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

In my 'Every Picture Tells a Story' post, I asked everyone to guess what my next essential classic rock album would be.

So, Congratulations go to "apauling" who guessed this was the album I would post.  An honorable mention goes to "D in California" for guessing it would be Eric Clapton.  Let's give them a round of applause!

1970’s 'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs' is without doubt one of Rock’s greatest albums.

After the "supergroup" hype surrounding Blind Faith, Eric Clapton decided to downplay his fame and so was born in 1970 Derek and the Dominoes and the 'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs', a double LP that initially flopped.  Many people today forget that, but flop it did.  It didn't help that it was a costly double LP by an "unknown" group.  Few had heard of Derek and Dominos nor did many know that "Derek" was Eric, until word spread on "the street" and Atlantic Records began taking a more active role promoting it.  Actually, the record was a Polydor U.K. production licensed to Atlantic Records and that too might have hindered the initial promotion drive. 

At the time of its release, I was living in Boston, and made aware of it by the owner of my local record store, who showed me the album, and put in the store's sound system.

We've all heard the stories of Clapton singing while flat on his back because he was too stoned to stand from the booze, the coke, the Quaaludes (Mandrax if you live outside the USA) etc. etc.

Along with Eric we have Duane Allman on most of it plus the true "all-star" rhythm section of Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock and Jim Gordon.  And then there's Rita Coolidge (Jim Gordon's then girlfriend) who wrote in her autobiography, that she wrote the beautiful piano coda to the song, "Layla", and was not credited, or earned one penny from it.

So for your dinning and dancing pleasure, todays freeload is not one, not two, but three different versions of 'Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'.

This is a 24-bit 96kHz vinyl rip from a pretty great pressing

This is the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab SACD in 24-bit 48Hz

This is a really nice Japanese limited edition reissue, from 2017

For the freeload, what are your favorite love songs?