the way) killed his mother with an axe during a psychotic episode. He's in permanent lockdown. Carl Radle died (of cancer I think). Duane met his end when he crashed his Harley into a peach truck. Bobby Whitlock is still playing apparently. He was a great singer. "You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fendercaster Posted October 8, 2003 Share Posted October 8, 2003 I first bought this album when it came out in 1971. My first copy of the album was on 8-track. (17 year old reader- "What the hell's an 8-track?") My gear: http://fendercaster.freeservers.com/guit3.html If you own two Lexus cars, do you have Lexi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elferoony Posted October 9, 2003 Author Share Posted October 9, 2003 An 8 track recorder? So you could lay your own overdubs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog951 Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I posted about this album over on SSS a few months back. I really don't know why I hadn't sooner, but I'd just bought it this summer for the first time. Being almost 40 years old, I'd heard a good chunk of the tunes kinda by osmosis over the years. But the songs I hadn't heard knocked me right back on my ass. Great album front to back with just super-sweet guitar tones and nice vocal harmony all over it. I saw a documentary this morning on Tom Dowd, the guy who produced this album (among a zillion other huge records) called "Tom Dowd and the Language of Music." It's almost required viewing for big fans of Layla. Check it out if you get a chance. None more black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fendercaster Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 An 8 track recorder? So you could lay your own overdubs? No, 8-track as in 8-track player, the precursor to cassettes. (10 year old reader- "What the hell's a cassette?") My gear: http://fendercaster.freeservers.com/guit3.html If you own two Lexus cars, do you have Lexi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I've been a Clapton fan for years, but I just bought the album last year after hearing "Bell Bottom Blues" on the radio. I always avoided this album because I thought all of the songs would be like Layla, which I love, but it's been played to death. This is truly an amazing album that every rock fan should own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasticsound Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I listen to the original version of the song, Layla, and wonder how anyone can appreciate that cr*p EC released as a "new" version in the 1980's. The original screams of the longing EC had for his good friend's wife, Patty Harrison. You can hear the urgency and stress in the guitar, vocal, and lyrics. The '80's version... I don't know what the heck that's about. Just sounds like a wimp with no passion for the woman he supposedly is tore up over. Figures that the "new" version was a bigger hit. I was tickled pink upon learning the opening riff to the original, way back in 1984, over a decade after the album had initially come and gone. It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Edwards Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I'm sure this is not news to most of you but most of EC's guitar on Layla was recorded with a Fender Champ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darklava Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Bellbottom blue's a bag of goodie's a bottle of wine,oh to be 16 The story of life is quicker then the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlChuck Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I also got it immediately upon its release (November 1970). I was already a stone Clapton fanatic and that album started my Duane Allman fascination. To this day I still listen to this album and it remains as fresh and raw and full of magic as it ever did. In the light of all his later work, it's almost as if Clapton poured out the entire contents of his artistry into these sessions and, afterwards, had nothing much left to draw upon. I had a chance to see them at the Fillmore East in December '70 but I had never gone to a concert yet and I was a bit on the young side and a bit chicken to go into the big city so I held back and didn't go, to my later regret (if you've ever heard the live recordings of Derek and the Dominoes, Clapton was playing great). I did get to see the Allman Brothers Band the next summer, though, at a movie theatre in Huntington, NY, in that period right around the release of the great live album At Fillmore East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Couch Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 I got it the day after it was released (late 1970 as I recall). Best record(s)Clapton ever did IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_dup3 Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 Originally posted by fantasticsound: ...I was tickled pink upon learning the opening riff to the original, way back in 1984, over a decade after the album had initially come and gone. To also quote Paul Edwards, "This may not be news to most of you but..." that riff was one of the many sometimes overlooked contributions from the band members; in this case Allman (I've heard), who derived it from a speeded up Albert King lick. I think one of the albums strongest points is the singing of Bobby Whitlock. My personal fevorite track is the 'Viking-ship-cutting-through-the-sea' opening of "Little Wing"---surely Hendrix would've loved this revamp! [bTW, this was not the first time Eric leaned on King; photos shot of him in studio recording Disraeli Gears show him listening to Albert King LPs in between tracking his solos & a listen to the songs betrays the debt.(Hey we all copy our heroes!)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlChuck Posted October 11, 2003 Share Posted October 11, 2003 The passion that inhabits the songs, most obvious in "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?"... man, I miss that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaterMan Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 I had almost given up on the "youts" of today until I heard that a 17 yr. old is getting inspiration from Layla. No thrashing, no shredding, no naked women on MTV (OK that last one would have been cool), just great songs with melodies and rhythm played with feeling and talent. Layla is, I believe, the best rock guitar album ever made. Congratulations, elferoony, for helping to save a generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antimatter Posted October 13, 2003 Share Posted October 13, 2003 What gets me is that Duane was only 23 and EC only 24. GREAT STUFF! Good to see the music catching on with the young musicians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Dan Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 for those who missed it, there's a documentary on Tom Dowd that covers a bit on the recording sessions, as well as the rest of his great contributions to music it will air again on the Sundance Channel Oct. 21, I believe. here's the film site: http://www.thelanguageofmusic.com/ Peace "music heals" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantasticsound Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 Does the documentary talk about the re-mastering they did for the EC box set, 8 or 10 years ago? Apparently, they recorded track after track after track of guitar parts for Layla, and either the track sheets were lost, stolen, or just plain incomplete. When they approached the task of recreating the original mixes, it became apparent that an exact or near exact re-master would be impossible. They had used manual-mute-automation (Several people performing choreographed muting... how times have changed!) to edit many guitar tracks into the mix we grew up with on album. I'd love to hear someone's personal take on the recording and mix sessions for Layla. It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman Soundclick fntstcsnd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_dup3 Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 It's not a comment on the tracking or mixing, per se, but apparently one quality of the engineers at Criteria in that period was that they followed the same basic set-ups & methods. This allowed them to smoothly step in for one another when necessary, as in the reportedly marathon sessions for this disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudcat Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Hate to nit-pick, but as great as this album is, there is one bit that sends me over the top every time I hear it. Duane Allman's slide playing at the end of Layla (over the long piano section). To quote Pat Travers, "He's so friggin' out of tune!"* Right up to that point I totally love the song, but the slide work on that section is awful. It doesn't sound a thing like Duane's playing. Does this bother anyone else or am I just being picky? (*This quote is from an early eighties GP article. It was obvious Pat Thrall wouldn't last long with Travers when he was praising Allman's playing in the same issue where Travers was slamming it ). Mudcat's music on Soundclick "Work hard. Rock hard. Eat hard. Sleep hard. Grow big. Wear glasses if you need 'em."-The Webb Wilder Credo- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretzel logic Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 I remember reading somewhere that Duane made up the layla riff on the fly. "I looked away" and "I am yours" are great songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlChuck Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 That part at the end of Layla, sure, there are moments when it's a little off there in the intonation department, but on the whole the effect is perfect, and it's beautiful, and it works, so fuck Pat Travers, what does he know anyway? Pat Thrall, now I would trust his opinion, but Travers??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demarc Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 That solo over the piano is one of the top ten solo's in my book. It sings to me! It tears at my heart strings. Cries a melancholy song that I cannot put into words. Check out some handcrafted guitars: http://home.mindspring.com/~grus/guitars.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMcGuitar Posted October 15, 2003 Share Posted October 15, 2003 Originally posted by Mudcat: Hate to nit-pick, but as great as this album is, there is one bit that sends me over the top every time I hear it. Duane Allman's slide playing at the end of Layla (over the long piano section). To quote Pat Travers, "He's so friggin' out of tune!"* Right up to that point I totally love the song, but the slide work on that section is awful. It doesn't sound a thing like Duane's playing. Does this bother anyone else or am I just being picky? (*This quote is from an early eighties GP article. It was obvious Pat Thrall wouldn't last long with Travers when he was praising Allman's playing in the same issue where Travers was slamming it ).I find that the intonation issues add to my appreciation of it. It has a raw, emotional quality that way that speaks to me more than (I believe) perfect intonation would. I suppose there is some parallel to the fact that I like a lot of blues where things like inexact intonation and 1/4-step bends are pretty common. It's obviously just a matter of taste. I happen to like it. May all your thoughts be random! - Neil www.McFaddenArts.com www.MikesGarageRocks.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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