From your mouth to God's ear .
Eric Clapton reveals this week of his declining health
The King of Electric Guitar this week, Eric Clapton, announced to the news media that he is just about completely deaf from severe tinnitus and is suffering nerve damage to his hands that will in just a matter of time compromise his ability to play. When Clapton goes it will be the end of the Rock era as we know it.
Years ago, B.B.King was asked at a press conference who he thought was the greatest rock guitarist of all time, he replied,
"My personal opinion?..."Eric Clapton is the greatest rock and roll guitar player of all time." 1986
Years ago, B.B.King was asked at a press conference who he thought was the greatest rock guitarist of all time, he replied,
"My personal opinion?..."Eric Clapton is the greatest rock and roll guitar player of all time." 1986
104 responses Add your response
I think the era of Rock and Roll is gone. I used to enjoy watching the Grammys on tv. All they have now is pop music and genres related to Black culture. If your into rap or similar genres good on you. Not my thing. All the music I would listen to is disappearing as all the giants of the rock era are gone or on the way out because of their age.Its sad. |
making every note countWell said creamman. He has also surrounded himself withself with great musicians over the years and always made them tow their load with solos and their particular skill set in his songs, particularly while on stage. Seeing Clapton live is a real treat and I am fortunate to have seen him several times over several decades. |
I've been fortunate to have seen Clapton live many times through all stages of his musical career....starting with Cream and still strongly feel his musical journey is truly astonishing. As a musician myself, I view his approach to playing not unlike Miles Davis.....whom I saw a number of times...a true genius.....though for me, the similarities were in their approach in that it was always equally important when not to play a note....it's not about speed, which too many young guitarists think....but rather making every note count, that's why EC's solo's are so recognizable and memorable,,,..they're integral to the song and not merely about showmanship. Ginger Baker once said, it was always about the music. That's also why why his good friend and fellow guitarist George Harrison, whom I admire enormously as well for his body of work....also had EC play on his signature song....George recognized EC's incredible talent for bringing something special to every song. As others have noted, EC always credits those who came before him and his quite comfortable handing it off to the next generation of great young guitarists.....that speaks volumes about his character. |
Young Clapton was amazing, but old Clapton has been mailing it in fo some years - the slow version of Layla??!! But his last album, 'I Still Do' proved that he still can. Impressive on vinyl (double 45 rpm). Have seen him live many times and was glad to see he could still dredge up some of the old fire. |
IMHO Clapton was at his best with Cream. I saw them in 1968. 3 supreme masters on one stage. There are many great guitarists who have never reached Mr. Claptons level of fame. I live near DC, which spawned some of the best: Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, (both deceased-seen them both), Link Wray, Tom Principato(still performing). Then there is Larry Carlton, Walter Becker. Many others who never rang the top 40 bell. |
layniesdad83 Agree. And I'm a guitarist. I never understood the Clapton hype, even in his own time. Now Hendrix on the other hand was revolutionary. IMO, the only other "revolutionary" guitarists were Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen. Today you can find a thousand unknown guitarists on YouTube who are as good or nearly so, as the best "known" guitarists of today. I know people will say "But today's guitarists are all soulless shredders", but that's far from true. For examples check out the albums Nick Johnston's Remarkably Human, Guthrie Govan's Erotic Cakes and An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess, or Steve Vai's song For the Love of God. |
I'm pretty sure the "why don't you ask ______" quotes are mostly lore and untrue (I read a variation on this when Billy Gibbons supposedly was asked the same question and pointed the interviewer to Prince), but regardless losing Clapton will be a true loss. +1 on Crossroads having one of the top solos of all time. |
What has always amazed me about Clapton, is when he was 15 sneaking into the blues clubs around London, and his obsession with American blues at that age. Also, when he got his first electric guitar at the age of 17, and within 24 months he's rated the number preeminent blues guitarist in England. The fastest rise out of any rock/blues guitarist in history that I'm aware of. What a prodigy. Like Mozart. A natural gift. |
pops..at the time the accident happened with Conor, there was a small party going on in the condo with about a dozen people present. Talk about reckless responsibility. Eric was just several blocks away at a recording studio, and when he got the news, he darted out of the studio and ran like hell until he got to the condo tower. |
FWIW - I grew up in the era of "Clapton is God"...maybe only ever with a small ’g’ but, regardless, one heck of a fine guitar player and vocalist who has improved with age like a fine wine. Loved him in Cream; fell out over his initial post-Cream solo recordings. Fell back in love when I watched the 2005 Cream Reunion at The Royal Albert Hall. Anyone who thinks this "power trio" never figured out ensemble playing hasn’t really listened to this concert. I'm sorry to hear of his age-related health issues. Getting old ain't for the weak. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtWzR5RkB3U |
audiozen OP Mark Levinson did ongoing testing between standard SACD and single layered SHM-SACD disc and concluded that the SHM-SACD format is superior in sound quality and resolution. >>>>That testing was either before SHM-SACD began to aggressively compress their discs a few years ago or there’s an excellent chance Mark Levinson is stone deaf. |
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Hah! I remember that one! Anyone else on Eric’s place would be thrown to prison for good (pretty heavy sentence in fact). Neglected toddler is fault of parents and only parents regardless if they’re rock star(s) or not. Need to be a rock star like Eric Clapton to get away with such problem case, but instead, song Tears In Heaven got him another figures to the wealth level. Ain’t no bad without good isn’t that after all? |
I've always been convinced that Eric Clapton would not be alive today if it wasn't for his son, Conor, falling from the 49th floor window of Claptons condo in March, 1991. What a tragedy. Up to that point Eric was battling ongoing drug problems, and Conor's death hit him as a wake up call resulting in a change of life style and cleaning up his act, causing him to build his drug rehab center in Antigua. |
The quality would be determined by which master tapes were used from the Zeppelin albums. Physical Graffiti is a terribly engineered album. The song Kashmir has always sounded harsh and cold. Their second album was much better engineered. "Whole Lotta Love" sounds warmer, richer, and more analog sounding. My SHM-SACD of "Wheels of Fire" sounds spectacular. If third generation master tapes were used would probably account for poor sound quality. |
A wise investment....Last fall I purchased Cream's "Wheels of Fire" album on a SHM-SACD from Acoustic Sounds. Paid $60.00. A year ago I went to a friends home who purchased the disc for a listen and was absolutely floored. Since SHM is the current standard for the SACD format, the quality of the album is stunning. Richer, fuller, very smooth, and very analog sounding with no digital artifacts whatsoever. Far better than the Mo-FI gold or re-master disc's from the past. The one tragedy I'll never get over when the album was cut by Atlantic in 1968 was how they butchered the track "Crossroads". When Clapton performed that song on stage, it was a very long piece, it was edited down and shortened so they could fit it in on side three due to the length of "Spoonful". We can only imagine what ingenious guitar work we will never hear from the full length version. |
Clapton needs to live his life one day at a time (like we all should do). And if that includes playing guitar that's fine, but it's OK if he wants to put it down (sometimes) and do other things also. There's always composing, or writing about what it was like when he was a kid listening to Robert Johnson. He's done some nice stuff over the years, And I never tire of hearing him play "Crossroads"- a perfect song if there is such a thing. |
Hifiman, Heard that same quote - but it was asked of Jimmy Hendrix, he supposedly stated ask Jerry Garcia :-) My favorite Clapton Album is the double CD - Blues https://www.amazon.com/Eric-Clapton-Blues/dp/B000WTTC9O/ref=ice_ac_b_dpb?ie=UTF8&qid=1517194728&... Good Listening Peter |
irish_tim - Lol.. Love Ian Anderson. Saw him twice. Gotta tell you this. The funniest moment I ever experienced at a concert to date was during the second time I saw Jethro Tull at the Seattle Center Coliseum. Ian just started into a magnificent flute solo, I was standing in front of the stage and about five rows behind me was this goof ball banging on his tambourine. Ian was really pissed. He stops playing and yells in the microphone.." If you don't stop playing that fu&king tambourine I'm going to jump off this stage and rip your fu&king head off ! ". At that moment a guy standing behind Mr. Tambourine man, grabbed it out of his hands and threw it across the Coliseum. The audience applauded and Ian continued his solo. Your probably aware of Ian's' Smoked Salmon business in Ireland that has become a global success. |