In my most recent piece, entitled: "Dirty City feat. Eric Clapton", I made a mistake.\u00c2\u00a0 I substituted Gregg Allman’s name for Duane’s.<\/p>\n
The line was: "Eric did his best work collaborating with Gregg Allman."<\/p>\n
It should have read: "Eric did his best work collaborating with Duane Allman."<\/p>\n
If you want to go even deeper, I’m not sure this is even true.\u00c2\u00a0 My favorite Clapton album remains the first, with "Easy Now" and "Let It Rain".\u00c2\u00a0 That first record, released around the same time as the even more legendary "Alone Together", Dave Mason’s solo debut, did not have the hype of records today.\u00c2\u00a0 Starting out under your own name meant that certain people didn’t get the memo, and therefore it was more difficult to reach critical mass.\u00c2\u00a0 Is that why Eric’s solo debut seems to have been forgotten?\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not sure.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe it was because there wasn’t a big "hit".\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing that was ubiquitous on AM, like "Sunshine Of Your Love", which jumped from FM to AM in the summer of ’68.\u00c2\u00a0 Or "Layla", which dominated the suddenly dominant FM in ’71.<\/p>\n
And it’s that album, "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs", that I was referring to here.\u00c2\u00a0 For further information on Duane’s contribution, how he got involved in the sessions, read "Skydog – The Duane Allman Story", by Randy Poe.<\/p>\n
I might have heard "Layla" too many times in Dave McCormick’s room during freshman year, I needed some distance to fully appreciate it.\u00c2\u00a0 But it truly is great.\u00c2\u00a0 My favorite tracks are "Anyday" and "Little Wing".\u00c2\u00a0 The blast of guitar opening the former is the essence of rock power.\u00c2\u00a0 And even though everyone from Stevie Ray to Sting has covered Jimi’s "Little Wing", this is my favorite take (and yes, in yesterday’s piece entitled "Sit Yourself Down", I did say "Jimmy" instead of "Jimi"…I stand corrected there too).\u00c2\u00a0 Anyway, it has now been well documented that Duane came up with the "Layla" riff.\u00c2\u00a0 Although many believe he stole it from an old blues record.\u00c2\u00a0 But this might explain why "Layla" never quite gels in concert.\u00c2\u00a0 The riff just isn’t in Eric’s style.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like the break in "Badge" is pure George Harrison, and Eric can’t play it in the same magical descending way.<\/p>\n
While I’ve got your attention, I’m going to cover a couple of other subjects.<\/p>\n
I went to buy a replacement bulb for my flashlight today at Lightbulbs Unlimited on Wilshire.\u00c2\u00a0 When I came out, it was raining.\u00c2\u00a0 One of those bizarre sunshowers.\u00c2\u00a0 And stumbling at the end of the block was this elfin figure.\u00c2\u00a0 Wearing skintight pants.\u00c2\u00a0 And shoes with heels so high no wonder she was tottering.<\/p>\n
I wanted to see how she would drive.\u00c2\u00a0 The heels were almost as big as she was.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s when I noticed the brand new Escalade had a driver, one of the Madden boys.\u00c2\u00a0 This, of course, was Nicole Richie.\u00c2\u00a0 She may look good in photographs, but in this sudden rainstorm, she was positively pathetic.\u00c2\u00a0 I guess you don’t want to get too up close and personal to fame.<\/p>\n
"Never Stop"<\/strong><\/p>\n You know I’ve got a Jackson Browne fixation.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m not apologizing for it.\u00c2\u00a0 He made the best record I own, at least by my standards, "Late For The Sky".\u00c2\u00a0 There’s more truth in that one record than…\u00c2\u00a0 Fuck the analogy, I’ll just post a few of my favorite lines.<\/p>\n From "The Late Show":<\/p>\n Now to see things clear it’s hard enough I know That’s the essence of life.\u00c2\u00a0 What you find, what satisfies you, is not what you’re looking for.<\/p>\n "Late For The Sky":<\/p>\n You never knew what I loved in you That’s so creepy, I’m not even going to comment.\u00c2\u00a0 Except to say if you haven’t been there, you haven’t been in a relationship.<\/p>\n Finally, "For A Dancer":<\/p>\n I don’t know what happens when people die I recited these lines at my father’s funeral.\u00c2\u00a0 I think of Tony Wilson, who would have been 58 years old Wednesday, when I write them now.<\/p>\n Anyway, none of these songs are on Jackson Browne’s soon to be released "Solo Acoustic, Volume 2".\u00c2\u00a0 But, "Never Stop", my favorite cut off his last studio album, 2002’s "The Naked Ride Home", is.<\/p>\n This solo acoustic take is different from the studio original.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s the same song, but sans the production, the focus is on the words instead of the groove.\u00c2\u00a0 And I always loved the groove.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially at this one moment, when suddenly, the song takes a left turn, when Jackson seems to get down on his knees and he sings:<\/p>\n Remember when you look into my eyes You can trade in your lover, shitcan your relationship and move on.\u00c2\u00a0 Repeating the same steps over again with someone new.\u00c2\u00a0 Or you can hang in there, through the pain, for further good times, grown out of the mutual understanding that only years together can bring.<\/p>\n You can’t hear this version online.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll just point you to the live take on YouTube, which features Mark Goldenberg of the Cretones on guitar, but is somehow sans the magic of both the studio or live acoustic versions.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, it’s good.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just that if you’re not a fan, it might slip right off you: <\/p>\n
While you’re waiting for reality to show
Without dreaming of the perfect love
And holding it so far above
That if you stumbled onto someone real, you’d never know<\/em><\/p>\n
I don’t know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be<\/em><\/p>\n
Can’t seem to grasp it as hard as I try<\/em><\/p>\n
I’m the one who took you by surprise
The time has come and gone and come back ’round again
And I’m still here to take you by surprise my friend<\/em><\/p>\n\n