[Slowhand] EC's blues playing since 1994

[Robert Laude]

Hi fellow lovers of EC's music,

I am listening to the recording from the first blues might at the RAH in
1990. Buddy Guy - I mean, what can you say?! Just so great. And EC's solos
on Buddy Guy's songs are so imaginative and exquisite. Phantastic! And
thoughts about EC's playing at the moment were ramblin' 'round my mind.
Especially the praise our man recently got for his playing on "Have you ever
loved a woman". I know, there are a lot around this digest who just loved it
and found it great. And that is totally ok. But to me,  "HYWLAW" is more and
more on the way to becoming the blues equivalent to "Wonderful tonight" for
me. Well, I polemize just alittle, of course. 

He plays that song for how many years now in the ever same arrangement? Must
be  10 years. Compare one of my favouristes version of that song ever, the
one from "24 nights", to the one he played on the Nothing but the blues-
documentary or on the Hyde Park-show. Of course the version from San
Francisco 1994 is great,  breathtaking, dramatic. But it is arranged to
sound that way. I mean his solos are like orchestrated to all the breaks and
changes. Now you might say: ok, that may be the frame. But still you have to
be able to fill that structure with great emotional, heartfelt guitar
playing. And then I say: Right, but he is such a good guitar player that he
can sound like he is achieving all the above mentioned merits on auto-pilot.
He knows that song inside out. The biggest disappointment for me happened
when I realized while listening to some Reptile-shows that he was selling
the crowd one song under three different titels: HYELAW, Five long years and
Stormy monday. Mh. 

And thinking about this imensly urgend and important problem I came up with
a theorie: I would say that EC's blues playing in general sounded better
before he recorded From The Cradle and before he featured so many but always
the same blues songs in his regular shows. 
This blues session at the Crossroads Festival: what a letdown! Couldn't stop
yawning. Back in 1986 after recording one of his most hated records ever,
produced by the even more hated Phil Collins, he jammed with Otis Rush in
Montreux and nailed down some of his best blues playing ever. Or the jams in
1987 with Buddy Guy or B.B. King. Burning! The 1990/91 shows, Atlantic City
1989 with the Stones, even the 1993 run, and many more. And so I quickly and
light-minded draw the conclusion that the reason for this is: when he was
playing more pop/rock and wasn’t so selfconfident about playing the blues
these opportunities were all the more important for him and he gave
everything he could and all he had to hold back while playing pop and rock.
Like a ventile. 
And since 1994 his style of playing the blues stagnates. At least I hear and
feel it that way. That is not to say that he stopped playing great blues
music and that he still is the best around, but I hear the same phrases over
and over again. EC could sound so versatile when it came to play the blues
in different settings. These days used to be. And so I must admit that I
made my first way to the bar when I recognized the intro to HYELAW in
Frankfurt this year. And now you can blame me.  

All the best and enjoy the music

Robert

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