{"id":1548,"date":"2011-03-04T15:48:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T22:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=1548"},"modified":"2011-03-04T15:50:17","modified_gmt":"2011-03-04T22:50:17","slug":"eric-clapton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/03\/eric-clapton\/","title":{"rendered":"ERIC CLAPTON"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/strong>E<\/strong>RIC CLAPTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clapton<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

[Reprise Records]<\/p>\n

Eric Clapton has always been willing to shrug off his audience\u2019s expectations and even its desires. Fans might prefer that he crank out one guitar-heroic solo after another, but his tendency toward taste and understatement just won\u2019t let him do it. He abandoned the Yardbirds when they went too pop, Cream when the trio got too self-indulgent and Blind Faith when the supergroup got too popular too quickly. So if you\u2019re thinking that the presence on Clapton<\/em> of fellow guitar slinger Doyle Bramhall II as co-producer means that six-string fireworks are about to explode, think again. Clapton here is restrained and careful with his guitar licks, deferring to the form and structure of the mostly vintage material he addresses. Unfussy guest turns from famous names like Sheryl Crow, Steve Winwood, Derek Trucks, Wynton Marsalis and others likewise follow suit.<\/p>\n

In this relaxed setting, Clapton<\/em> deftly traces the interrelations among several strains of American music that have often fed and informed one another. An easygoing lope through Hoagy Carmichael\u2019s pop standard \u201cRockin\u2019 Chair\u201d (also once recorded by Clapton\u2019s friend George Harrison) sits easily alongside an insistent take on bluesman Melvin \u201cLil\u2019 Son\u201d Jackson\u2019s \u201cTravelin\u2019 Alone.\u201d Meanwhile, the Dixieland jazz of Fats Waller\u2019s jaunty \u201cMy Very Good Friend the Milkman\u201d finds common cause with J.J. Cale\u2019s brooding early-\u201970s number \u201cRiver Runs Deep.\u201d Clapton<\/em> stands as a unique marker in its namesake\u2019s continuing journey, one that tells us much about the way American music found its way so deeply into an English boy\u2019s heart. \u2013Chris Neal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ERIC CLAPTON Clapton [Reprise Records] Eric Clapton has always been willing to shrug off his audience\u2019s expectations and even its desires. Fans might prefer that he crank out one guitar-heroic solo after another, but his tendency toward taste and understatement just won\u2019t let him do it. He abandoned the Yardbirds when they went too pop, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[196,1060,1061,1062],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}