Confession time first: I have not bought an album from Eric Clapton since his collaboration with B.B. King, Riding With The King, in 2000 (little-known fact: that album's title song was written and recorded almost two decades earlier by one of my musical heroes, John Hiatt). Do I not love Clapton's work? Sure, I do. Other things constantly seemed to get in the way during the past 10 years or so, though. Middling reviews for Reptile and my overall lack of interest in cover albums (Me and Mr. Johnson) being the two biggest issues; Clapton just kind of fell of my radar. How does this album do? 13 of its 14 tracks are covers songs, but Clapton has done such a great job of choosing songs that he can truly make his own--and that are mostly fairly obscure enough not to be firmly associated with some other major artist--that I was not even sure they were covers until I started researching.
The album starts off with a Cream-style blues jam in "Travelin' Alone." Along the way to the old standard, "Autumn Leaves," Eric takes us on a teaching journey of blues styles: the minimalism of J.J. Cale's "River Runs Deep," the Dixieland of "My Very Good Friend the Milkman" and "When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful," the swampiness of "Crazy About You Baby," and the utter laid-back feel of "Rocking Chair." The sole new track Clapton wrote for this album is the blues-infused rock of "Run Back to Your Side," and it fits in almost perfectly with this collection of old and very old songs.
Clapton's back, but I guess he never really went away. He's an older and (hopefully) wiser man with less need to show off than he had 30 or more years ago. He seems these days to enjoy just singing and playing a great song and letting it stand on its own merits. He is not afraid to let his sidemen take center stage, either, on occasion. I compare the cover of this album with that of Journeyman, the first Clapton album I ever bought: similar concepts of Clapton's head against a dark background. He is now grayer, more wrinkled and wears glasses, but his talent is still nearly peerless. If you like blues or blue-rock, you need to put this album on your "Buy" list.
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