Derek and the Dominos - 'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'

 

Eric Freaking Clapton: I’ve been running hot and cold on hm for decades now, and would most likely completely despise him (for his racist comments, Covid conspiracies, innumerable mediocre solo LPs, and general lack of a chin, to say nothing of “Tears in Heaven”) were it not for the ace up his sleeve, namely 1970's 'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs' by Derek and the Dominos.  One of rock’s greatest albums, Layla offers up a vision of a Clapton one will find nowhere else. Impassioned, funky, and loose, the Clapton of Layla is a man free at last of the shackles of this supergroup or that, and he has something to prove.  Which he does, on a bunch of songs that sound as fresh, frenetic, world-weary, heartbroken, and wild as they did when they were recorded.

The story behind the double LP is well known. Clapton hooked up with a stellar cast of musicians (Bobby Whitlock on organ, piano, vocals, and acoustic guitar; Jim Gordon on drums, percussion, and piano; Carl Radle on bass and percussion; and coup of all coups, Duane Allman on guitars), all but Allman being alumni of Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, with whom Clapton, happy to be sideman for once, had been playing. Clapton and Whitlock co-wrote a good number of the originals, five were covers, and so on. The musical rapport between Clapton and Allman was, by all accounts, instantaneous, and Clapton was thrilled by his sidemen, saying later, “Carl Radle and Jimmy Gordon are the most powerful rhythm section I have ever played with” and calling Gordon “the greatest rock’n’roll drummer who ever lived.”

As for the recording sessions, we've all heard mythical stories of Clapton singing while flat on his back because he was too stoned to stand, but he was yet to become a full-fledged junkie and said later, "We kept ourselves going with… a cocktail of drink and drugs, mostly cocaine and Mandrax [in the US, Mandrax was known as Quaaludes - Ed.]. 'Mandies' were quite strong sleeping pills, but instead of letting them put us to sleep, we would ride the effect, staying awake by snorting some coke or drinking some brandy or vodka, and this would create a unique kind of high."

'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs' marked a moment of divine synchronicity, when Eric Clapton and Duane Allman got together on a whim and produced an LP that is far more than the sum of its parts.  Clapton and Allman had an unerring ability to play both against and with one another.  To my ears, Bobby Whitlock is the album’s "secret weapon", while Carl Radle and Jim Gordon nail the whole thing down without flash but with an uncanny ability to keep things both loose and tighter than a drum.

'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs' is about a classic as a classic rock album can get, it just has one problem; and that problem is the audio. The album sounds hissy, and has a poor high-end timbre.  Enter our old friend Mickboy, of 'Torn and Frayed' productions!

Those of you who freeloaded Mickboy's Rolling Stones "Remasters", know that his "remasters" sound different from and, in some cases, better the official releases. On 'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs', the "mix" sounds the same, but with better sonics.  Give it the ol' "Audiophool's" A/B test, and you'll see.

For the freeload, in a recent comment, D in California said:
"Some freeload soon, ask us about our favorite background singers :^)"
So let's go with that.