[Slowhand] Re: "70th Birthday Concert"

[DeltaNick]

>> Well, considering that everything in art is about sensibility, let's say 

>> that there's another opinion witch is Eric plays better since 1993 than 

>> he did in his all carreer. And this opinion is shared by many people (of 

>> my generation ?). He could have smoked anybody at the Crossroad festival. 

>> Actually he even smoked Jeff Beck for the first time of his life. I 

>> confess that highlights as Don't Think Twice (Bob fest), From the cradle

(album + tour), St James Infirmary with Doc John, All along the watchtower 
(with Lenny Kravitz in '99) to name just a few , mooved me much more than 
any Cream or Derek D tapes. The main difference with the early days is that 
guitar is not influencing the course of modern Music anymore. <<

Some of these are excellent examples from what I think is Clapton's second 
guitar period: 1992-1996. While I agree that Bob Fest, "From The Cradle and 
the Nothing But The Blues tour, and "Duets" with Dr. John are excellent 
examples of EC's guitar playing from the last 14 years, they are the high 
points of a too-short and spotty period, during which EC showed promise 
again as a guitar player working his way toward the cutting edge. I'm not 
especially impressed by the "Crossroads Guitar Festival" and less than 
impressed with"All Along The Watchtower" with Lenny Kravitz, both of which 
took place later on.

EC's second guitar period was a good period, but it lasted too short a time. 
Also, his style had changed so much that he depended less and less on the 
cascading lyrical style that characterized the earlier period, and his 
breathtaking and patented "stretch vibrato," that only he could play so 
well. There are several other techniques that he no longer employs, 
indicating to me that his technique ain't quite what it used to be. This 
limits his guitar playing options. During this second guitar period, Clapton 
depended more and more on three- and four-note repetitive patterns, which he 
still plays over and over nowadays, and never did in the earlier period, 
except during a fanfare at the end of a song, as on the official live 
version of "Sitting On Top Of The World." Furthermore, Clapton was always 
noted as a very neat and tidy player: his guitar articulation was always 
near perfect. I've noticed that this isn't the case any more: he's quite a 
bit sloppier today.

It was also a rather spotty period. Listen to his 1995 Nothing But The Blues 
performances, and you will see that he already began petering out, with less 
and less heavy lifting, compared to 1993 and 1994. After that, he pretty 
much backed off and became the guitarist he'd been since the '70s, with 
little perceptible change and no innovation. The late '90s pretty much 
proved the same, I think. There was also some hope during the 2004 tour, but 
it really went nowhere.

On a non-guitar note, ever since "Pilgrim," his studio albums have also been 
largely lackluster, and each successive one sells less than the last. Last I 
heard, "Back Home" hadn't even sold 250,000 copies. And yes, I bought one of 
'em. I think it's in the trunk of my car. This is not meant to indicate that 
I think EC's washed up as an artist. He has a habit of pulling rabbits out 
of hats, but he hasn't done it in a long while. I still like Clapton's 
music, most of it anyway, which also has had its ups and downs, but it seems 
to be in a fallow period as well, of late.

I think he tried harder in his younger days, and that he's way too 
comfortable today, to do really creative and quality stuff consistently. 
Although he truly enjoys performing in a live atmosphere, I think he needs 
to be hungry as well. He's simply not. He used to perform like his life 
depended on it. That ain't happened, it seems to me, in a LONG time. I would 
certainly like to see much more of the former qualities today. I think EC 
has so much potential, but he's too lazy to extract it. I think he takes the 
easy way out today, when so much of his earlier musical life was about 
exactly the opposite; he did the RIGHT thing, the RIGHT way, the HARD way, 
but it really paid off. From the heights of a passionate and cutting edge 
blues guitarist to Babyface imitator is a pretty big difference.

                DeltaNick