[Slowhand] EC's memory, etc

[Bryan Reid]

I have to join DeltaNick on this one, for the most part.

 

1. Eric has always been a chameleon, and indeed Chris Dreja described him as
such back when they roomed together at the very beginning of his time as a
Yardbird (late 1963 through mid 1964). In his search for perfection, Clapton
constantly sought to re-invent himself and this led to some pretty obsessive
behavior on his part.

 

2. When you consider the literally thousands of concerts he's performed in
and the hundreds (if not thousands) of studio sessions, it should come as no
surprise that his memory is less than perfect. In a similar vein, what's
important to us (i.e., when something or what actually happened) is not as
important to him.

 

3. Clapton is in recovery from the disease of addiction. One of the aspects
of recovery is the practice of rigorous honesty. I put a lot more credence
in what he says today versus what he said 25 or 30 years ago, when he was in
the depths of the disease. If you read old Rolling Stone interviews and the
like from the 60s and 70s, it's not hard to see that some of the things he
said then were quite self-serving. That doesn't mean he's going to bear his
soul to any interviewer who comes along today, however. Another aspect of
recovery is to not focus on the past except where there's a lesson to be
learned about one's self - Eric doesn't spend much time revisiting what he
did 25 or 30 or 35 years ago.

 

4. Bearing #2 above in mind, I actually find his memory to be pretty good,
all things considered, particularly since he's been in recovery. 

 

5. I, too, am somewhat amazed at the amount of bandwidth devoted to all of
this. It reminds me of the rather obsessive discussion of his performance at
the Concert For Bangladesh we has here several months ago.

 

Bryan

 

In heavy rotation:

 

Cream - Session Gears

Mike Bloomfield - Special sessions

Son House - Library Of Congress Recordings

EC - MSG 10/94

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