<DIV>
<DIV>Brian's remark below, to me, is right on the money. Whether EC is or isn't the wild, flaming guitarist he was in the mid/late '60s (and sometimes he was darned repetetive back then, too), he's getting paid premium prices in 21st century currency. If I go see him now, I'm not entirely on a nostalgia trip, nor do I expect him to be anyone other than Eric Clapton. But I do want him to do what he full-well CAN do, which is rock me back on my heels, take me by the hand, lead me down a musical path with a guitar solo, and just when I think I know where he's going, disappear and yell "NO! I'm over HERE!" And I gladly run to catch up. The blues tour of the mid-'90s did that. The Pilgrim tour, not so much. The Reptile tour, a bit more. The Hiroshima, Copenhagen and Belfast shows on CD, more so, especially with the set changes he made after the Japan leg. He can do it. I regret I didn't get the chance to see him, and I'm grateful for the trees on this digest that allow me to listen.
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The studio CDs since FTC, to my ear, are just plain bland. He doesn't always get there. The initial Robert Johnson release is so-so. The follow-up DVD/CD considerably better. Does this make me somebody who's totally negative, or whatever the phrase was? I think it's the reaction of somebody who's heard an awful lot of EC (concerts since 1969) and who listens to an awful lot of other music, and still finds EC at his best to be THE best. But he's certainly not at his best consistently, and I saw several shows in the '70s and early '80s that didn't entirely stink, but they sure didn't meet standards or expectations. And that's what a musician is supposed to do. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Honest audience reaction and criticism are fair. To pile on DN for saying "this isn't up to snuff" misses the point of art-and-audience entirely. Let's get over it. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>JB (with Lightnin' Hopkins' Aladdin recordings on the player, and Sessions for RJ coming up)</DIV>
<DIV><BR>---------------------------------------</DIV>Bryan wrote:</DIV>
<DIV>>>>It's his life but once you've shown people what you're capable of, you can expect criticism when you don't measure up, whether in concert or recordings. Ditto for selection of musicians to play with, songs, styles et cetera. Where DeltaNick is coming from is precisely that. If I never hear 'Lay Down Sally', Wonderful Tonight' or about 30 or 40 other songs of his again, it would be just fine with me. To call them pop pablum is too kind. To say that they are an extraordinary waste of his talent is spot on. EC is an incredibly gifted and talented guitarist but he has made some very poor choices along the way.<<<</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>