Reviews (page 7 of 8)
Eewww. I'm so sick of these repeat artists! Give me someone new! I'd rather listen to Yellowcard, and I hated Yellowcard!! Anyway, an address is a fine album title. But I must be missing something with Eric Clapton. This isn't loud or painful or anything, but it's sooo boring. Like Steely Dan level. Zzz.
Clapton released this after going without heroin for 3 1/2 years. That also made him far more boring.
Despite all of his great characteristics his music is whatever
Hope I never have to listen to it again.
I found this album to be a bit boring, at least until a few songs at the end. Clapton is a great guitarist with a ton of excellent music. And I liked I Shot The Sheriff, Mainine Florida, and Steady Rolling Man on this. But much of the rest of it was pretty slow and, in my opinion, uninspired. Expected more and got less. 2 stars.
Pretty mediocre all up...
felt a little bad about only giving this two stars. then i read dan’s review. no longer feel bad.
This was fairly dull. I love the bluesy stuff Clapton did with the blues breakers and the yardbirds and cream, but his slow solo stuff is pretty meh. I shot the sheriff is the only one I knew and I've never really liked it. Blah.
bizarre on every front
Breaking: racist old cunt get 2 stars
blue eyed soul again. lol at the i shot the sheriff cover.
Putting aside Clapton's idiotic world views for the moment, this is a decent album of covers with 2 songs out of the 60's to round it out. When you hear Eric Clapton you think of some really solid blues guitar work with tight rhythms and good solos, but I don't really get too much of that here. Aside from the fact that the better songs are covers, none of his actual technical mastery of the instrument is on display here. The solos could have come from any competent blues guitarist and the on the songs that aren't blues, the guitar isn't particularly standout. The melodies in Let It Grow and Get Ready are nice enough but again, there's no real noteworthy guitar playing in my opinion. This is a pretty standard pop-rock album with a highlight being I Shot The Sheriff, which of course he didn't even write and apparently didn't even want to put on the album. And finally he's a huge piece of shit.
I liked the bits when he wasn't singing. An upbeat Motherless Children is an odd choice. Otherwise dull.
2.5 Why does Clapton always sound in pain when he sings
aighht
There's definitely stuff to enjoy in here but Clapton gives me the ick. Probably the racism and the anti-vax. Saved a song: N RYM: N
In which famed racist Clapton discovers reggae, will all the horrors that entails. Funk with no funk. A rich pompous man invents yacht rock and rips off stairway in the process. I can't bring myself to give this a 1 because its not even offensive, just utterly dull. The kind of guitar playing that brings the sentence "Never mind the notes, just listen to the tone!". A waste of space on this list. Who is really begging for this? Also, to reach this before Marley himself is a tragedy.
I didnt like this. It sounded like your dads creepy mate who thinks he is worldly but seems shallow and arrogant. This sounds like i expect Margaret Thatcher smelled. Points for instrument mastery
soo nach dem fantastische ihstig, wie rassistisch de lipton ice tea isch, luegemer mal was er so z büte het motherless children kenni s riff iwie? isch easy aber jz nöd meh I shot the sheriff kenntmer mega oder isches es cover vom marley? confusioñ LOGISCH MARLEY BLÖD okok please be with me findi no en schöne, reduzierte song sini stimm falltmer jz s erst mal positiv uuf, vorher isch sie eifach z ruhig gsi und jz passts halt iwie? let it grow het na schön ahgfange und denn...passiert eifach nüt meh ok me chanem nöd vorwerfe, es z langs album gmacht z haa ja di 2. hälfti hetmer chli besser gfalle aber allgemein findis eifach langwilig? ab und zue hets vlt mal en refrain oder en gitarrepart wommer gfallt aber im grosse und ganze chli zum ihdöse
Clapton recorded this after coming out of a heroin addiction. Curiously, after that experience, he managed to produce an album devoid of any kind of grit. It's the epitome of faceless corporate rock, soulless covers included. Expertly played, though. 1.5/5 really, but I'm feeling generous today.
It's Clapton, which is bad enough. Then, 7 of the 10 tracks are cover versions. Why is this album on this list?
idk how much i'm influenced by now knowing about this guy's racism but this sucked
Only 4 original tracks on this album was a surprise. A mix of rock, pop,blues and even a bit of country/r&b. Very middle of the road and his solo output doesn't match his band work. OK-ish.
Hell of a guitarist …. Boring and bland voice. Just meh
sounds like a 60's rock radio station
I think I’d have good things to say about this album if Clapton wasn’t such a dick. Guitar and vocals were very Peter Green, which is high praise from me.
Appreciate he’s held up as one of the true guitar greats, but as a writer I’ve never heard anything from Clapton that has piqued my interest. And this albums does little to change that. It all just feels like very standard 70s rock numbers. Overall, not very memorable.
whatever, man. 2.5 stars.
I'm all for separating artist from art. It gets markedly harder when overt bluesman is also overt racist but, then, I also don't really care for Clapton.
👎👎👎
Can confess I did not approach this with an open mind, as Eric Clapton is not a nice man. His music sounds pleasingly like Harry Nilsson, but with more blues rock and less interesting songwriting. Going with a reluctant two.
Low 2 Ive never liked eric clapton and i dont know why. Theres not even any interesting guitar work on this album. Tbf ive never heard a solo from him thats interested me in any way. Give me george harrison any day
Thanks to all the other comments for informing me that Eric Clapton sucks as a person
Soulless album with the best songs being basic Clapton covering more skilled song writers. The guy was a great technical guitarist but he lacks depth and emotion.
A few nice songs, but most of these are covers which don't add anything to the original, and as a whole this was pretty dull. 3/10
kinda just went by Will I listen to again: 0%
Not for me
I’m familiar with this album, heard it many times and am usually underwhelmed. This is a laid back, whitewashed blues cover album. As uninspiring as this album is, it has its moments: Motherless Child, Get Ready, Let It Grow are all tolerable. Not a fan of the I Shot the Sheriff cover, seemed random and out of place. If you want blues, there’s better out there. If you want Clapton, there’s better out there. If you want cover music, there’s better out there. This is ehh, a 2.
Lame racist boomer plays music written by better musicians. Okay, it’s well produced.
Didn’t to much a little disappointing, felt abit bluegrass not my tempo
Separating the art from the artist because he is a ignorant asshole with shit values. Just because music is written by a human does not make it human so it should get a chance to be critiqued by it self. Lyrics can be hateful but melodies are just sounds and don't have values or opinions. Probably why I often don't listen to lyrics. Kinda like, don't judge a kid by it's shit parents. Maybe it's because I always liked music more than people Rant over, so how does the music hold up? It's fine, I always thought he was overrated. not really an amazing guitarist so I'm not really sure why he is praised for his guitar skills. The best track is I shot the sheriff but why not just listen to the original instead. The other tracks are fine, nothing revolutionary. mostly mediocre blues and some forgettable ballads.
My previous review of Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) was less than generous, and this one won't be much different. I always thought I respected Eric Clapton as a musician, but I'm learning that maybe isn't true (even without considering the personal/political reasons he's fallen out of popular favor in recent years). When we last left off, Eric (Derek), wrote a whole album about how much he loved his best friend's wife and really made things weird for himself. After that didn't go exactly as he'd hoped, he decided to love heroine instead and disappeared to explore that relationship for ~3 years. His emergence in 1974 might be one of the great heist stories of our time... He recorded this album of cover songs, and he finally started living with Pattie Boyd (the Chekhov's Best-Friend's-Wife we met in Act 1). I guess he had to get sober on his own, but he probably would have stolen that too if he could have. This album (again, of mostly cover songs) really shows Clapton struggling to figure out who he is and experimenting with different musical styles. He still manages to keep things pretty middle-of-the-road, with no ambitious swings and no virtuoso guitar soloing. He did write two songs for this album: "Get Ready" with guest vocalist Yvonne Elliman, and "Let It Grow" which he later admitted is basically a rip-off of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven". The former is a highpoint of the album, and the latter could be a good song as well if it wasn't for the stolen valor of it all. The big hit from this record, a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff", was a track that Clapton apparently didn't even want to record or put on the album. It's certainly a standout track and, in my opinion, marks a turning point in the album. Whereas the songs before ISTS feel lively, sometimes almost jam band-y, the back-end of the album feels a little darker/muddier. For the sake of my Spotify algorithm, I refuse to listen to this album a 3rd time to validate that opinion, but that was my impression on the 2nd listen. Sometimes I listen to these albums and then explore the rest of the artist's catalogue, but today I put on Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive (1976) as a palate cleanser. It is a good match to the tone of the first 1/2 of 461 Ocean Boulevard, and somehow Frampton's guitar playing succeeds in sounding more like Clapton than Clapton's does on this record.
A bit zzz. And I am over Eric C.
Typical Clapton - lazy and uninspiring. After Cream, he basically phoned in the rest of his career. He's got skill, but no soul.
Where did the whole Clapton thing come from? It's really hard for me to find anything remarkable here. I'm glad he kicked heroin, though disappointed he turned out to be such a dick.
Boring
Couple of good songs, but his voice - just couldn’t get used to it.
Cream were a pretty good band. Layla has a great riff. I don't need any other Clapton in my life, though, thanks all the same. Yes, he knows his way around a guitar. But he rarely brings a spark to anything he performs here, and besides, he's a massive plonker.
The perfect album to accompany a mid afternoon search for a soup recipe. If you stop paying attention to the music because your eyes were enticed by the addition of serrano chiles to a soup, it's okay you didn't miss much. 2.5
Dull
I’ve never really understood the Clapton hype, still don’t. Yes, he is admittedly a great guitar player, but nothing I've heard has stood out to me as particularly extraordinary. On this album, I enjoyed his riffs on several tunes, but it was never enough to make me think that I was hearing anything essential or particulalry impactful to music. Almost all of the songs on the album are covers and among the two originals, “Let it Grow” largely reworks “Stairway to Heaven”, so no song writing cred for Clapton. His singing is mediocre, at best. I always try to give the albums here an initial listen prior to doing any research. Sometimes learning more about the artist/album makes me appreciate it more, more rarely the opposite happens but that was the case here. I don’t pay attention to celebrity gossip, especially when it is associated with someone who I’m not interested in. As a result, I had no idea that Clapton was such a horrible human (I’m being generous with the human part). Holy shit! This dude is a waste of carbon. “Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out,” exclaimed Clapton to his captive audience. “Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white." No, this was not an isolated incident and it is made worse coming from a white dude covering blues songs. Plus, his more recent anti-vax conspiratorial BS. As someone on Twitter said, "Kid Rock with slightly better guitar skills". Putting the asshole aside, I just didn’t find anything particularly special. A decent rock/blues album, but there is much better. Based on music alone, I would have probably given the album 2.5*, but fuck this guy. And no, one should not separate the artist from the art, particularly when they use their wealth and influence to spread hate and intolerance. I see no reason to explore Clapton’s solo work further. In writing this, I’ve given him way more time than he deserves.
I’ve always had mixed feelings about Eric Clapton: as the host of 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦 he left a positive impression, but his careless political remarks do the opposite. Musically, he’s often hailed by magazines (and even casual listeners — someone once coined the phrase “Clapton is God”) as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Yet what he really delivers is safe, academic blues. If you wanted to learn the basics of blues guitar, Clapton could teach you a few solid lessons — but that doesn’t make him a visionary songwriter. 𝟦𝟨𝟣 𝘖𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘥 proves the point: aside from a couple of originals, it’s mostly covers, played with competence but little spark. His laid-back approach is pleasant enough, yet the album feels more like a collection of interpretations than a true artistic statement.
For anyone who thinks - as I do - that Eric Clapton is an absolute dangerous walloper, I would heartily recommend this phenomenal character assassination by Andrew Male 😅: https://youtu.be/QFiYTs7EWsU?si=bvXxrJd_eOLvD4Rp As for the album itself? In the better moments, hints of Ry Cooder or JJ Cale. Even some moments of genuine, soaring beauty. Also a lot of boringly competent midrange playing and, at his worst, plenty of pale-imitation, faux-blues and cod-reggae crap. Should probably really merit another star but ultimately marked down for EC being such a massive tit.
I only gave it it two stars because there were two songs I kind of liked. I am not a fan of solo Eric Clapton.
I liked Motherless Children but overall it's pretty mediocre album. 2/5
DNF
clapton guitar good but do nothing else good better music plz
Eric definetly deserves flowers for his guitar playing and his work with cream but bruh this album is so boring 6/10 Favourite: Motherless Children Least Favourite: Get Ready
4 Blah blah beyow weeyow
White cokehead anti-vaxxer does Reggae. No way this ends poorly. 3/10
Otro disco que hacía mucho que no reescuchaba. Este tampoco me gustaba mucho pero, en este caso, mi memoria no me traicionaba. No entiendo mucho su importancia histórica ni porque merece estar en esta lista. ¿Por un éxito meramente comercial? ¿Por haberle introducido el reggae a cabezas blancas y angloparlantes? ¿Por ser el regreso triunfante de un Clapton acosado por sus demonios, años después de que otros músicos como Jimi Hendrix hubieran muerto? No lo sé, pero no me interesa para nada. Dicho esto, el segundo lado del álbum es MUY superior al primero. El primero es una porquería, tenés al clásico tradicional de blues Motherless Children, canción super lúgubre, hecha medio poppy y upbeat. Daría a entender que Clapton no entiende la letra. Después tenés un tema de blues de Clapton que en mi humilde opinión no aporta nada, y no uno, ni dos, sino TRES canciones de reggae (incluyendo I Shot the Sheriff, la más conocida del disco y la única que me parece algo interesante, aunque sea por ganchos y por nostalgias). El segundo lado es mejor. Por un lado tiene a la que es lejos, lejos, lejos, lejos, lejos la mejor canción del disco y una de las mejores canciones de Clapton. Este disco tiene 2 estrellas y una es por ella. La mejor, la soñada, la indiscutible Let It Grow. Además hay un tema de blues de Willie Dixon que está bien, Please with be me y Mainline Florida, que son las otras dos canciones del disco que están buenas, y un tema más de blues medio genérico. En suma, en este disco tenés tres canciones buenas (superlativas), un cover que está bien, y lo demás es medio pelo. Si vamos, por otro lado, a considerar originales, Clapton compuso solo tres canciones en este disco (una en coautoría): una es la mejor del disco; las otras dos pertenecen al lado uno, el lado de la muerte. En fin, peor disco (por ahora) que veo en los 1001 discos: 2 estrellas.
My first Clapton album. I wasn't bad, I shot the Sheriff is great, other then that, not a whole lot to take away from. Easy listening, but nothing stood out that strongly for me. Good campfire music, that's about it.
Please be with me was a good song but really nothing else. Who shot the sheriff was good, but I liked Bob's version better. Nothing too exciting for me here.
He sounds like Brian’s Kermit the Frog imitation.
(51/100)
Min enda erfarenhet av Clapton sedan tidigare är Layla, Tears in heaven och trötta bluessolon. När första låten rullar igång här känns det betydligt piggare. Men så är Clapton ingen sångare av rang och det är det stora problemet med den här skivan. Det är 10 habilt framförda låtar, men också rätt identitetslöst.
Det är snyggt, fina musiker, välproducerat och ack så tråkigt. Slowhand maler på utan att något sticker ut. Clapton är kanske bäst när han arrangerar bluesfestivaler.
Слабо Клептън, слабо
it's fine. But he sucks.
I’m surprised this album came out in 1974 when the album cover and title are some of the most stereotypically 2000s things ever. I guess time really is a flat circle. I’m not familiar with Eric Clapton’s music, but I swear I’ve heard his name somewhere before. I’ve no clue what to expect going into this. Hard rock? Singer/songwriter? Anyone’s guess, really. Oh, blues rock. I never would have gleamed that. I’ve been given a few of these albums lately. The style isn’t for me and there isn't too much going on in this album, but I’m never above a little unpretentious fun. There are some good guitar performances here and I enjoy Clapton’s vocal style, but ask me to name one of these songs and I’d be sweating bullets. Anyways, onto the music. “Willie and the Hand Jive” is the first stand-out track of the album. The plucky guitar performance is the obvious highlight, though I also jive with the vocal performance. “Get Ready” is a good follow-up. I quite like the subdued sound and cool guitars, and the vocal melody is pretty catchy. “I Shot the Sherrif” isn’t half bad. It has a little bit of a Motown influence, which is a surprising pivot for the album. The groovy guitars and pianos are also neat. “Let It Grow” is an interesting late-album track. The sound errs between being optimistic and pensive, which is an interesting approach. The guitarwork is solid, and I like the vocal melody around the chorus. Reminds me a little of “Don’t Pass Me By” by the Beatles. Checking the book. Clapton was with Derek and the Dominos, which makes a great deal of sense now that I think about it. “I Shot the Sherif” was a chart-topper in the US. Hmm. I’m not sold on this yet – checking Wikipedia. It was critically acclaimed and topped many charts, but there isn’t much else in there of note. Clapton himself seems to be pretty esteemed and influential, though I’m split down the middle on this inclusion. Uhhh, I think it could do with a trim. In place of this album, I humbly submit Paddy McAloon’s “I Trawl the Megahertz” for inclusion on the list.
Okay album. I found it kind of boring for the most part. "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Motherless Children" were the highlights. He may be a great guitarist but it ends there. His vocals detract.
I’m very disappointed by this album, which is of course pleasant but lacks interest and didn’t really catch my attention… Favorites: - Motherless children (the best song of the album, very fun jazz) - I shot the sheriff (the classic!)
idk sounds pretty boring tbh
this whole thing is just a bunch of half baked covers. growing up I always hated his version of I shot the sheriff, but somehow that's one of the best things on here? there's not excitement here. vibes of a knock off juke joint.
The guy is clearly talented but this just wasn't my glass of vimto
Fine enough, doesn't really do anything special but sounds okay.
A terrible cover of Hand Jive, it's insane. A bunch of covers. Strong musicianship.and production. This has a certain cringeyness vibe overall.
it's a Clapton album nothing wowing
Yawn
Kedeligt
Not really for me, its fine and pretty here and there but mostly comes across as horny boomer music.
Eric Clapton is a superb player, and for the most part, this is a decent-enough-but-leaning-heavily-towards-boring record. It's pretty standard 12-bar blues type stuff, though it's largely executed well technically. I don't know that I'll ever revisit 461 Ocean Blvd again; while the musicianship is technically done well enough, nothing really grabs my attention in a meaningful way. Even Clapton's playing, as technically gifted a player as he is, just lacks any sort of excitement or passion or dynamic shift on this record. It has also not gone unnoticed that about half of this record is cover songs, and those covers largely feel lifeless and dull (I'm probably deducting a full point here; who records half an album of originals and fills up the space with uninspired covers successfully? I can tell you who doesn't: Eric Clapton). I'll be honest, I know Clapton is a guitar hero, but I have always struggled to find his work interesting. This record is not the exception. 2.4/5 Non-offensive but kinda boring blues rock from one of the masters.
He shouldn't have stopped using heroin
The whitest dude to ever do blues. For someone who's name is often dropped as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, the man's solo career is simply pathetic. 461 Ocean Boulevard sounds like it was made by an old whiny grandpa, who listened to some blues records and tried to imitate it. I always get a little sad when listening to his solo stuff, because 'Layla', 'Sunshine of your love' and 'While my guitar gently weeps' are some of my favourite songs of all time. His bland sound on these tracks almost undermines his genius interplays on those previous tunes. The hit cover of 'I Shot The Sherrif' is just not that good and fails the original, but still managed to be the best song on this thing. Eric Clapton's solo Boulevard is too unimaginative to enjoy.
I think this album was a mixture of really good and horribly bad. When Eric Clapton tried to sing more bluesy songs he just ended up sounding milquetoast and soulless. Songs like Please Be With Me and Let It Grow however were fantastic. The guitar parts were absolutely beautiful. But oh my gosh, I Shot The Sheriff…I just can’t with that one. Horrible.
o sea entiendo la vibra, simplemente no es mi vibra. la guitarra genial evidentemente pero las letras no m transmitieron aboslutamente nada y m embole un poco, no pude conectar
Clapton is arguably one of the more important guitarists of all time. A lot of what we got after him only happened because of him. I want to separate the art from the artist though because a 50 year old album at least deserves an honest review. Now, with all that out of the way, this album is pretty bland. The only real standout track is the Bob Marley cover. There's some great guitar work on the album over all, but that doesn't really do much to make up for the subpar song writing.
Most of these are covers of other artists’ songs. At least he introduced the world to Bob Marley…
Difficult to look past his racist rants from this era, especially for blues this mid.
Pretty boring album
Not great for the most part, couple of good covers and Eric's own let it grow are the best parts.
3eme album avec Clapton après un de Cream puis un de Derek & the Dominos, tous deux peu appréciés (2/5). Celui-ci est plus récent, mais est beaucoup plus Blues que Rock ... Les morceaux ne sont pas très dynamiques, pas désagréables (+1) mais peu intéressants. Rien de remarquable donc, je ne l'écouterais pas une seconde fois. =>2/5
I liked a few songs and really didn’t like the others
For someone named Clapton his music sure made me hold my applause 😆 I could smell this guy from 3 albums away 🤢
You know i really dgaf
High points: Motherless Child, Please Be With Me (reminds me a bit of CSN), Let It Grow Meh point: Willie and the Hand Jive, Get Ready Notes: Great live feel to the production. Overall a pretty boring and slow album with a couple good tracks.
There's obviously some great guitar playing here. Let It Grow is a real stinker. I get that he stole from black musicians. And is a racist. And a dumbass anti-vaxxer. I think when we hit the 70s we're going to find a lot of musicians we problematic. All that being said, not really music Id choose to listen to.
ligegyldig, men gør ingen skade
This is pretty uninspiring stuff. One of the weaker albums I've heard on this journey. The vocals are not convincing, and Clapton's guitar is super understated.
Nothing wrong with it but just not for me
Mostly weightless.
It’s not unlistenable or anything, but I would describe it as ‘remarkably unremarkable’. What on earth did the record-buying public (and Grammy Hall of Fame committee…!) think Clapton’s version of I Shot the Sheriff excelled at that the original did not??
Dull music, expertly played, is still dull music.
2/5. This feels like a bootleg copy of unreleased songs found on an anniversary album 25 years later. It's not necessarily bad but I was kind of hoping for the actual album at some point. Just listening to the guitar is fun because Eric has not found his front man voice yet. Honestly just having guest singers would have been a better choice. It's an okay album, just not something I'm listening to again really. Best Song: I Shot The Sheriff, Motherless Children, Steady Rollin' Man
Decent and enjoyed it enough but probably won’t revisit. Few great tracks, others were just fine.
Judging from Wikipedia it seems like this was quite a popular album. I fail a bit to see its greatness actually. Most songs seems to be covers or written by other artists. ’Let it grow’ is the best song, and seems to be almost the only one written by Clapton himself. Overall I found this quite bland, nothing really stood out. Not sure why it’s on the list honestly.
Generic dad-rock. The most memorable song is "I shot the Sherrif" which is just a subpar cover. Very inspired by rhythm and blues but instead a white guy singing. Not sure why this was popular (actually, i know why, racism). Probably a weak 3 but going for a 2.
I was like... oh actually this is alright. And then I realised its almost entirely covers. Everytime I hear it start to get interesting I go and check the credits and lo and behold its not a Clapton song. Its not bad. Its well produced. I don't feel like I needed to hear it before I died. Put it in the 'albums that you could take off the list without anyone noticing'. I suppose you could give it a three but he butchers the groove on I Shot the Sheriff which is unforgiveable.
Wow. You can hear the cocaine right off the bat here. I’m not going to act like he’s not talented. Some of this is sort of okay. I can see why it appeals to certain audiences. But it just sounds like a bunch of cheap covers.
I don’t typically read the reviews before I listen to the album, I don’t want my analysis to be clouded by others opinions. But I was curious before hand because I am not much of a Clapton fan and wanted to see how the world viewed him. Well, all the top reviews talked about him as a POS human being (not gonna argue that, I try to just listen to the music tho, particularly for this list) and how middling this album is. Well I couldn’t disagree more. Middling is such a, well, middling term. This album isn’t in the middle of anything, except for maybe the middle of a sea of shitty uninspired music. This album isn’t even plain vanilla, vanilla is a good and usual flavor. This is old wilted iceberg lettuce, flavorless and lacking any snap. He covers some great songs with the enthusiasm of a middle school child going to help his distance relative paint their garage. I have heard Clapton’s version of I Shot the Sheriff more times than I need to. I was about 8 the first time I heard it and growing up in a Bob Marley house, I almost puked then and nothing has changed in 30+ years. He takes a song with so much meaning, depth, and passion and turns it into over cooked instant oatmeal. I said I wouldn’t skip any tracks on any album on this list, that was the toughest one. Can Clapton play a good blues guitar, sure. And there are a few Cream and other Clapton songs that I don’t mind, not putting them on any of my playlists, but when they pop up somewhere, I can dig them. This album doesn’t have that at all. I’ve heard worse albums, but not yet on this list. Giving it a one seems too tough, but grading on the 1001 scale it might be fair. But there are some redeeming guitar rifts that can’t allow me to give it the lowest possible score. 3.5/10 ⭐️ #25/1001
Plodding. The only song of interest here is one that wasn't even written by Clapton.
I briefly confused Eric Clapton with Neil Young. Real middle-of-the-road music, best track is the I Shot the Sheriff cover. Surprises me we've only had one Cream album too. Just really middling. Not even going to give a bad boy bonus for having some strong opinions - too middling.
Never listened to an Eric Clapton album before, but this is pretty much as I expected. Fairly middle of the road soft rock. He can clearly play guitar, but he's also clearly a huge cunt and I can't really get away from that. I'd forgotten about reading about his speech at one of his gigs in the 70s until this album came up Probably worth more than a 2 but he's annoyed me
Guitar is cool. Shot sheriff is classic
So bland, not what I'd expect
Thoughts before listening: While I appreciate Eric Clapton's guitar playing talent, I have never had much interest in his solo music. Cream was great and Derek & the Dominoes is a good album, but I typically find his solo albums to be boring. That being said, I know this album is highly regarded so I look forward to listening. Review: I mean this isn't necessarily "bad" but it is pretty bland. While I do like a couple of these songs like "Motherless Children" and "Let it Grow", this album is full of mostly boring, watered down blues rock. 2-stars
2.5
It’s ok
I’ve said before that Clapton is a better side man than a front man. This album is a perfect example of why. It does almost nothing to showcase his ample ability, and just sounds generic. Putting aside how horrible he is as a person, Eric Clapton is undeniably talented. An album by someone with his skills shouldn’t be this boring.
Nothing I say about Clapton hasn’t been said before, but I’m just not in the mood for this ’70s blues facade where technical skill is valorized over feeling. There’s no sloppiness, no danger—just Clapton’s effortless confidence and clarity. His pristine tone is the sound of a man playing everything right but never raising the stakes. It’s all so polished, so assured, so tasteful. Cranking the volume doesn’t reveal any hidden fire, it just reveals that everything is perfectly in place. When has perfection ever been good for rock music? Steely Dan would like a word with me, as would Genesis, Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac—all masters of the pursuit of flawlessness. But at least they aimed high. Clapton is in an even more unenviable place: too safe to be ambitious. All perfection, no pain or pathos.
Some of the guitar work was good, but the best song on here is a cover. Also none of his best songs are on here, and he's not a good dude
It was okay but man fuck Eric Clapton
Pretty sleepy easy listening for me this morning. I Shot The Sheriff was the obvious highlight for me, Steady Rollin' Man also good, Let It Grow a lesser extent. Overall probably a 2 here, I'm just not feeling this today. For Clapton, I do really like Derek and the Dominos and Cream especially but not so much his solo work. I did own 24 Nights which I thought was really good too.
It was fine, not sure why I'd listen to it again though.
This guy can play, but he doesn’t showcase his Melodie’s in this album. Very blues-y for a racist.
When I was much younger I believed that Eric Clapton was some sort of hero in a tragic romance, as I am sure he saw himself. Acclaimed as "God", the greatest guitarist of all time (at least until Jimi arrived in London), he falls in love with the wife of his best friend, records Layla in an attempt to woo her, falls into alcoholism and heroin addiction when he fails to win her, then does prise her away, only to dump her and accuse her of being a drunk. In truth, Clapton is, and always was, a selfish bastard, a great guitar player who was a master at interpreting Blues; in the '60s he was supreme, even in the early '90s his album of blues covers at times surpasses the originals; only to support Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood, anti-immigration rants. While pleasant in places, this is one of his '70s albums of attempting to be JJ Cale, middle of the road soft rock. Some of the material is listenable, some of it - his cover of I Shot the Sheriff and Wiliie and the Hand Jive - is lamentable. I can separate the artist from the art, to some degree, and I will continue to listen to Bluesbreakers, and Layla, and Cream but there is no place in my life these days for music that is not good enough to make me temporarily forget the racist, conceited, Covid-denying anti-vaxxer who made it.
If this is here as Claptons best stuff then we really need a review of what is his best work...
Ok is this among the best that Clapton has to offer for his solo stuff? I genuinely am unfamiliar. Because if so…meh. Not only am I left underwhelmed, but I feel like there’s a lot of lifting from black culture/music here. “Willie and the Hand Jive” is an eyebrow raiser, but the cover of “I Shot The Sheriff” is Drake levels of lingual and cultural appropriation. This is how not to it, whereas an album like Paul Simon’s “Graceland” is a much better example of honoring black culture and highlighting black voices without just ripping it off. I wish more songs were like “Please Be With Me” or “Let It Grow”. You can see the soft beating heart poking through, no gimmicks, no code-switching.
Decent vibes, but still not doing much for me.
So at first I was excited to listen to Eric Clapton and then I realized I lived under a rock for the past 41 years and didn't realize he was a racist, anti-vaxer, rapist, conservative jerk. So wow does that tarnish and change things...I listened once and then listened again and it just really tainted it. He's a pretty good guitarist and has some good blue melodies in his music. But then he is a total racist but wanted to build his career on music created by African America's not from his country...but yet they are awful. I hate hypocrites more than anything and Eric Clapton you fit that category. Sure he can excuse it and say he was on heroin and sure it was the 70s, but he still falls into that category today, apparently even laughing about his rant to this day. So are there some pretty songs, yes...Please Be With Me is beautiful and Get Ready has some good blues riffs. But the music is just built on hypocritical bs, so for me that loses a lot of the meaning and impact of the music. Sorry Eric Clapton...the first time I enjoyed it but after learning you have no respect for others your music is just empty.
I was really looking forward to this one. I don't think I ever listened to a Clapton solo album top to bottom (did listen to Cream obviously), and I was expecting a lot. Didn't get a lot. I mean, some good songs, nice hooks, but didn't really blow my socks off. Lots of covers, and none of the incredible guitar playing we know from Cream. I'm debating 2 or 3 starts. It's humdrum but it's Clapton. I think I'm gonna go 2 hoping he gets represented by Disraeli Gears.
An easy bunch of cover songs
Thank god, this is the final Eric Clapton album on my list. And I somehow got two of them in the past week. And I really don't like Eric Clapton. And everything is bad! Anyway! Amazingly, I liked this more than the other three, but overall I just don't care for his voice. My favorite tracks were Motherless Children, Get Ready, and Mainline Florida. Everything else I could leave. So this'll be another two stars for Clapton, but a high two stars, like 2.5.
Besides I shot the sheriff, the rest of this is very mediocre.
I was going to give this 3* just because it's middle-of-the-road American guitar music. Clapton himself leaves me very conflicted, which I wasn't sure whether I should take into consideration. I had a look at the reviews and I think I'm in good company, so I'm docking him points for being a waste of skin & bone
I had to listen to two Eric Clapton albums in two days. Never mind shooting a sheriff, that is truly criminal.
You shot the sheriff, but you didn't shoot the deputy? Cool... what's your fucking point?
ruim. e pau no cu do eric clapton
Clapton may be a right wing racist douchebag but he sure can play the geetar. Unfortunately this album is a bunch of white washed cover version of better songs
3/10 Se il pezzo che mi è rimasto maggiormente è una cover di Bob Marley, c'è qualcosa che non va Razzista e anti vax, è stato sicuramente un grande chitarrista, ma il cantato mi ha annoiato
Good easy listening Clapton. Some reggae feel to it.
I don't think this would've been any more sleepy had he stuck with the heroin.
Other than I Shot The Sheriff, this was a pretty big nothingburger for me. 2
2 Eric Clapton, a man who owes his entire career to black musicians and yet has spent a good chunk of it throwing around racist remarks and slurs without even a hint of irony. Dude quite literally even covers a song by a black group here and still went on to deliver his infamous “Keep Britain White” rant just two years later. I digress, for all his faults, Eric Clapton is a really solid guitarist… but you wouldn’t know it by listening to this album. Like, I know if I’m listening to Clapton, I’m expecting to hear some shredding, or at least impressive guitar work in some form, and that never really happens here. That’s not to say that I believe artists should stay in one lane, but I’m not really sure what the guy was setting out for with the change in direction on this album. I didn’t find it particularly interesting, nor did I really think it had anything to say - this just feels like soft rock of the softest kind. The best song here is probably the opener, Motherless Children, but it goes downhill pretty quickly from there. While I’m not a fan of the song I Shot the Sheriff in any form, nor am I really a fan of Bob Marley’s music at all for that matter, I can at least admit the Wailers’ version has a certain energy to it that Clapton’s lacks - which really seems to be a recurring theme across this album. Take my review with a grain of salt given that I’ve never really been the biggest fan of Clapton’s music (and even less so of his personality and beliefs), but I don’t think I could be convinced this is his best work.
This is #day164 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... how do you come back after a period of heroin addiction? Well, you record an album, 80% of which consists of covers. For reasons unknown, this album ends up on the list of albums you must hear before you die. Must you, though? I doubt it. They say you should separate the person from the artist, but honestly, fuck that, Mr. Clapton. I've said that under the Derek and the Dominos review, and I'll say that again. Your love for russia, putin, and everything tied to the imperialist nation of terrorists is hideous. This album gets a 2 out of 5 from me. I didn't feel like continuing to listen to it after the second song, so... I didn't. Looking forward to #day165.
really boring tbh
If Neil Young wasn’t made to be in a band and could only ever thrive as a solo artist, then Eric Clapton is his inverse. This is a man who desperately needed other musicians around him to push him into interesting directions, or even any direction at all. Look, Clapton’s a very good guitarist. I won’t deny him that. But when you look up the definition of “milquetoast” in the dictionary, Merriam-Webster will just start playing you 461 Ocean Boulevard. The most redeeming qualities about this record are that there’s talent behind it, but that talent doesn’t translate to good songs? I feel like when people complain about The Eagles, they think they’re listening to an Eric Clapton solo record. This record just feels like a white leisure suit, like the sonic equivalent of a French 75, like being dosed in a bottle of Acqua Di Giò and still not being able to pick up any of the scent. It’s sad to know that the yacht rock this inspired was a million times more inspired than this shit. At least I can rest easy knowing that Clapton is generally a horrible person, so I don’t feel as guilty throwing this off the starboard side.
I might just be a hater but I don't think there is anything life changing about an album of mostly covers.
A lot of covers that didn't really resonate with me. Ska, reggae and gospel elements used which is ironic considering Eric Claptons stance on black culture/people
Boring. The best track was “I Shot The Sheriff,” which doesn’t count since it’s a cover and not as good as the original.
Por muy buen guitarrista que sea Clapton, no comprendo qué hace este álbum en la lista. No solo todas las canciones son versiones, sino que, musicalmente, tampoco es nada del otro mundo. Hasta el mismo autor del libro intenta excusarse por haber incluido este álbum. Un disco que simplemente se deja escuchar. 2.
Don't like
I grew up having to listen to this version of "I Shot the Sheriff" over and over and over on the radio. I didn't like the song back then and time hasn't changed my opinion. What a lackluster album for someone who is "supposed" to be a great musician (but is actually a horrible human being instead); and it doesn't get any worse than the snooze fest that is "Willie and the Hand Jive." A very mediocre album.
Dit is een blues album, maar dan niet een goed blues album. Het is ontzettend gezapig, en volgens mij grotendeels ook covers. Ik snap oprecht niet waarom dit de versie van I Shot The Sheriff was die een hit werd? De Bob Marley versie is een stuk beter?? Dit album is heel traag, en ik krijg er vrij depressieve gevoelens van, misschien dat het door de zielige gitaar komt of het feit dat alles boven de 60 bpm als te snel zal worden ervaren. Clapton klinkt goed, zowel op de gitaar als qua zang, maar het geheel onttrekt zich gewoon niet uit de sadboysgitaarhoek waar het nogal in vast hangt. Ik irriteer me niet zo erg aan Eric Clapton, het is vast en zeker een lul, maar dan mogen ook alle Beatles en drie kwart van de hiphop albums er weer af. Puur muzikaal vind ik Eric Clapton een hele fijne stem hebben, hij zit alleen tijdens dit album net te veel op zn eigen pik, waardoor het vooral hele saaie trage blues is. En zelfs dat heb ik wel eens beter gehoord... FAVO: Give me strength, Let it grow
There’s too much Clapton on this list. Yeah, he could play guitar. But he’s such a wanker that I struggle to give him time. So much white boy blues bullshit. The urge to slap him with that guitar is overwhelming. This rendition of Hand Jive should have disqualified him from ever being recorded again. Asinine.
Minus 1 star for crappy remakes of Hand Jive and I Shot the Sheriff
2,5
The song all sounded pretty similar. It was ok
Much like Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and early Rolling Stones, the cloud of "white man popularising the black man's music" hangs heavy here. Classic rock & roll, albeit distilled.
This was very mellow, 70s, and actually... quite boring. Not a fan. Rating: 2
Clapton is obviously a great guitarist and I get why he's on here. But honestly his songwriting does nothing for me. Cold, soulless repackaging of blues music, polished to a radio-friendly sheen. The first and last songs are pretty good, but everything in the middle is pretty dull. The 'I Shot The Sheriff' cover is very unoriginal. Covers that don't put an original sprin on the song should be banned IMO. Also, he's a horrible person.
I found this boring
Oh God, Clapton. It’s not even like this is bad, it’s actually pretty polished for what it is, but I have zero desire to hear it again. The only memorable song is I Shot the Sheriff, which is all well and good except that it’s just a meek and flabby version of the much better Bob Marley original. Clapton please go away now.
Boring blues from a horrible person
I've always hated Claptons cover of I shot The Sherrif. Sadly this album is more of the same. He may be a great guitarist, but this entire album comes across as uninspired. I'm only listening to this once as I don't want to give Clapton any more money.
EC has a long history of being a horrible person and I could barely listen to this for that reason. But I did listen to half of it before my rage took over and found it's not too bad - if you're into mellow 70s rock like Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles you might like this. The tunes themselves range from classic to terrible and sometimes manage to be both at the same time (Willie And The Hand Job). Still, I leave this with the same basic feeling I had going in: I won't mind if I never hear his music again.
I didn't find this record compelling, and I generally like Eric Clapton's music, though he himself is a wanker. I'd give it a three, but he's a wanker.
I’m conflicted about 461 Ocean Boulevard. Never has a man so talented been so fucking boring. But at times, despite being boring, it’s pretty good. Willie and Hand Jive, Please be with Me and Let It Grow are all good. Butttt fuckkkk me, let’s get off the yacht and get some energy 5.7/10
british white guy making reggae and blues ends up being a white nationalist ok bro (dw yall he dated a black women) omg lorax reference!? ignoring controversy the music itself is whatever
I sometimes think EC was trying to be JJ Cale with this. It feels lose, downbeat and unpolished. Frankly, not my favorite EC effort, even with a Marley cover that seems trite. Meh.
His guitar often sounds the same from song to song, and I'm not crazy about his vocals. He's also a dickhead. But there are some good songs on this. Please Be With Me was the one that caught me on my first listen. If I'm being an honest arbiter, this is likely a three star for me (or a 2.5). But he's also a dickhead, as I mentioned, so I'll drop a star.
booooo
Gezien zijn muzikale oriëntatie in de jaren 70, en eigenlijk ver daarvoor al, mag je Eric Clapton toch best omschrijven als 'Americana'. Vooral in deze vorm. Maar dat betekent dan ook dat je hem mag vergelijken met J.J. Cale. En voor meer dan de helft van dit album vind ik hem een saaie J.J. Cale. En dat zegt wat, want hoewel ik groot fan ben van z'n werk, is J.J. Cale soms wel ietwat saai. Maar de funky ritmes die hij soms aanslaat in z'n country en bluesy werk leven in ieder geval meer dan die op dit album. Op de tweede helft van het album begin ik me meer te vermaken, als de nummers meer folkrock worden en ze met hun America-achtige harmonieën toch wel degelijk laten zien dat het album leeft. Maar het is over het algemeen vrij gezapig. Wel zou ik '461 Ocean Boulevard' meenemen als ik hem zag staan in een platenzaak. Enkel de hoes is echter genoeg. 5,5/10 Highlight: Please Be With Me
Dire. Truly dire.
This is nothing more than ok. Clapton has no style, or substance, and not even top tier talent. There are a few good tunes here I suppose, but isn't that true of just about any rock album
starts well, goes downhill - no searing blues riffs apparent
Boring
Albumi #63, 29.09.2024 Claptonin toinen sooloalbumi vuodelta 1974. Perus bluesrockia. Ei aiheuttanut ahaa-elämyksiä.
Clapton is certainly a good blues guitarist. Equally, he's a pretty awful person. I partially put my dislike of him on hold for Derek and the Dominoes, as it's really an excellent album. This one is a lot less interesting. His cover of 'I Shot the Sheriff' is the only song that interested me that much. But it's hard to appreciate his engagement with Black culture while also remembering his racist views. The rest showcases his skills but not.much else, and not enough to ignore the person behind the music.
not the biggest fan of covers. personality and actions aside its really a uninspiring album. it doesnt even show what he is really capable of skillwise on the guitar. really boring but has a few good songs. (2.5/5.0)
I liked Willie and the Hand Jive and not much else.
As you may remember, I’m not a big fan of Eric. Overrated guitar player, bizarre behavior/view in recent years, and his guitar playing went way downhill after he got off heroin. This is his first album post-rehab. The songs aren’t great — Willie and the Hand Jive is way too languid, Motherless Children has been done way better by others (e.g., Steve Miller), although I do love it when people think I Shot the Sheriff is an original by Eric. Eric’s originals are meh.
Growing up, my parents owned “cream of Clapton,” which is a greatest hits album, get your mind out of the gutter. “I shot the sheriff” and “let it grow” were on there, and I still like let it grow. The rest of this album sucks.
Tekis mieli laimeesti sanoa, että Eric Clapton on Eric Clapton, se jää mulle aina laimeeksi. Vaikka I shot the seriffistä pidänkin. Se oli ainoa heti kiinnostava kappale tällä levyllä. Niin hidas b-puoli! Mutta en inhonnut mitään. Tuskin silti palaan.
Good one, Eric "Keep Britain White" Clapton
461 OCEAN BOULEVARD is mostly covers, and that is okay, but while the whole album is a technical specimen, it ultimately sounds soulless and lacks the vitality of the originals. The result is a fairly ho hum boring album that brings neither creative inspiration nor swelling emotion.
I listened to this multiple times and it made no impression on me whatsoever
This started off making me think it would be a nice stepping stone between classic Clapton and his more guilty-pleasure work of the 80s. And then, for some ill-advised reason, Willie and the fucking Hand-Jive shows up in the worst iteration of it I've ever heard. It isn't interesting, it's slow, and it's hard to sit through. Just an awful song. Luckily he slots "I Shot the Sheriff" in here as a cover worth listening to. For me, it's one of only a couple of songs I hope to ever hear again. Things don't get better with "Please Be With Me." What a boring grind this is. And then we get to the monstrosity that is "Let It Grow." I remember hearing this on a greatest hits album when I was a teenager and being bored to tears. The lyrics are terrible (Love is lovely, so let it grow). Musically, it has so much potential. It sounds as if someone attempted to make Stairway to Heaven fit on the B side of Abbey Road, but made them both as absolutely vanilla and uninteresting as possible. The potential sitting there but left dangling so limply makes me want to puke. Was this when Clapton was doing too many drugs, or after he'd sobered up too quickly? What an unfortunate album by a great artist.
Gear: Abyss DIANA MR (vegan) Artwork: 🌴🏠☀️ Mix: 🎧😐🆗 Musik: 😬🎸🥱 Wertung: 🌴(🌴)/5
Noteworthy songs - 808080808 Magical Dream - Kinda catchy synth, but the rest is bland. Ancodia - Good background noise. Cobra Bora - Actually kind of cool, reminds me of Bomberman Hero. Pacific 202 - N64 vibes, but melody isn't great. Donkey Doctor - Nothing too special, weird ending. 808080808 - Really cool beginning. A little slow in the middle but stays interesting enough. Sunrise - Nothing remarkable. The Fat Shadow - Eerie. Very short.
Fairly tepid blues rock, makes you wonder what was the point of putting this out? The less said about the woeful Bob Marley cover the better. 2*
So…. I have always loved I Shot The Sheriff so at least three stars for that alone. To be continued ….. I shouldn’t have read the reviews. Taking two stars off for what I’ve read about him…. One star total
This is good, but I still don’t see the hype around Eric Clapton.
What a dry album. Clapton is just so juiceless, I've listened to this four times and gotten barely anything out of it. Will likely forget soon. Best Track: Mainline Florida Worst Track: Let it Grow
Pretty dull with not much energy.
Stört nicht, aber das Bob Marley Cover musste auch nicht sein
Slick. Occasional sweet musical flourishes - some nice Hammond organ, some gritty guitar - but overall pretty dull
Fine. Something that has a title like this should be more fun. I’ll stick to Jimmy Buffet. 2/5
Nothing really outstanding in this album. Also, I try to separate the music from the artist, but the best thing here was the Bob Marley cover of I Shot the Sheriff, which is kind of ironic. I had a Wings album yesterday from the same year and I liked it much more. There is some good guitar work, but nothing that really stood out. My favorite was Let It Grow.
It did nothing for me and he’s a bitter old gammon nowadays shows there was no love in anything he did.
The music itself is a 2, not rlly care for it. This guys a fucking cunt btw so that too
pls ikke flere rockalbums. lorte bob marley cover
Lækker produktion for det meste, lækker guitar, men godt nok tandløst. Vildt nok valg at lave det her cover af I Shot the Sheriff som er så åbenlyst værre end originalen. Lille 2er
Fed guitar, som altid med Clapton, men kæft det er kedeligt.
Ich verstehe den Hype nicht.
Eric Clapton is a good guitarist, but not a good person. How does a record that is almost all cover songs become a record that has to be listened to?
Didn't enjoy this, other than the first track, which was okay. I figured this would be a bit all over the place, and indeed it was. Very little to hold my interest and I was relieved when it was over.
I Shot the Sheriff is a banger. Otherwise, just go listen to the originators not the imitator.
Starts pretty decent but quickly falls short of what you thought it would deliver
2.5 Best song was a cover
Meh. Minus one for racism.
Belangloser Blues Rock.
The kind of album that was probably really cool at the time but has aged horribly. So boring and just sits there. A staple of horrible "classic" rock stations played between the star spangled banner. I never really liked solo Clapton beyond a handful of songs and none of them are on this. Worse, it's not even offensive. Just bland.
Cocaine rock at it's finest. Great guitar playing but it's also mind numbingly dull.
Was just dull and uninteresting. It’s only been 24 hours but the only thing I remember is that he didn’t shoot the deputy, and that only stood out because the whole world has been telling me that fact for the last 40 years. Yesterday’s listen through was just a painful reminder!
I imagine this is well loved because it is just so middle of the road. It's just really plain easy going versions of songs. "I shot the Sherrif" is one of the less good Wailers songs, Clapton does nothing to improve it. That said i didn't hate it at all but now I've given it a few spins I won't be rushing back. Also he does seem to be an utter twonk.
It is a perfectly suitable album for what it is, it just doesn't excite me in any way.
This is the very competent ripping off of artists who may not be as technically adept, but at least were original. It's kind of sad that our history has this kind of person in it.
It was just so boring. It was the same song over and over, and then in the actual song there was no excitement, it stayed with exactly the same tune, no change in rhythm, and no change in vocals. The texture stayed the same the whole way through the album. On a side note, I had no idea that he wrote I shot the sheriff (it's still a bad song).
I can’t believe I only knew one song from this album. After all the Clapton I have heard in my life. This album is aggressively fine.
I'm not going to say this album is bad just because I didn't enjoy it, but this thing near put me to sleep. I didn't find anything particularly enjoyable or engaging with this one. Fav tracks: N/A
I feel like this is when Eric Clapton went soft rock.
Love Clapton and he’s got a couple of his classics on here, but just ok.
I Shot The Sheriff is the best song on here. Willy and The Hand Jive is the worst, sounds like he's on Ambian. Most of these are covers, so I listened to the originals too. And wow did the originals make the covers sound lackluster! (Lucinda Williams cover of Motherless Child, BTW, is what this one wishes it was.) Also we all agree that it's hard to separate the art from the artist. Especially when the artist is so tied up into the music - every Clapton song is indisputably Clapton all the way thru, very distinct.
where do I start. this list certainly serves as an educational tool, but not just regarding the music – until now I never knew the full extent of Clapton's bigotry as I've never been interested in him or his music, but boy, did I learn now. in an unforeseen twist of events, he seems to be pro-Palestine now though, which is a bit of a redeeming factor, and he is a talented guitar player. taking this all into account + this being a pretty bland album (there are some nice songs, but all the best ones are covers, so how much of his accomplishment is it really?), I'd rate it 2.5
Unnerved to learn he was racist before this and anti vax after. Music doesn’t offend.
***BEGIN CHATGPT PROMPTED REVIEW*** "461 Ocean Boulevard" by Eric Clapton is a lackluster attempt at revitalizing blues classics through the lens of the so-called "California Sound." While tracks like "Mainline Florida" and the standout "I Shot the Sheriff" provide fleeting moments of intrigue, the album predominantly relies on covers, reflecting what seems like creative laziness from Clapton. The appropriation of reggae elements in "I Shot the Sheriff" may resonate with some listeners, but it also raises questions about authenticity. Ultimately, the album falls short of delivering the innovation and depth expected from an artist of Clapton's caliber, resulting in a forgettable collection of uninspired renditions. ***END CHATGPT PROMPTED REVIEW*** One last note: if Clapton only played guitar there would be no problem.
Cet album a simplement validé mon opinion comme quoi Clapton est super overrated. C'est loin d'êrte mauvais, mais c'est tellement peu mémorable. Rien qui ne se démarque. Rien qui accroche. 4/10
Let It Grow, 3 I Shot The Sheriff 3
1.5 - Meh. Very boring. Blues rock is a genre that I never care much about.
Meh.. Decent bluesy guitar
So that’s postjunk funk, eh? Heard. Yeah, it’s cruisey bluesy. Not something I’m really jonesing for, but it’s nice. The I Shot The Sheriff cover is a straight-up duplication of the original - again, nice but not novel.
Enjoyable bluesy album, though apart from "I Shot the Sheriff", nothing too remarkable. My trouble with the post "Layla" Clapton is that his songs lack the urgency of his first records with The Bluesbreakers, Cream, and Derek & the Dominos. Also, he is a racist anti-vax asshole, just wanted to say this out loud.
Won't be listening again
Go away Eric. Nobody likes you
not my jam
Dude knows how to play guitar but I only really like 1 or 2 songs
expected a little more, the guitar skill is there but the songs are rather dull. overall pretty forgettable
Pretty average. And what the fuck is the 'i shit the sheriff' cover all about?
Hace poco me salió el disco en que está Layla y en este hay una versión de "I shoot de sheriff" que no está mal, pero sinceramente esto no es imprescindible y Clapton tiene un aura que no sé de donde sale. 2 estrellas y gracias.
Meh.
Standout Tracks: "Motherless Children" Lyrics/Vocals- 2/5 Instrumentals- 3/5 Vibes- 3/5 Overall 2/5 This will likely get buried under the Clapton Hate reviews, but I am not basing my opinions on this album off of how shitty of a person Clapton is. However I am basing it on how shitty of an album it is. Clapton is know for being an excellent guitar player, yet none of that was demonstrated in this album. His cover of "Hand Jive" is probably one of the absolute worst covers I have heard in my entire life. "I Shot the Sheriff" wasn't as bad as some people say it is, but obviously does not hold a candle to Bob Marley in any shape. The opening track was the best track on the entire album, and the rest was just... there. It did feel very soulless, which is ironic given the amount of soul in blues and how bluesy this album was. I found myself bored, nothing stood out and it just droned on. It was wooden and plain. It's not a very good album.
It was bluesy, but the only really good songs were covers.
Well, he's a fine guitarist, great tone, lousy singer and all round shit bloke. Tired covers of some classics.
eric clapton is well known for his guitar playing, and if a genre is mentioned, it's blues-infused rock and roll. but hearing clapton's album of pure blues provides me a wider window into him as a musician. i can respect it! i definitely appreciate the funk he incorporated in a few of these tunes. that's not a genre i ever associated with clapton, and he pulls it off well. all in all, an easy enough album to listen to, even if i'm not the biggest fan of the blues genre. but boy, he sure did steal from black musicians, didn't he?
You know, I always liked Eric's cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" just okay, but definitely didn't think it was all that great when done by him. Nevermind that he took this from a black artist, all while also being racist and thinking black people are inferior (what else is new?). Well, imagine the sense of clarity that I got, discovering that Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff" came off this album, a fairly mediocre album of mostly mediocre Clapton covers. Despite him being a downright shithead, I can admit that Clapton has some musical skills. But this album doesn't really show those skills. Even the guitar work here is nothing to write home about.
Bollox soft rock from unpleasant guy. Wet lazy stuff. 1.5
I always felt, Eric Clapton's best recordings were the ones when he played with others in a group versus his solo albums. If you put aside that Clapton was a terrible person, his work as a musician was usually top notch, though his songwriting was questionable and I don't like most of his solo work. 461 has a one of his big "hits", Bob Marley's, I Shot The Sheriff, that was bland and boring, In fact, most of his solo work, I felt was underwhelming and a man so "talented" should have produced better and consistent records. I guess you can live off reputation your whole career.
This got a lot of radio time on its release as the 'hero' had been away for a while. Seemed OK at the time but almost 50 years on it is so underwhelming. The guitar prowess is held back, only rarely surfacing. Having been in bands full of monster egos their output was often stellar. Being the primary ego the play offs clearly absent the quality is simply not there.
Don’t like Clapton
The first piece starts with that mellow, delicious guitar, heavenly. The singing on the first Motherless children lacks vivacity to me, but the music is great. Apparently these are covers. I don't like the "Give me strength" piece that is too country for my taste. A little boring.
Pretty boring album. I shot the sheriff...I'll be fine if I never hear Clapton's take on that song again. Bob Marley al day long. Let it Grow is a good song the rest...meh! Anecdote time. My first ever concert. Montreal Forum, was 12 years old .Eric Clapton was touring on this album. Knew nothing of him (except Layla). My 12 yo old self never been to a concert, knew as if by instict, this show was boring. Opening act (Richie Havens was more entertaining, just RH and his guitar.) So am I prejudiced against this album probably, but what's a 12 yo to do? 2 stars
абсолютно ничего особенного, даже можно сказать для тех лет старовато, этот альбом наверное любят за хит-кавер, который мне кажется лишним, и за то что эрик запел сам, меня все это не очень прикалывает. сладкие балладки скорее бесят, чем трогают, это очень спродюсировано, скучно, впринципе клептон видимо тут и повернул к эстрадности и китчу, незря его респектуер розенбаум. еще неясно почему альбом так называется, концепта никакого нет. хорошо что не все песни в одном темпе и одной и той же блюзовой манере, хотя для классического альбома это скорее базовые требования, вобщем, неплохо, но можно было и не слушать, 2 из 10, а по хорошему вообще 1. еще порядок песен странноватый последняя вообще не ощущается как последняя, первая как первая, я бы изменил порядок полностью
Motherless Child, Get Ready, and maybe I Shot The Sheriff are good. The rest of the album, and Eric Clapton himself are not. By Please Be With Me I was like zzzzz.
eric clappin them cheekz
Great album to fall asleep to.
Je n'aime pas trop Eric Clapton mais l'album est sympatoche même si un peu chiant
It's covers? And they're lackluster? What a disappointment
Super soft music
I liked his cover of Stone Rolling Man more than the orginal but disliked most covers (I Shot the Sheriff, Please be With Me, and I hated Willie and the Hand Jive). I also liked his version of I Can't Hold On -even though it lacked the emotion of the orginal- and Motherless Children but dislike these songs in general. As for his original songs, I liked the instrumental of Let it Grow but found it lyrically bland and too slow and long. Get Ready was okay, but still too slow and long. Best song: STRM, Worst: WatHJ
Tepid country-laced blues rock. The Bob Marley cover is pointless. The ballads are the best songs. I don't think much of Clapton as a guitarist or as a person.
This album was... fine. A lot of the tracks went in ear and out the other. Took all the edge out of the blues riffs he jacked.
Just ok...not a huge clapton dude. 1.5/5
For me personally, there are two outstanding tracks on this album. Please be With Me and Let it Grow are truly durable songs. And I actually listen to Please be With Me on a near weekly basis. It's one of the only Clapton songs that has that treatment for me. Two songs don't make an album, but they are very good. There's no doubt that Clapton is highly talented guitar player who benefited greatly from songwriters like J J Cale and others throughout his career to become the rock legend he once was. He's a complicated man and from what I've heard him quoted throughout his career about science and race, he's a pretty appalling person and not one I admire much. I can only say that I loved his music before I knew all that and there are some memories attached to a couple of his songs. His best work is actually on the Rush Motion Picture Soundtrack. I've struggled with this concept of personality throughout the project, but yeah, I think it hurts the music. If your server made a huge belch while delivering your meal would it impact your dining experience? Yeah, I think it does-- and it should.
Was really digging the first song and a half but boredom set in soonafter and literally forgot everything about this album in the span of about 18 hours.
Last Friday was Paul Simon. This Friday was Eric Clapton. Simon was influenced by African and Caribbean music, and went to Jamaica to record with those who inspired him. Clapton was influenced by African American blues musicians, covered their songs here, tried to steal Bob Marley's thunder with his "I Shot the Sheriff" cover, and remained a racist. Clapton might be a terrific guitar player and songwriter, but the irony of a racist covering the work of black musicians is not lost here. Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" is much better, but apparently Clapton's was more famous at the time? None of Clapton's originals on this album impress very much, actually.
There's no denying Clapton's virtuosity as a guitarist. And while I can get behind some of his early rock outings, like Layla and White Room, his solo work feels derivative, inauthentic and passionless to me. Plus, he's turned out to be a real dick.
Obviously, Eric Clapton is an odious human. That said, lets focus on the music. Eric Clapton is obviously capable of making some great music, this is apparent with the Blues Breakers album and his work with Cream. However, this album is not it. It's lacking in genuine punch or emotion, ending up feeling like the white-washed take on blues that it is. It sounds like it was made for bankers to listen to on the boats rather than channelling everything that makes the blues worth listening to. The second half of the album is better than the first, but yeah, not great.
Oh god, I hate this insufferable prick.
Best song by far is I Shot the Sheriff, all other songs don't even come close unfortunately
Not bad, but for the most part not very interesting. The songs are nothing special. Playing is good enough, but not great. "Clapton is god" was obviously based on his '60s work, not on this. Favorite song: Mainline Florida.
Clapton was never the greatest guitarist in history-he wasn’t even the greatest guitarist in the Yardbirds. Boring, boring, boring.
Pretty boring overall. Mainline Florida had a little kick, plus one more was vaguely interesting. Meh.
Clapton's voice is not strong enough to take on material like this. Let It Grow is pretty boring (it improves in the instrumental section), and I Shot the Sheriff is overplayed. There were a few tracks I enjoyed more, but overall this is not my cup of tea.
Ho hum! Most of this just didn’t land with me. Apart from this version of I shot the sheriff and Let it grow I just wasn’t that enthralled. I do find Eric just a bit tedious and politically detestable.
Yesterday was 1 month since my mom died and I've been allowing myself to do and feel whatever this first month but yesterday I had a talk with myself and said I had to get back to "work." I put this album on as I drove around doing errands and the first two songs, Motherless Children & Give Me Strength, pulled me in to really listen. Then Hand Jive hit and I lost interest. I liked this version of I Shot the Sheriff ok enough. I really liked Let It Grow, which could be the song that best evokes mid 70s vibe. I did have fun marveling that this album is nearly 50 years old (July 1 1974 release) but nothing of musical insight really got me with this.
many, many wednesday night “blues” jams seem to have been spawned by this unfortunate piece of work
It’s hard listen to that without thinking about the fact that Clapton is a complete cunt. It’s pretty ironic that he covered I Shot the Sheriff on this album in 1974 then two years later demanded on stage that Jamaicans “leave the country” because Britain is a “white country”. He was lucky to still have a career, that wouldn’t even exist without the black music that he channeled in every song he played. I made the mistake of reading his Wikipedia page, and it seems he’s never fully rejected his racist beliefs, and found himself caught up in anti vaccine bollocks decades later. I feel like I can separate the artist from the art, and there are some decent songs on the album. I really like the 70s production, which sounds really clean and tight. I didn’t hear anything groundbreaking though, and it’s fair to say it wasn’t my cup of tea overall.
This music feels really inauthentic. The type of person who listens to Eric Clapton doesn't really care about authenticity but I do. Vocals are bad all over the album. Please Be With Me is sweet. Let It Grow is some awful hippie shit.
Decent enough dad rock. Shame he's a cunt.
This album shows Eric Clapton, racism extraordinaire, makes bunch of pretty good blues rock and then throws in a bastardization of I Shot The Sherriff. If this is the best he could do on his own, perhaps Baker and Bruce were the masterminds of Cream. This album is fine but fuck Clapton Favorite Tracks: i don't care enough to say 2-2.5/5
It's just a bit dull and insipid? Doesn't show off his guitar playing, which is his greatest asset, doesn't have much energy to it, doesn't have much of anything really. 2/5.
Slept throught the whole thing, very good if you're trying to fall asleep. It's like music made by AI, technically very good but lacks a human soul. The best song was the bob marley cover.
Was obviously thrilled to get this, seeing as it combines two of my recent passions: Eric Clapton and Bob Marley. Surprisingly, this sounds more like the latter; no endless solos here but also very little else. So laid back it's subterranean, perhaps this is the prototype for every beach shack band I've encountered from Waikiki to Calangute. White dad jam musician heaven. Not great
An incredible technically proficient guitar player who plays the blues and somehow manages to take out all the emotion, edge and rawness. It’s all bland and so flat. I don’t understand how someone so talented can make such boring music.
There was some reasonable stuff here but I found most of it bland and repetitive. Not a patch on his stuff with Cream.
Really quite boring. It’s blues music devoid of almost all passion and genuine feeling in the delivery. 4/10
"I hate Eric Clapton, but it's sad that his baby died" - Phoebe Bridgers
I'm going to ignore everything surrounding Eric Clapton as a person and focus on the music instead. He's one of the best guitarists out there. However this is not his finest work. I like my Clapton like my coffee. It's better with Cream. All jokes aside, his work with The Yardbirds, Cream and Derek & the Dominos is way better than this. 461 Ocean Boulevard is mediocre and doesn't excite in any way. As many other albums it's not bad but definitely not great. If this album is on the 1001 list I hope we'll get some Cream albums as well.
Meh
I knew there'd be albums I didn't want to listen to for non-musical reasons. This is one and I sat on it for a week, thinking about what to do. Then I listened to the first 25 seconds or so of each track so that I didn't have to send any money to Clapton (apart from I Shot the Sherrif which is, obviously, awful). It wasn't terrible (with that exception). It seemed a bit bloated and naval gazing sort of stuff and I, obviously, won't be listening to it again.
Not his best stuff
Liked it but not crazy about it. I liked the Who Shot the Sherrif cover the best
I was worried I’d like this and have to rate it lower than I normally would for Clapton being a Nazi. Luckily it’s boring AND Clapton is a piece of shit.
Clapton is a guitar master, there really is no arguing this. That said, the album is very middle of the road at best and most of the time quite boring. Bob's version of I shot the sheriff is superior. Also.... Fuck Eric Clapton 😂
close to the Middle of the Road, and he's an insufferable prick
2.75/5
Boohoo, my name is Eric Clapton and I'm scared of vaccines, waaaah!! Clapton is an old dickhead and his music is boring. 2/5
Clapton's musical career was a steady decline from the highs of Cream. This album, like the rest of his solo discography, is tepid and boring.
Old boring music made by an old bore. Technically competent but safe, dull and soulless. Rating: 2/5 Playlist track: I Shot The Sherriff Date listened: 20/01/23