[Slowhand] RE: Slowhand Digest, Vol 7, Issue 337

[Apurva Parikh]

Interesting take. I guess you appreciate things like that when heard in a 
different light. I always thought Clapton's best period as a songwriter was 
during the Pilgrim sessions/album and of course his work on the Layla album 
is great too.

I think it takes EC hard work and true inspiration to get through writing 
songs and composing, like guitar playing is to most artists, it's a 
laborious process and not in his natural genius to just pen songs like 
there's no tomrorow. I think we're seeing the deterioration of this in him, 
as evidenced in the time it took to release back home.

But good points, I thnk EC is underrated in terms of composing, but that' 
sonly cause he's been around forever and there is bad than good, some might 
say. but the good is better than many's best.

aap

----Original Message Follows----
From: ToeKneeF <slowhandnj at comcast.net>
To: Slowhand List <slowhand at planet-torque.com>
Subject: [Slowhand] EC Composer/Arranger
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 12:34:53 -0400
Occasionally I get to hear something that makes me draw a comparison to EC's 
music either directly or indirectly............usually EC comes out pretty 
well. Paul Anka is arguably one of Amerika's better songwriter/arrangers. He 
recently did an album titled "Rock Swings", where he took some rock/pop 
classics and performed them in swing arrangements. There are 14 tracks on 
the set.......01. Eye Of The Tiger / 02. Jump / 03. Everybody Hurts / 04. 
Wonderwall / 05. Black Hole Sun / 06. It’s My Life / 07. It’s A Sin / 08. 
True / 09. Smells Like Teen Spirit / 10. Hello / 11. Eyes Without A Face / 
12. Love Cats / 13. The Way You Make Me Feel / 14. Tears In 
Heaven.......surprisingly, it works on 13 of the 14 tracks. However, he 
fails miserably on Tears In Heaven.

Given the inspiration for the song, it would have been very easy and quite 
understandable for the song to end up being maudlin and 
schmaltzy..........in Eric's hands, however, the song manages to convey his 
hurt and loss without being overly sentimental, IMO it is quite a beautiful 
song. In Paul Anka's hands, he fell right into the trap, it comes out 
extremely maudlin and schmaltzy (I wanted to slit my wrists as I listened to 
this track!!).

This made me think about how we take EC's music for granted. It really is a 
great songbook, some moments weaker than others, sure, but always very 
interesting and genuine. Until I had the basis for a direct head-to-head 
comparison I looked upon TIH as just another great Clapton song. Given the 
opportunity to compare what he did with the song to another great talent's 
rendition, I can better appreciate EC's talent, not just as a guitarist, but 
also as a composer/arranger. Yes, we'll still criticize him when he gets 
lazy (from our perspective), as well we should...........but let's also 
recognize the talent he's been gracious enough to share with the rest of us 
for all these years.....................T








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