[Slowhand] Eric Clapton & The Allman Brothers: Sharing The Key To The Highway

[An English Boy]

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=22694


Eric Clapton & The Allman Brothers: Sharing The Key To The Highway

Published: August 12, 2006
By Doug Collette


Long before Duane Allman prevailed upon famed record producer Tom Dowd to 
usher him into a session with Derek and The Dominos, the respective fates of 
The Allman Brothers and Eric Clapton were inextricably intertwined.

Early in their development as the Allman Joys and The Hourglass, Skydog, as 
Duane was nicknamed, and Gregg had covered Yardbirds' material and as they 
developed in to The Brothers proper, their blues-based, hard-rock riffing 
was directly descended from the highly-electrified likes of Clapton’s work 
with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.

The original ABB’s progression was hitting an apex in the summer of 1971 
when they closed Fillmore East in New York City for famed rock impresario 
Bill Graham. The inclusion of their complete set on that occasion renders 
the Deluxe Edition of Eat A Peach worth hearing because, apart from a pair 
of tracks randomly inserted on other packages, this vintage ABB performance 
has never been officially available.

Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton: Deluxe Edition
Polydor Records
2006 (1970)


Likewise, through a series of mis-steps and miscommunications, the original 
mix of Eric Clapton’s very first solo album from 1970 has never been 
available. Produced by Delaney Bramlett, who had developed such an abiding 
relationship with Slowhand in the latter’s post-supergroup (Cream, Blind 
Faith) days, this sequence of tracks combined with other selected recordings 
during this period. It collects virtually the entire output of Clapton’s 
from this pivotal point in his career(not the least of which is the 
near-perfect electric rock and roll “Comin' Home” with Delaney & Bonnie and 
Friends).

After having heard The Band’s Music From Big Pink, and yearning for a more 
down-home, roots-based music, Clapton decided to leave Cream, only to find 
himself diverted into another supergroup, Blind Faith. Short-lived as that 
collaboration with Steve Winwood turned out to be, Eric then moved himself 
almost directly into a role with which he felt comfortable, as a sideman and 
guitarist for Delaney & Bonnie (Bramlett) and Friends.

They toured, recorded together—for themselves and as backing band for King 
Curtis, who had also worked with Duane Allman (and who regularly paid him 
homage after the saxophonist’s own tragic murder by teasing “Soul Serenade” 
during solo spots with the ABB), and then served as Clapton’s band for his 
first recording sessions under his own name.

The performances contained here, as bonuses on disc one of the package and 
the whole of disc two, radiate a bluesy authenticity that’s a natural 
progression for Eric Clapton from his days as blues purist with John Mayall. 
It is in marked contrast to the sleek sound tailored by Tom Dowd (as 
included in remastered form here) and, even more importantly, especially in 
retrospect, it gives Slowhand room to play, over and above the instrumental 
opener “Slunky,” as well as the beautiful closer “Let It Rain,” without 
sacrificing the economy and ingenuity of the arrangements. As on “Blues 
Power” and “After Midnight,” Clapton's guitar work embroiders upon the 
somewhat prosaic lyrics, rendering them a secondary statement.

Bramlett’s production, as well as the influence brought to bear as they 
performed together, also fosters Clapton’s efforts to begin developing as a 
singer. Accordingly, Eric’s performances brim with a confidence in the 
direction he’s chosen that’s in stark contrast to subsequent solo albums. 
And it’s not just in terms of style: Clapton knows what he’s doing here in a 
way that often eludes him even today. EC remains the focal point largely 
because of that self-assured stance, yet the digital remastering of these 
heretofore unreleased tapes reveal a depth and warmth contained in the mix 
of horns, keyboards and background vocals Delaney crafted with engineer Bill 
Halverson.


Delaney & Bonnie
Home
Stax Records
2006 (1969)


It’s a joyous revelation to compare the sound of this album to Home, a 
Delaney & Bonnie jewel recorded in Memphis for Stax and recently (perhaps 
not coincidentally) released with bonus tracks. Not only are these 
arrangements similar, in their upbeat funky tone, to Delaney’s supervised 
sound of Eric Clapton, but it’s fascinating to note exactly how much the 
singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer had influenced Eric Clapton’s nascent 
vocal style, right down to the smallest inflections. The production of this 
album, whose musical roster is a veritable who’s who of the legendary 
label—Isaac Hayes, Booker T & The MG’s, The Memphis Horns, and more—breathes 
with an easygoing informality much as the alternate mix of EC’s solo album 
does. And how rare it is to hear musicians playing a music that comes wholly 
naturally to them, totally free from contrivance for the sake of 
commerciality or self-consciousness in regards to cosmetic appearances. This 
may in fact be the definitive D&B (though only a few of their Friends who 
went on to be included in Joe cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen, appear here.)

As with the Deluxe Edition of Eric Clapton, there are few archive 
collections so revelatory as Home or as musically satisfying strictly on 
their own terms. Scott Shindler’s liner notes for the former may 
over-explain a bit in describing the sequence of events that includes EC’s 
roadwork with D&B & Friends, as well as some initial recordings including 
“Teasin’,” a single track with King Curtis, included as a bonus cut. But you 
can excuse the author because the music there makes a such a resounding 
statement itself, its inspiration so infectious it’s tempting to try to 
explain it.

King Curtis
Live At Fillmore West
Rhino/WSM
2006 (1971)


Which is also the case with King Curtis’ Live At Fillmore West. The 
saxophonist bandleader was just about reaching his artistic apogee at this 
point, his soulful take on contemporary jazz in full flight with an all star 
band including the Memphis Horns, Bernard Purdie as drummer and bassist 
Jerry Jemmott. Five bonus tracks in addition to remastered version of 
original recording are not redundant but more of a good thing of which you 
probably cannot get enough. Hearing this music (slightly cornball showbiz 
intros aside) is akin to entering a church of funky soul where material as 
diverse as Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” sounds as ready-made for Curtis 
& Co, as Buddy Miles’ “Them Changes.”

The two-disc version of Eric Clapton also suggests how prolific the 
musicians were feeling at this time. Once you get past the curios such as 
the alternate version of “Let It Rain,” titled, with a wholly different set 
of lyrics, “She Rides,” and a blues jam that just takes up space, you may 
never return to the familiar Tom Dowd mix. On Bramlett’s alternate, you’re 
hearing a group of musicians as mutually comfortable as can be and all to a 
purpose: helping launch a new stage in the career of a fellow musician 
(albeit an renowned one). And knowing of EC’s fondness for The Band, It’s 
interesting to note the presence of John Simon on piano, who worked closely 
with that group on their first two and most famous albums.

In hindsight, you might wonder how Slowhand’s career might’ve developed had 
he gone on the road again with this unit, sharing the stage, then fronting 
them in a revue style package (perhaps presented much as Curtis introduces 
his music on Fillmore) Instead, Clapton hijacked drummer Jim Gordon, 
keyboardist/vocalist Bobby Whitlock and bassist Carl Radle, the quartet 
hightailing it to England to form Derek & The Dominos, only to return to 
America, Florida’s Criteria Studios to be exact, to record the legendary 
album Layla( And Other Assorted Love Songs). For Clapton, Dowd and company 
to find themselves virtually in Duane Allman’s backyard in late summer of 
1970 seems to suggest destiny in the enlistment of the guitarist to join in 
the recording and, by most accounts, provide the spark that would ignite the 
sessions after a fitful start.


Allman Brothers Band

Eat A Peach: Deluxe Edition
Universal
2006 (1972)


“The road goes on forever for two of the most famous, not to mention finest, 
improvisational acts rock has ever known.”

It’s savvy for Universal to release this expanded version of The Allman 
Brothers' Eat A Peach coincidental with the band’s summer tour. 
Nevertheless, it’s not just marketing: the musical virtues of this two-disc 
package reflect positively on the band past and present. The original 
recording, a classy and artistically potent combination of studio and live 
material recorded just before Duane Allman’s death in October of the year 
his band closed the Fillmore, has never sounded better (even in the 3-D SACD 
mix of a year ago). Its eclectic range of material foreshadows the approach 
of the current Allman lineup as much as, at the time, it extended the 
development of the original Brothers.

Yet the truly unique cache of this two disc package is its second disc, a 
heretofore unreleased live recording capturing the entire set by the 
original lineup of the Allman Brothers Band from the final night of Fillmore 
East in New York. The occasion is notable for that reason in rock history at 
large, but also in ABB chronology: it occurred roughly two months before the 
release of ABB’s breakthrough album, At Fillmore East, and four months 
before the death of Duane Allman, partway through the project that would 
eventually come to be the familiar version of EAP (contained on disc one of 
this Deluxe Edition).

There’s clarity and space aplenty in the live recording as well, only two 
tracks of which have previously found themselves available to the public 
(though a recording of the performance in full has been widely-bootlegged). 
Taken as a whole, though, this performance is arguably the equal of 
Fillmore, perhaps its superior since, unlike that landmark album a produced 
by Tom Dowd, this seventy-minutes plus has no editing to its performances 
(other than the excision of Bill Graham’s introduction).

Despite the fact The Allmans hadn’t assembled a very extensive repertoire at 
this point (see Live At The Atlanta Pop Festival 1970 for just minor 
differences), the panache The Brothers display here, combined with the 
potent ingenuity of their individual and collective musicianship, is the 
likes of which their fans claim as the reason for their fame and more 
importantly, the durability of the seminal Southern band’s sound.

And it constitutes the benchmark from which the current lineup proceeds: as 
double drummers Jaimoe and Butch Trucks pump in time under the 
singing(”Statesboro Blues”) soaring(”Don't Keep Me Wonderin'”) slide playing 
of the guitarist sibling Duane, his younger brother Gregg wails the wisdom 
of the blues. While the main singer/songwriter and keyboardist of the band 
offers a jaunty attitude on the likes of “One Way Out,” it is altogether 
unsettling to hear his ghostly intonations near the close of “Whipping 
Post.” Keith Richards once said it is frightening to listen to blues icon 
Robert Johnson at times, and the effect is much the same here.

Meanwhile, bassist Berry Oakley and guitarist Dickey Betts play almost 
equally prominent roles in this band. The instrumental currents they 
generate during the course of ”In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed,” for instance, 
illustrate their camraderie with each other and the rest of the sextet and 
depict, through the course of close to thirteen minutes, how the original 
six-man alignment of ABB is that rarest of musical animals: a group of 
uniformly superlative players.

Their near-reckless love of the free-spirited may have brought them tragedy 
(both Duane Allman and, roughly a year later, Berry Oakley died in 
motorcycle accidents), but it also bore their allegiance to the ethic of 
jazz improvisation. Only slightly stronger might be their fondness for 
British hard rock and, in turn, country music. Hear Betts play reels on his 
electric guitar at the end of “You Don’t Love Me,” and you know you’re 
hearing musicians who have no fear of boundaries musical or otherwise. Such 
a perception is only reaffirmed in the half-hour plus exploration of the 
melodic motif written by British Dylan-wannabe Donovan, titled “First There 
Is A Mountain,” now famously known as “Mountain Jam.”

There’s an innate discipline necessary to reach the transcendence of such 
musicianship and it’s rooted in the studio session work Duane Allman did 
before forming The Brothers (some of which found him alongside King Curtis). 
Little wonder then how, under Dowd’s tutelage, The Allman Brothers evolved 
so quickly into the studio craftsmen they had become by this time. Dickey’s 
“Blue Sky” was probably not intended to be a crucial turning point in their 
discography anymore than the acoustic duet of “Little Martha.” It’s only in 
the wake of the elder Allman’s death that this pair of tracks served as 
(much) more than solid contrast with the syncopated likes of Gregg’s “Stand 
Back” or his languid “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More.”

But the band’s maturation process is nowhere more apparent than on the 
instrumental section of “Blue Sky,” where Duane and Dickey elevated their 
fretboard teamwork from merely tandem harmonies to the sublime interplay 
that here takes the form of an intricate upward spiral of guitar lines that 
peak so gracefully before the vocal returns; it is the intensely dramatic 
antithesis of “Little Martha.”

It’s not surprising the ABB of 2006 still play much of the material from Eat 
A Peach. This music has gained tremendous emotional resonance over the years 
(mercenary commercialism of “Melissa” notwithstanding). As a result, this 
double-disc package is not just an important piece of history. It stands on 
its own terms as a testament to the enduring power of music, even as it 
represents a significant chapter in the story of a great band.

Bound for glory with the release and universal praise for At Fillmore East, 
the Allman train went off-track (though remarkably not for long) with 
Duane’s death no less surely than Eric Clapton’s career took a decided turn, 
though perhaps not ultimately for the worse, with the lukewarm response 
afforded his heart-and-soul masterwork Layla. This sequence of events, 
including just one Dominos tour of America—wonder what might’ve happened had 
Duane acceded to Clapton’s request to go on the road with them?—exacerbated 
personnel issue within the Dominos and the insecure English blues purist 
descended into his own personal hell, coincidentally, at basically the same 
point in time a five-man lineup of The Allman Brothers soldiered on in the 
wake of their leader’s death.

Just as perusing the set list doesn’t begin to express what The Allman 
Brothers’ were doing onstage at the Fillmore in early summer of 1971, taking 
note of the seemingly slight differences in song sequence can’t convey the 
disparity in sound of the Tom Dowd-Delaney Bramlett productions of Eric 
Clapton’s first solo album. An important point of continuity is the 
retention of the lush acoustic cut “Easy Now,” the likes of which has no 
counterpart in Slowhand's discography.

While Scott Schindler may goes too far in delineating the differences 
between the two mixes (right down to Delaney’s track sequencing), he 
might’ve spent a bit more time in rendering an account of the Allmans' 
history at The Fillmore in NY as well as their abiding relationship with 
Fillmore founder Graham. This would put Eat A Peach Deluxe Edition into an 
even clearer perspective than it now occupies as the project The Brothers 
began in their original incarnation and finished without their founder.

It’s a circuitous route over some thirty-five years from the original 
recordings to the unveiling of these two exceptional archival packages. 
Their release is timely in more ways than the primary one: to capitalize on 
upcoming Allmans and Clapton roadwork. The Allman Brothers of the new 
millennium will shortly be on the second leg of their annual summer shed 
tour and Eric Clapton, having just finished dates in Europe, has a full 
slate of American appearances set for the autumn.

The mythic guitarist’s profile is never higher than when he tours, but 
Slowhand’s 2006 concerts are more noteworthy than usual since he invited 
young Derek Trucks to join his band, a development further solidifying EC’s 
link to ABB. The young guitarist effectively replaced Duane in the group as 
slide and lead guitarist (prompting Clapton to rework Dominos material for 
his current shows.) It is not, seemingly, a cliché to state the road goes on 
forever for two of the most famous improvisational acts rock has ever known.




Tracks and Personnel

Eric Clapton: Deluxe Edition

Tracks: CD1: Slunky; Bad Boy; Lonesome And A Long Way From Home; After 
Midnight; Easy Now Blues Power; Bottle Of Red Wine; Lovin' You Lovin' Me; 
I've Told You For The Last Time; I Don't Know Why; Let It Rain; Blues In 
“A”; Teasin'; She Rides. CD2: Slunky; Bad Boy; Easy Now; After Midnight; 
Blues Power; Bottle Of Red Wine; Lovin' You Lovin' Me; Lonesome And A Long 
Way From Home; Don't Know Why; Let It Rain; Don't Know Why; I've Told You 
For The Last Time; Comin' Home; Groupie (Superstar).

Personnel: Eric Clapton: guitar and lead vocals; Delaney Bramlett: rhythm 
guitar, vocals; Bonnie Bramlett: vocals; Leon Russell: piano; Bobby 
Whitlock: organ and vocals; John Simon: piano; Carl Radle: bass; Jim Gordon: 
drums; Jim Price: trumpet; Bobby Keys: sax; Tex Johns: percussion; Rita 
Coolidge: vocals; Sonny Curtis: vocals; Jerry Allison: vocals; Stephen 
Stills: vocals, guitar (?).

Live at Fillmore West

Tracks: Memphis Soul Stew; A Whiter Shade Of Pale; Whole Lotta Love; I Stand 
Accused; Them Changes; Ode To Billie Joe; Mr. Bojangles; Signed, Sealed, 
Delivered (I'm Yours); Soul Serenade; My Sweet Lord; Them Changes; Ode To 
Billie Joe; Soul Serenade; Memphis Soul Stew.

Personnel: King Curtis: tenor, alto and soprano saxophones; Billy Preston: 
organ; Cornell Dupree: guitar; Truman Thomas: electric piano; Jerry Jemmott: 
electric bass; Bernard Purdie: drums; Pancho Morales: congas; Wayne Jackson: 
trumpet; Andrew Love: tenor saxophone; Roger Hopps: trumpet; Jack Hale: 
trombone; Jimmy Mitchell: baritone saxophone; Lou Collins: tenor saxophone.

Home

Tracks: A Long Road Ahead; My Baby Specializes; Things Get Better; We Can 
Love; All We Really Want To Do; It's Been A Long Time Coming; Just Plain 
Beautiful; Everybody Loves A Winner; Look What We Have Found; Piece Of My 
Heart; A Right Now Love; I've Just Been Feeling Bad; Dirty Old Man; Get 
Ourselves Together; Pour Your Love On Me; Hard To Say Goodbye.

Personnel: Delaney Bramlett: guitar and vocals; Bonnie Bramlett: vocals; 
Steve Cropper: guitar; Donald “Duck” Dunn: bass, Al Jackson Jr: drums; Isaac 
Hayes: keyboards; Leon Russell: keyboards; Booker T. Jones: keyboards; Carl 
Radle: bass; Wayne Jackson: trumpet; Ben Cauley: trumpet; Andrew Love: tenor 
saxophone; Joe Arnold: Saxophone; Ed Logan: tenor saxophone; Jay Pruitt: 
trumpet; Dick Steff: trumpet; John Davis: trumpet; Phil Forrest: background 
vocals; William Bell: background vocals; Jimmy Karstein: percussion.

Eat A Peach: Deluxe Edition

Tracks: CD1: Ain't Wastin' Time No More; Les Brers In A Minor; Melissa; 
Mountain Jam; One Way Out; Trouble No More; Stand Back; Blue Sky; Little 
Martha. CD2: Statesboro Blues; Don't Keep Me Wonderin'; Done Somebody Wrong; 
One Way Out; In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed; Midnight Rider; Hot 'Lanta; 
Whipping Post; You Don't Love Me

Personnel: Duane Allman: lead and slide guitar, acoustic guitar; Gegg 
Allman: organ, piano, electric piano, acoustic guitar and vocals; Dickey 
Betts: lead and slide guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, monkey skulls; Berry 
Oakley: bass; Butch Trucks: drums, tympani, gong and vibes; Jai Johanny 
Johanson: drums, congas and timbales.