For folks like me, who would argue that his stint as leader of Derek and the Dominos constitutes the high point of Eric Clapton’s long and checkered career, 1973’s In Concert, which was recorded in October at the Fillmore East in New York, is a secondary but nonetheless important piece of evidence. Exhibit A, it hardly needs saying, is 1970’s Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, on which Clapton and a crack ensemble of musicians including the not long for this world Duane Allman would produce some of the fiercest and most deliriously lovely rock music ever committed to vinyl.
And at first that would seem to be the thing that damns In Concert—Duane Allman is nowhere to be found, although he would appear at several other Derek and the Dominos shows on the same tour. Another thing that seems to cloud the air is that only three of In Concert’s nine tracks come from Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs—such utterly brilliant cuts as “Layla,” “Anyday,” “Keep on Growing,” and “It’s Too Late” are as MIA as guitar slinger Allman himself.
But Clapton—and the trio of Jim Gordon (drums), Bobby Whitlock (piano, Hammond organ, and some really stellar backing vocals), and Carl Radle (bass)—was riding a wave, and In Concert would be an undisputed triumph if it weren’t marred by the drum solo madness that spread like the Ebola virus through the rock world at the dawn of the seventies.
Clapton and the lads get a chance to spread out playing live, and the results—with the exception once again of the drum solo that shoots “Let It Rain” in the leg—are lovably loose but never formless. The band stretches the great “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?” to twice its length without adding an ounce of fat, and not once do you ask yourself, “When is this goddamn song going to end?”
The same goes for the sprawling “Got To Get Better in a Little While,” a funky number with swing that the Dominos recorded at the Layla sessions but inexplicably failed to include on the LP. The wah-wah guitar and Hammond organ-powered “Roll It Over” is another Layla sessions tune that failed to make the final album cut, and listening to Clapton and Whitlock belt out the lyrics in tandem will make you wonder why.
The conjoined vocals of Clapton and Whitlock—which dude up “Got To Get Better in a Little While” and “Roll It Over” just swell—also turn “Tell the Truth” into a triumph, as does Whitlock’s piano playing and the ‘eavy drum bash of Gordon. Indeed, if this LP proves anything beyond a doubt, it’s that Whitlock was every bit as critical an ingredient as Allman in the witch’s brew that makes Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs one of the greatest rock albums ever. I’m no fan of the slow blues and would have preferred something groovier and more up-tempo, but there’s no denying that Clapton’s guitar playing on “Have You Ever Loved a Woman?” is flat-out brilliant.
“Bottle of Red Wine” is a minor track that goes down easy, but I really wish Clapton had substituted something from Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs for the version of “Presence of the Lord” that appears here. It’s far from bad, mind you. It’s quite soulful actually, and both Clapton’s vocals and guitar are revelatory. But it’s hardly the flaming chunk of rock as will raise the hair on the back of your neck, and I can only wish Clapton had chosen to play “Anyday” or another rave-up of its ilk. Meanwhile, “Let It Rain” raves on wonderfully until about the eight-minute mark, when Gordon throws a spanner into the works with a verrrry long drum solo that is just fine and dandy if drum solos are your thing, in which case I’m forced to regard you as belonging to another species.
In Concert features an Eric Clapton at the peak of his creative powers, and in the end nothing—not his selection of songs, the absence of Allman, or the benighted drum solo even—can stop this LP from bowling you over. I’ve never bought into that “Clapton Is God” hullabaloo, but in Our Year of the Lord 1970 Clapton earned demi-god status, and this LP is proof positive of the fact. Blues Power for the people!
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
