Library Rock's Backpages

Eric Clapton: E.C. Was Here

Bud Scoppa, Circus Raves, December 1975

ALTHOUGH ULTIMATELY hopeful, Eric Clapton's greatest records – the towering Layla and the intimate 461 Ocean Boulevard – are liberally laced with sorrow and pain. But this transparent artist has had a much harder time extrapolating riveting music from the more tranquil periods of his life. This year's There's One in Every Crowd is superficially the twin of 461 Ocean Boulevard, its immediate predecessor; but in their dramatic payloads, the two records are polar opposites, the more recent album positively flaccid in comparison to the low-keyed but terribly intense 461.

Total word count of piece: 585

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.