ERIC CLAPTON - Complete Clapton

Reprise/WEA

First thing to say is that the title is wrong - very wrong!! Complete, my aspidistra!! Clapton was always touted, and they allude to it in the booklet, as a guitar genius. Apart from a couple of solos in the Cream tracks, the wonderul coda to "Let It Rain" and the occasionally economic but effective blues solo, there's sod all examples of his magical guitar work on here. No, this is an album for guys who used to rock in the seventies, got married, had families, became professionals, started earning huge sums of money and wouldn't bat an eyelid on spending £40 to go and see Dire Straits play live but wouldn't ever go out to see a band at their local venue unless it was a tribute band playing something they knew. The fire has gone out of their lives, the same way you gradually see the fire disappear the more you sink into this album.

What really amazes me is just how slow, dull and sedate it all sounds - by the time I got to "Wonderful Tonight" I was looking for my pipe and slippers.

It starts on a strange note as "I Feel Free" was one of Cream's poorer efforts, and it isn't until you reach a sizzling live rendition of "Crossroads" that things really start to pick up. "Badge" for all its datedness, features this stunning guitar break half way through as a shimmering lead appears and backs the rest of the song. The Blind Faith track is great as much for Steve Winwood's vocal as the bluesy guitar work from Clapton, while "Layla" owes its entire legendary status to Duane Allman's incendiary electric slide guitar riff. Clapton's own "Let It Rain" remains as an unheralded gem of a song, a bit like a more harmonious Flamin' Groovies with a great feel, excellent vocals and superbly textured lead guitar work. After this, between dodgy cover versions, cod reggae and boring ballads, the rest of the CD becomes utter tedium.

So, over to CD 2 - now here, out of 17 tracks, I knew by name, only the acoustic version of "Layla" (which reveals what an average song the thing is without Allman), and the standard "Sweet Home Chicago". So, it starts with more pop-reggae in the form of the highly Dire Straits sounding song called "I've Got A Rock 'n' Roll Heart", the bizarre thing being the very last thing this could be termed as is "rock", unless of course we're back to that person for whom the epitome of rock has, indeed, become Dire Straits! "She's Waiting", I do like, I have to confess, as it reminds me more of "Arc Of A Diver" era Steve Winwood than anything, with a soaring vocal on a song that at least has some bite attached to it - a superb track, it has to be said. Surprisingly,. "Forever Man" also seems to have life although the female vocal harmonies take the edge off the thing, but the electric guitar solo in the middle makes up for that as Clapton shows he can still cut it if he wants to by this point in his career, the vocal way more like "Layla" than anything you've come across since you heard that track way back on CD1. "It's In The Way That You Use It" is an expansive number that sounds like across between Tom Petty and Dire Straits - not bad although I could have done without that blasted horn section, although another guitar solo makes up for that. "Miss You" just sounds like a poor man's Winwood - you can see what he was trying to do with the beefy dance-esque beats and funky horns, next to biting vocal and sliding lead guitar, but somehow it misses the mark and now just sounds horribly of its time. You're then on a trail of overly produced uptempo numbers that sound so lifeless and devoid of character, the odd ballad, some awful acoustic tracks and a tracks that feature more sugar and syrup from start to finish than a Tate & Lyle factory

So, you get to track 14 and a duet with BB King - how two legends of blues manage to sound so bland is beyond me, but they manage it here. The swinging "Sweet Home Chicago" is done as you'd expect and at least has some vitality to it - blues with feeling - but if you want a definitive version, seek out a live Foghat album. "If I had possession over judgement day" is a swinging blues built around harmonica and slide guitar riffs, largely a version of "Rollin' 'n' Tumblin'" given a new makeover, and despite the fact they've managed to suck the attack out of it, the track is OK, considering! CD 2 ends on a duet with long-time Clapton hero JJ Cale which, thankfully, is way more Cale than Clapton, altho' I still can't get Dire Straits out of my head when I hear it, which is not a good place to be, I can tell you.

So, surprisingly, CD 2 has been "selected" better than you'd give credit for, although if you stripped this down it would have made a much more palatable single CD, especially if you'd left out tracks 11 to 19 of CD 1 which are just plain awful. Tracks 1-8 and 10 of CD 1, tracks 1-14 and 15-17 of CD2 and you have amuch better single CD. Job's a good 'un!! Howver, if you want THE definitive Clapton guitar album, you're going to have to get some bright spark at Universal to put together the live versions of "Spoonful", "NSU", "Sweet Wine", "I'm So Glad" and "Steppin Out" together, start it with Jon Mayall's Bluesbreakers' "Have You Heard" and - bingo!! - one absolutely stunning Clapton album (OK- so it's a Cream album - it's still Clapton at his finest!!)

Andy Garibaldi (Dead Earnest)