Wishing to escape the superstar expectations that sank
Blind Faith
before it was launched,
Eric Clapton
retreated with several sidemen from
Delaney & Bonnie
to record the material that would form
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
. From these meager beginnings grew his greatest album.
Duane Allman
joined the band shortly after recording began, and his spectacular slide guitar pushed
Clapton
to new heights. Then again,
may have gotten there without him, considering the emotional turmoil he was in during the recording. He was in hopeless, unrequited love with
Patti Boyd
, the wife of his best friend,
George Harrison
, and that pain surges throughout
Layla
, especially on its epic title track. But what really makes
such a powerful record is that
, ignoring the traditions that occasionally painted him into a corner, simply tears through these songs with burning, intense emotion. He makes
standards
like
"Have You Ever Loved a Woman"
and
"Nobody Knows You (When You're Down and Out)"
into his own, while his collaborations with
Bobby Whitlock
-- including
"Any Day"
"Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?"
-- teem with passion. And, considering what a personal album
is, it's somewhat ironic that the lovely coda
"Thorn Tree in the Garden"
is a solo performance by
Whitlock
, and that the song sums up the entire album as well as
"Layla"
itself. [A remastered version was released on
's 40th anniversary.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine