Eric Clapton

In diese Kategorie fällt ebenso das zart besaitete "Modern Girl": sacht gezupft, dezent von Percussion durchsetzt, anschmiegsam die Stimme. Und zu relaxt-swingendem Honky Tonk-Piano und DooWop-Chorus, "Find Myself". Weiter greift "Travellin' Light" zurück, wieder mal knöpft sich Clapton da mit sicherem Gespür ein souverän forciertes Stück aus dem Song-Katalog von J.J. Cale vor, das ihm passt wie ein Maßanzug von Armani. Und natürlich kommt der Blues nicht zu kurz: Aus voller Kehle und mit gospeligem Background-Chor intoniert er Ray Charles' schwerblütigen Oldie "Come Back Baby" oder, mit extra kernigen Vocals, "Broken Down". Fett groovt der Klassiker "Got You On My Mind", ganz und gar blue mäandert "I Wanna Little Girl" dahin. Dezentes Swamp-rock-Feeling offenbart "Second Nature", respektabel münzt er Stevie Wonders "Ain't Gonna Stand For It" zum souligen Uptempo-Bluesrock um.

Eric Clapton bietet mit Producer Simon Climie nicht die großen Überraschungen, aber einen vielfältigen, wohl temperierten Repertoire-Streifzug und weit mehr als nur solides Handwerk, woran die schon seit Jahren für ihn aktive Crew von Gitarrist Andy Fairweather-Low über Bassist Nathan East und Drummer Steve Gadd bis zu Keyboarder Joe Sample gehörigen Anteil hat. Dass zum Finale das schwerelos-filigrane "Son & Sylvia" als zweites Instrumentalstück "Reptile" abrundet, signalisiert: Clapton muss sich und der Welt nichts mehr beweisen. --Claus Böhm

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Enjoy it on its own merits!      5 von 5 Punkten
When Eric Clapton and B.B. King planned the production of the album that would eventually become "Riding With The King," they scheduled three months of studio time - much to B.B. King's team's surprise because the King of Blues usually takes much less than that to finish an album. And lo'n behold, they were done in roughly a month, recording almost exclusively live, with very little editing involved. So Clapton decided to "tag on" an album of his own and take advantage of the outstanding group of musicians they had assembled, and the magical atmosphere of the cooperation with them. He had however, he says, "underestimated" how big exactly the effect of B.B. King's presence had been, and things just didn't seem to go together anymore as they had before. Besides, there didn't seem to be a real theme and a purpose to the album. So he took a break from recording and, when meeting with relatives in Canada, was reminded of his uncle Adrian (a.k.a. "Son") who had recently passed away, and whom he hadn't seen at all during the last years before Adrian's death; although growing up, this had been one of the most influential persons in his life. Like those of many outstanding musicians, Eric Clapton's albums often reflect the stage he is in in life; and remembering his uncle, it suddenly became clear to him that his new album had to be a re-examination of his early years, and of his relationship with "Son," a "local James Dean," as Clapton recently described him to Rolling Stone Magazine, and a true "Reptile" (i.e., "one of the guys") of his native Ripley.

I think it is important to take an album for what it is and not look for things which, given the album's history and meaning to the artist who has recorded it, cannot be there. This is obviously neither "Layla" nor "Fresh Cream" nor "Journeyman." Clapton has long since made his mark on blues and rock music, with these and other albums, with and without psychedelia (and he has never really been comfortable with the God-like status to which he was elevated early on anyway). He is no longer chasing Pattie Harrison. He has overcome drug and alcohol abuse; recovery from the latter prompting the doubtlessly difficult separation from his family in Ripley, including and in particular his uncle Adrian. He has founded "Crossroads" and taken control of both his private and his business life. His personality has evolved, and he doesn't exclusively have to rely on his music any longer to express what he wants to say. ("The only personality I had was within my fingers," he told Rolling Stone Magazine about his years with Cream and Blind Faith. "I could play it, but I couldn't say it. When we didn't have a song, I'd just think, 'Let's get stoned.' Which we did when we didn't know what we were doing.")

"Reptile" reflects the joy of Eric Clapton's cooperation with outstanding musicians such as long-time friends Andy Fairweather Low, Billy Preston, Steve Gadd and Nathan East ... and, yes, the Impressions, whom Clapton values so much that he has already announced that they will be featured on his next album, too. Clapton has called "Reptile" an "electric unplugged album" (with an "unplugged" feeling, but "plugged in" instruments) and compared its production to that of "461 Ocean Boulevard," his comeback studio album of 1974, in that during the recording of both albums, he and the other musicians would jam a lot, just playing songs of other artists they liked, and a fair share of those covers eventually made it into the final cut of the album. J.J. Cale's "Travelin' Light," Ray Charles's "Come Back Baby," James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" and Stevie Wonder's "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" are examples here, and Clapton impresses his very own mark on each of them. And although he took some time to remix the album after the initial recording, it still maintains much of the atmosphere present during its production (witness, for example, that spontaneous "Have mercy!" at the end of "Come Back Baby.")

But the album wouldn't be named for Eric Clapton's uncle (and dedicated to him and his wife Sylvia) if it wasn't, in large parts, also about the singer-guitarist's re-evaluation of the things that influenced him in his youth. Hence, songs such as the instrumental title track (which is a bossa nova because, Clapton says, he just loves Brazilian music), the closing and likewise instrumental "Son & Sylvia," "Believe in Life" and, of course, "Find Myself," written early on but finding its true purpose only when the album took its final direction. Despite all this, and its tributes to different musical styles - including those favored by Clapton's uncle - the one thing this album is not is "retro" (Clapton actually fought the record company to keep it from going down that path). It's as much a catalyst for its maker's emotions and state of mind as any of his other albums over the course of the past decades; it's also, blues and beyond, just plain good music ... and incidentally, as if this needed any emphasis at all, Clapton's powers as a guitarist are still fully in place, as not only evidenced on this album but also during his recent live appearances (with the added benefit of a large screen, concert venue permitting, giving fans an up-and-close view of the man's fretboard wizardry). This album should be enjoyed on its own merits, not on those of Clapton's numerous past laurels, uniquely important as they are - and on these terms, there is plenty to enjoy indeed.

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Boogie-Woogie aus der guten alten Zeit, Rock der fünfziger Jahre sind die zentralen Orientierungspunkte für Tracks wie "Slow Down Linda" (das wie eine zweites "Lay Down Sally" klingt) oder das an Eddie Cochran erinnernde "Man in Love" und "The Shape You're In", das ein gelungenes Wechselspiel zwischen Clapton und Lee präsentiert. Covers von Albert Kings Erfolgssong "Crosscut Saw" und "Everybody Oughta Make a Change" von Sleepy John Estes bringen die besten Blues-Passagen, während der Blues "Crazy Country Hop" von Johnny Otis, der von der Pionierzeit der Schwarzfahrer auf Güterzügen handelt, diese LP der leisen Töne mit geradezu einem Knalleffekt beendet. --James Rotondi

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Super      5 von 5 Punkten
Diese Scheibe ist vor mittlerweile 20 Jahren erschienen. E.C. hatte gerade eine Entziehungskur hinter sich und hatte bei der Produktion seiner ersten Platte für die neue Plattenfirma offensichtlich Spass an der Sache. Man merkt Ihm einfach an, dass der Blues und der Rock'N'Roll ihm im Blut liegen. Der grösste Hammer kommt zum Schluss mit dem „Crazy country hop". Wer hätte zu der Zeit gedacht, das Clapton mal so ein Stück aufnimmt? Inzwischen wissen alle, dass er immer wieder auch neue Wege versucht. Auch wenn das nicht allen Gefällt, es sei ihm gegönnt. Immerhin ist er nach wie vor einer der besten Guitaristen der Welt.

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