Pilgrim, Reptile and Back Home- Clapton at his best
For all who know me, you know that aside from Prince, and Stevie Wonder, the musician I love the most is Eric Clapton. My love of his music goes way back to the day I was four and heard his “I Shot the Sheriff” version on Jamaican radio for the first time. Something about Marcy Levy and Yvonne Elliman’s background vocals that resonated with much more than The Wailer’s harmonies. For the record, before I get slammed by my fellow Jamaican Yardies, Marley’s lead vocals are superior to Eric’s laid-back approach on that tune.
But the love affair started there and kind of faded away until I was a teen and fell in love with rock and roll music after coming to the states in 1980. And Eric Clapton was one of the artists I totally fell in love with all over again.
In 1985 he released Behind the Sun, which, to me, a teenager who had barely listened to the thousands of albums that I was yet to own and memorize, it was as perfect an album that I had heard since Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life” came and took me to another level of musical experience and changed my life. The same way Prince’s “Purple Rain” shook me to my core a year earlier.
What struck me about “Behind the Sun” was the incredible album cover (still one of my all time favorites, it just compelled me to listen to it) and the incredible singer that Clapton had become. To me, he is one of the most soulful singers out there that isn’t Black. Of course, his guitar work was incredible as always, but I really liked that this album sounded fresh. “Forever Man” had two fantastic solos and the album featured some great guest musicians, like Lindsey Buckingham and the always recording, Steve Lukather, guitarist to one of my all-time favorite bands ever, Toto.
That album made me a bonafide Clapton fan. I went out and over the years and got everything he ever recorded and bought albums he loved that influenced him. He got me on the quest on going back in time and finding the masters. Through him, I discovered some of the old Blues greats like John Lee Hooker, Blind Willie McTell, Lightnin’ Hopkins and a whole range of old blues artists and then contemporary ones like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray, Albert Colins, Buddy Guy and many, many others.
Now most Clapton fans, love him for his guitar work and that fan base is divided into 2 camps: “The Bluesbreakers and Cream years,” and the “Derek and the Dominos and the 70s years.” Almost no one rants and raves about Clapton in the 90s and 2000s years.
Almost. But I am here to tell you that those decades are the years that Clapton really resonated with me.
If you listen to Clapton’s output- especially the 70s material now, and especially after reading his autobiography, you can actually hear the drugs and alcohol. With the exception of Derek and Dominos “Layla and Assorted Love Songs”, whenever I listen to the 70s stuff, I can actually hear the effect alcoholism was taking on his life. It is particularly apparent on Backless and Another Ticket, two incredibly lackluster albums that just sound sloppy drunk to me, from singing to playing. While I love certain tracks off them, I can’t help but feel totally underwhelmed in the event that I actually play them.
During the seventies, Clapton was trying to be a singer-songwriter and not a guitar god. He wanted to be a part of the Band and then he wanted to be a country singer, but a rock god was out of the question, as he tried to drink away the demons that were haunting him in his personal life and his professional one.
Which brings me to what I think are the three seminal Eric Clapton albums that defined him not only as the guitar god that he was finally comfortable being but also as a damn fine, soulful singer— something that he admits he was never confident with, until now.
Those three albums are: “Pilgrim,” Reptile,” and “Back Home.”
To me, if you want to know who Eric Clapton, the man, and artist is today, these three albums, sum it up with grace and class and dignity with fantastic singing and guitar work.
Pilgrim is an album, that Clapton regards in his autobiography as his favorite album. He put his heart and soul into that record. He hung all his emotions out for all to hear. And it worked. He wrote the vast majority of the album, all gems either by himself or with his collaborators like Simon Climie and Greg Phillinganes. There are only two songs by other artists, and those two songs are also masterpieces as well as the others. Bob Dylan’s “Born in Time” is just a beautiful song and is the moving “Going Down Slow.” But the real, true gems on the album are “My Father’s Eyes,” a song about his experience as a father (his son Connor died tragically in 1991) and also about him not knowing what a real father was himself, and the sad and deeply moving account of the last night Clapton spent with his son- a few hours before his tragic death, “Circus.” Both are deep and heavy songs and the rest of the album is filled with plaintive, mournful songs that are actually beautiful to listen to and feel and at the end of the album, there is hope and redemption, which is really what the blues ultimately is about; you sing the blues to rid yourself of pain and to ultimately feel better. Be sure though, Pilgrim is not a blues album. It is a brilliant pop record.
Reptile is a sleeper album. Most of the critics called it a solid album, but ultimately not a revelation. To me, it is, because once again, he wrote half of the album, and the other songs the aren’t his, are once again, premium songs by Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder and Doyle Bramhall II. And there is the fact that The Impressions are there doing background vocals on the album as is Billy Preston. To me, there are 5 standouts on the record, Ray Charles’ “Come Back Baby,” James Taylor’s “Don’t Let me Be Lonely Tonight,” (to be fair, it’s really a cover of The Isley Brothers’ cover of James Taylor’s tune), Stevie Wonder’s “I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It,” Clapton’s own “Believe in Light,” and the rocking “Superman Inside” by himself, Doyle Bramhall II and Susannah Melvoin. The rest of the songs are gorgeous as well, but these songs are just stellar. And his singing and playing are superb.
Now you’ve read me ranting and raving about these two albums which are just incredible listening experiences, but the album that means the most to me is Back Home. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe my love of this album. Released in 2005, this Clapton album, like “Pilgrim” had Eric giving his all and you can hear it in every note. The album opens with “So Tired,” a fun, uptempo number about his being a father and being constantly tired. For me, I was a father just 2 years before that and I could totally relate to the song. The song was also a love letter to his daughters and his wife and his love of the simple, domestic life. I can totally relate to that as well. It is a fun song with some exquisitely understated guitar work.
Then comes the reggae “Say What You Will.” Now some can say that Eric Clapton made reggae and international sensation since he popularized it and then in return the world fell in love with it and of course, the one and only Bob Marley. But for me, Eric’s vocals on the song always seemed just okay. This goes back to the fact that he was just a few months removed from being a heroin addict, and was gong taught into being a drunk and also, he himself was not comfortable with him being a singer, even though he had a beautiful voice. Well not anymore, “Say What You Will” is beautifully performed and sung and it is not a reggae ripoff, but a genuine reggae song with lovely, subtle horns.
The album then takes a great turn into a raucous cover of the late and great Syreeta Wright’s incredible “I’m Going Left” that she wrote with her then-husband, Stevie Wonder. His singing is confident and deeply soulful. His band is also incredible throughout the entire album. The core band features one of the greatest drummers of all time, Steve Gadd, Doyle Bramhall II on guitars, Nathan East on bass, Billy Preston on keys and Hammond organ, Chris Stainton on piano and Michelle John and Sharon White on background vocals. I don’t think Eric has ever had a better band than this one. And this is coming from me who was a huge fan of the Steve Ferrone, Greg Philinganes and Nathan East rhythm section of the Journeyman album and subsequent tour that brought you the 24 Nights live album.
After the rousing “I’m Going Left,” comes one of the greatest songs ever and Eric does a cover of it that not only does justice to the original, but also takes it to another level. Those who know me, know my love of The Spinners. And “Love Don’t Love Nobody” might be their best and one the finest songs of the 20th century. It is a marvel of emotion and song arrangement by genius producer and fellow Jamaican, Thom Bell who was instrumental along with Gamble and Huff with creating the legendary Philadelphia Sound. Clapton’s take on it features a guitar solo, complete with a backing orchestra, that’s so beautiful, that will bring you to tears. Yes, it is that good!
After that emotional ride, it’s time to relax with another great reggae number, “Revolution.” This one might even be better than “Say What You Will.” It’s a great song.
His sweet and sincere cover of “Loves Comes to Everyone” is a fitting tribute to the late, great and often lamented, George Harrison. The simplicity of the song is what makes the song so beautiful.
After “Loves Comes to Everyone” is a fun and sly number written by Doyle Bramhall II and Jeremy Stacey, “Lost & Found.“ As with most things, Doyle Bramhall, it is a funky, soulful tune with a fantastic band arrangement. The infectious rhythm gets you every time.
After that is another Doyle Bramhall Ii penned tune, “Piece of My Heart”. This time his ex-wife, )former Family keyboardist and lead vocalist, and current F Deluxe keyboardist and lead vocalist and identical twin sister of guitarist Wendy Melvoin of Wendy and Lisa fame as well as former guitarist for Prince and The Revolution), Susannah Melvoin, and Mike Elizondo. Can’t say anything except that it’s a great number, as are the next two tunes, the Vince Gill, Beverly Darnall penned “One Day” and Clapton, Simon Climie penned “One Track Mind”.
But the track that gets me every single time is the incredibly moving “Run Home to Me,” another Clapton/Climie collaboration. Let’s just say, if you’re a parent that loves being a parent, there isn’t a song that sums up the love of a parent and their child like this one. It’s a deeply personal song for Eric that happens to evoke the universal love that most parents have for their children:
“When it’s 3 o'clock in the morning,
And something scared you from your breast,
I will gently rock you in my arms,
And lay your little head on my chest,
And when you run, from my arms,
Know we’ll always find you.
And when you run, out of loving,
And run home to me. (Run home to me)
And the years fly by so quickly,
Like a plane before my eyes,
And you’ve grown up into a woman,
Before I had time, had time to realize.
And then you’ll run, from my arms,
And we’ll always come and find you.
And when you run, out of loving,
Then run home to me.
Lord when you run, run out of my arms,
We will always come and find you,
And when you run, out of loving,
Then run home to me. (Run home to me)”
Yes, this is really it. That is love. That is exactly what my wife and I have have done for our child. And it will never stop. I always get choked up hearing this song. Every time. It just gets me in a way that very few songs have done to me. And I can list those songs on one hand.
And the closer, “Back Home” is the perfect song to close this incredible song cycle. It’s all about a road wary Clapton and his need to go home to his family, where he belongs.
“I’ve been on the road too long
Moving in the wrong direction
I don’t know where I belong
I don’t know what I will do
If I can’t get back home”
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