Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

music sucks but he fucked george harrison's wife. 4 stars

there was an hour and a quarter of this shit. we know Clapton is a massive bell end but that is some serious self love to release over an hour of you wanking off on your guitar just to get all the middle aged white blokes in stonewashed jeans to get a moist crotch from feeling like they know 'the blues'. it takes a cunt of claptons proportions to take the blues and switch it from heartfelt songs of woe and turn it into an excuse to make everyone look at how good you are on the guitar. that bit form goodfellas is good though.

Oh the irony of someone that is openly racist building a career on piss poor blues rip-offs. Fuck racist, rapist, anti-vax Clapton.

Uninspired trash over basic blues backing. If I wanted to listen to this, I can go to a local dive bar on a Tuesday evening show with a bunch of aging rockers who believe in conservative fiscal policy.

If someone asked me for the most generic piece of classic rock music I could think of, I now know where to point them to.

“Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” by Derek and the Dominos (1970) It will be hard to focus on this as an album, since it contains one of the best rock songs of all time, “Layla”. Another thing that makes this a challenge is that it features two of the top rock/blues guitarists of all time, Eric Clapton and Duane Allman (d. 1971). Indeed, the music of this album is best heard as an electric guitar duet between these two. The serious listener may thus be distracted by the temptation to spend too much attention to distinguishing their contributions on each song. And rock aficionados may be surprised that many of the dominant guitar lines are performed not by Clapton (right channel dominant, with heavy fretted bends) but by Allman (usually hanging out on the left channel, and recognized by ultra high slide). Also, on “Keep On Growing” and “Thorn Tree in the Garden”, the lead vocal is not Clapton, but Bobby Whitlock. The lyrics are beautiful expressions of love, found (“Keep on Growing”), lost (“I Looked Away”), requited (“Little Wing”) or not (“Layla”). Love, longing, pain, passion. No politics. No philosophy. No pretense. Musically, the compositions are exquisite, experimental (This is 1970), and performed with technical excellence and soul. A classic fusion of rock and blues, with the most fitting acoustic final track ever. Clapton’s dominant voice (admittedly strained) is helped by quality backing vocals. Solid rhythm section, but listen, listen, listen to the guitars. This a great album. No argument. 5/5

I get the feeling that the only reason this is on this list is because of the hit song Layla.

My two year old son died in the same way Eric Clapton's son died. For inspiration.

A classic, but some of these songs go on a bit long. I like Clapton but there's a bit too much noodling for me at certain points

A few decent songs. Plenty of bland twaddle. And Clapton is a racist piece of shit, so I won't listen again

Look. You know why this album is on the list, I know why the album is on the list. Just give it a 3 and move on

I need a slowed-down, soul-free version of Little Wing like I need another hole in my head. Diet blues.

The title sums this album up perfectly. Competent music, but for a collection of love songs it feels cold and perfunctory. Perhaps Clapton would have been better suited to a collection of assorted hate songs? 2/5

I deeply hate Eric Clapton, both as a person and as a musician. I did not want to listen to this album. However, l decided that I should at least give it a go considering that I still hold a lot of Kanye West's music very close to my heart and I should probably extend the same courtesy that I expect from some of the more Kanye-averse users on this site giving his music a fair shot to Clapton. That being said, this album was pretty dull, but of course Layla is an unimpeachable track.

My first ever one star for this overrated, racist old bore. Pedestrian songs and one hour 16 minutes. He can shove his dominos up his arse.

I'll be honest, I find Clapton's solo stuff massively overrated, but I often like him when he's constrained by a band around him, so curious to see how this lands. The first song is actually alright. And Bell Bottom Blues is good too. I'm gonna credit Duane Allman. Kind of gets a bit boring for a while after that....Yeah, okay this has fallen off into the worst of Clapton-y endless blues noodling. Even the version of Little Wing, a usually amazing song, isn't totally doing it for me. Okay, but Layla is a banger, no denying Kinda digging One More Chance

Tedious blues rock wankery. Some songs are tolerable, helped by the raw sound, others are precisely the chugging shit I've grown to hate. Fuck "Layla". And Derek's a turd. 𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, it's time for: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "New Rule! Every time one of these 1001 supposedly world's greatest albums turns out to be just another minute variation on [or channeling] USUK '65-'80s rock the generator has served me many dozens of times before, I will give you a different album you could be listening to today. For instance:" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ☞ Blumfeld - L’Etat Et Moi (1994) ☜ An absolute landmark of German rock music. No, not like Rammstein, you numpty. Jesus Christ. No. Blumfeld have rather been likened to Pavement, who they had a joint tour with. Not so sure about that comparison; underneath the angular noise, Blumfeld lean much more into singer/songwriter territory but it's an alright genre descriptor, I guess. To me, THE best album written in my mother tongue ever. Go listen.

What a great sound, fast paced songs and howling guitars, every song has class - what's not to like?

It’s horribly bloated. But it’s also pretty good which is annoying. Eric Clapton does have a load of talent. It’s a shame he’s so fucking annoying and stupid

The cover of Little Wing is unlistenable, especially the grating refrain they added. I never want to hear this album again.

There's a lot of foreplay, some pleasurable some not, before Layla opens her legs for the good stuff. Oh, and Clapton is a cunt.

The blues numbers are great, but I can't ignore his many flaws as a human being (a racist anti-vaxxer) so won't listen to his music any more.

Eric Clapton absolutely sucks

Fuck Eric "Keep Britain white" Clapton.

bleck

Wow! This is one great guitar album! I thought “Layla” was the only song I knew from this. When “Bell Bottom Blues” came on I had a shock of recognition… I loved this song once long, long ago in a forgotten past… Hearing it now was quite startling. “Layla” is a masterpiece and it is not surprising this song is embedded into the vernacular of rock. But the rest is very, very strong and worthy of accompanying such a legendary song. I almost feel embarrassed that I have never listened to this before. Eric Clapton as a person provokes mixed emotions in me today. Still, I find it difficult to imagine how one might dismiss the quality of the playing on this album if listened to with any objectivity at all. This album is packed with incredible guitar work. Phenomenal!

Slow hand does not disappoint. I had forgotten how much more than Layla they were. Great stuff

Eric Clapton, Patron Saint of Blues Lawyers. This album is an inspiration for every middle-aged white guy who wishes he could wail on blues guitar, sleep with witchy women, do heroin and ride a motorcycle. I know quite a few aging finance guys who have bought themselves an expensive guitar and a motorcycle to try to live out the dream (they may also be popping opiate pills in secret, but they don't brag about that quite so much). Most of this album is filler and indulgence and cultural appropriation. I find it boring and forgettable, just like most amateur "blues" bands made up of middle-class white accountants and dentists, with the exception of the title song. And that is the reason we are all here, really. Its legacy was really cemented because the coda featured in 'Goodfellas', which is, admittedly, an awesome cinematic moment. But I put that down more to Scorsese's terrific marriage of visuals with this well-chosen needle-drop than the inherent value of the song itself (props also to Thelma Schoonmaker, editor supreme). I always secretly felt that Duane Allman's much-revered slide solos were all a bit out of tune. Awesome, but out of tune. And let us not forget that the whole coda was stolen from Rita Coolidge. Fuck you, Eric Clapton, for being a malign influence on music. You and all your druggie mates.

Not even the slide-god Duane Allman can rescue Eric Clapton from his native bland blues-dad territory. Layla is a good song I never need to hear again, but otherwise the best tracks on here are like filler on an 80s ABB album - big broad major-key southern rock chord progressions, mildly funky basslines, and mostly aimless noodle. The best bits are the harmonized gual guitar leads and Duane's slide solos/fills. Clapton's vocals are flat and soulless and, Cream aside, I've never understood the hype around him as a guitar legend - he's just a technically proficient but very mechanical Buddy Guy/BB King impersonator with nothing special about his phrasing, tone, or anything. There are so many licks on here some are bound to be good, so every couple songs there's something ear-catching like a cool descending run, a minor pentatonic->mixolydian transition, or a big melodic line. It's all very mid, but hey, there's a lot of it - real discount bin stuff...

I mean Layla is pretty good but Eric Clapton is a despicable little worm so I didn't really feel compelled to listen to this entire thing or be fair and impartial. So.

Clapton and Duane Allman. Smooth grooves and solos. 5/5

For their one solo album, it's timeless. Exactly the kind of guitar singing you'd expect from Clapton and Allman. Great sound, meaningful songs, and you can't help but dance a bit.

this album was amazing. the slide guitar is out of this world. 10/10 would recommend.

One of the greatest albums ever created, Eric Clapton at his absolute best. Leaving behind the psychedelia of Cream and the 60’s, Clapton puts together a blues rock masterpiece. The guitar playing on this album is mind blowing, with Clapton’s legendary guitar playing aided by the signature slide licks of Duane Allman. Everyone knows about Layla, one of the greatest rock and roll masterpieces ever composed, but every song on the album is a classic. “It’s too late” may be my favorite song of all time, and this may be my favorite album of all time. It’s that good.

I wasn't expecting much, but this blew me out of the water.

Layla song is a straight ten out of ten. The complexity of these songs is great and I find it brings me happiness listening to this

I like Clapton well enough, but have never understood the whole "Clapton is God" thing. Sure, he's good, but groundbreaking? Astounding? A technical marvel? Can't see it. I'm a super audiophile and think that electric guitars are one of the greatest modern inventions. I love guitarists that play with great passion and those that are amazingly technically apt. And Clapton has never really shown me those things. That's the overall, and when I listen to this (too long) album, I'm reminded of just that fact. It's fine, but it's not really interesting throughout. Of course "Layla" is an epic song. "Bell Bottom Blues" is quite good. Both of which are winners because of the songwriting, structure, and oddly enough the vocals. NOT because of technical guitar wizardry. I'm not looking for shredding or anything, just something that pops out as interesting or different would be nice. Alman's slide being the best part. "Little Wing" here seems to spark some controversy in reviews and it deserves the discussion. If I hadn't heard Jimi or another cover of it, I'd say this is a good tune. But, I think the only thing that's "covered" is the vocals. There aren't even nods towards the musicality of the original. Overall, I think this is a decent, solid album with 2-3 great or at least really good songs with only 1 or 2 that I would skip. BUT, nothing really calls me back to it either. So outside of the 2 big singles, I don't think I'll be listening to Derek again. Giving it a motr 3.

This feels like it should be a live album. I know you can’t create a new band nobody’s ever heard of and release a live album as your debut, but I kinda wish that’s what this was. The whole second half of Layla is a pretty obnoxious thing to record, but I’m sure it went incredibly hard in concert. Beyond that, writing a whole album about how much you love your best friend’s wife is a crazy thing to do. Especially when you include a song that explicitly says so (see: “Have You Ever Loved A Woman?”). It’s even more crazy that it eventually worked out. As a (former?) guitar player, Clapton will always have my respect, but ultimately this album spends more time jamming than I need it to.

Goes on too long. First concert I went to was Clapton in the Albert Hall, as my dad is a fan back from the Yardbirds’s day. I might’ve only been 10, and was impressed as I was meant to be, but I remember feeling impatient for the big riffs, which seemed rare. My favourite song was “Sunshine of Your Love”, and I probably wondered why he didn’t play more of stuff that sounded like that, rather than the plod plod woo-hoo-yeah material that I let my legs dangle back and forth to. Later, the album “Journeyman” came out, which my dad got on tape, and I remember him rushing into a bedroom we kids had congregated in to play a segment of the song “No Alibis”, specifically a two second segment of a solo, which he happily described as classic Clapton. Even then, I felt this was poignant. Two seconds out of a 57 minute album! On heroin addiction, William Burroughs wrote that the addict could spend a whole day staring at the corner of his shoe. He might have added “or inconclusively guitar solo to “Key To The Highway”. Everything is clear and glints, all the many elements painstakingly balanced against each other. The back and forth between guitarists is evident, even if the subject of the conversation is mundane. How many of these songs are about nicking George’s wife? “Layla etc” is “No Alibi”’s dad, a shiny artifact that’s more soft than rock, but the rock that’s there is worth a linger if you like truck stops. But it is so long that a second listen through almost took me to the office sick bay for a lie-down during “Tell the Truth”. It has been a long year. (I ended up just sitting on the couch outside it, writing some of this review.) “Layla” is often said to be Clapton’s best song, but the riff is Duane Allman’s invention and the piano part is, allegedly, Rita Coolidge’s, pinched by her abusive drummer boyfriend Jim Gordon (he’d later murder his mum and spend most of his life in jail before his death this year). What I am getting to is that back then Clapton still had some good compositional taste! Far too long. Just now, I took out a headphone bud with an audible gasp of Jesus Christ. I am giving this 3, as it is an archetype, the platonic ideal of a kind of music that I find irredeemably lame, but with which I am sentimentally entangled. Having not heard it in decades, the intro to their cover of “Little Wing” stilled me. I prefer it to the original. Super epic. Followed by the dishwater blues of “It’s too late”. Can’t believe I’ve listened to this twice today. Am betting my partner in this endeavour will remedy this review with two lines and a score perhaps half that number. What was that song you taught me back in labs? “My old man said be an Arsenal fan…”

If you want something that goes on for ages and then you hear Layla, watch Goodfellas.

Well it's right there in the album name, Layla...and other side pieces of songs. Crying on the floor? Check. In love with his best friend's woman? Check. Reading about Clapton's troubled life made more sense after listening to this. I like Little Wing, but found out later it's a cover of a Jimi Hendrix song. It's still a good lead up to the iconic Layla. I felt like I had to wade through a lot to get to Layla, but by that time I was too broken, I was almost on my knees. The Layla guitar intro is so hype/Clapton's guitar work is great and almost picked me up though (hence a higher than 1 rating). This album would have been way more enjoyable as a transient live blues bar jam show.

the soundtrack to a mid life crisis, I want to go out and buy a motorbike and have an affair* *not actually have an affair in case my lovely wife reads this.

Uggghhhh, starting my morning by rolling Clapton on this one is not how I want to enter the day. Let's try to stay unbiased, despite my long running opinion of "fuck that guy". Jesus, this album is over an hour long? Cocaine really does make folks think ALL of their ideas are great ones, doesn't it? OK OK, hitting play... I feel like there has to be a correlation between the popularity of this album and the amount of lead paint in homes in America at the time. What an absolutely boring turd of a record. If this is one of the 1001 records I need to hear before I die, now that I've slogged through this I welcome the cold embrace of death. (Fine, credit where due, the song "Layla" is a ripper, albeit one that could've been edited down by like a full two minutes)

The racist wanker ruins this for me. No thank you.

Clapton is such an emotionally expressive soloist, but often the songs that are bolted onto them just aren't entertaining or original enough all the way through. It was only during the course of listening to this album that I discovered he was a racist and an Enoch Powell supporter. So fuck this guy. I can't listen to a double album through twice without that in the back of my mind all the time.

When to listen: In a old dive bar, on vinyl, major yacht rock vibes. From the reviews I see racism/anti vax vibes (0/5) and acknowledge of how much of the blues is stolen from African American culture (0/5) but damn I love this era of music. Five stars but hate myself for it…

Well ok... This is one of the most strange album for me to rate in terms of being bias. On one hand it has one of my guitar heroes, Duane, shredding his heart, mind and guts out. On the other, it has one of my non-heroes creepily singing about wanting to bang wife of his close freind, which happen to be one of the best beatle.I almost envy to ones who listen to this thing without a context. Well, the music is awesome, so I guess 5. Still, I suggest you never trust Eric.

Ten stars, simply stellar. If I have to explain that you’d never understand.

I could listened to this album on repeat all day. I love the mix of rock, blues, and Americana.

HOLY SHIT THIS WAS AMAZING!!???? LAYLA IS NO DOUBT A BANGER BUT THE OTHER SONGS ARE ALSO SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!! Why does love got to be so sad was fav

absolute banger. i loved layla and knew id probably enjoy the album and im so glad i listened to the whole thing. just so great and so much groove and electricity. big fan!!!

Right at the pinnacle of Eric Clapton's height and would be the best record he was on if it wasn't for Cream existing. Duane Allman (RIP) is the one that shines the most on this album, and it really pisses me off that Clapton the racist is the last one alive from this band. Although Jim Gordon did murder his mom and was genuinely an insane individual, at least he (probably) wasn't a racist bigot. But this is also one of the best blues rocks (studio) albums ever. Drags on for a bit more than the typical album of its time? Yeah but Duane Allman's time on this planet was short and his impact on the guitar is immeasurable like Hendrix. I implore you weird normies of this website: ignore the Clapton, praise Duane. Duane only did good in his short life. Fuck you if otherwise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clapton sucks as a human being, but made a damn good album. When this becomes the Duane Allman show, it goes to another level.

Layla just kinda is one of the best songs ever written

The best album on this list so far.

One of the best albums of all time. Borderline desert island pick.

Back when there were musicians.

I hate myself for giving this one 5 stars… Clapton is a huge wanker but man this is a good record… anything Duane Allman touched was gold I guess

I've been really looking forward to this one since I first saw it on the History list a week ago (I'm a bit behind, OK?). Layla is a guitar classic masterpiece and I've had other songs off this album popping up on my Spotify playlists now and then. Eric Clapton's guitar-playing is at its absolute best on this album, with the backing band providing a great framework for it. Clapton's vocals could certainly be improved on, but that's not what we came here for. In the end it's all about the impeccable guitars. Admittedly, the album is on the long side and there is certainly some filler on here. It would be tighter and better as a whole by dropping the snoozers I Am Yours and It's Not Too Late and maybe 1 or 2 more as well as by shortening Key To The Highway, which seems to ramble. Nonetheless, most of the album is of such high quality, that its length and the few sleepy parts can be forgiven. Highlights: Layla, Little Wing

That was really really good. I’m surprised. I mean, Layla is a banger but there was so much good stuff on this album!

Ah Eric Clapton, we meet again. Despite the general disdain for this man, Layla... is a good album -- probably some of the best blues rock by anyone not named the Rolling Stones. "Live"-like instrumentation and lush experience.

The guitar playing is great, but the album is quite long. I wish Layla was closer to the start so I could properly enjoy it before my ears become numb to the sound of the album. Sounds like more of a rock album than a blues one. I really like the art on this one too.

Beautiful vocals by Bobby and Eric Clapton shreds the ENTIRE album. This album is so close to being perfect. There's not a single skip! The only demerit from me the lack of variety. 4.5/5

Love the album. Majority of the tracks are fantastic. Doesn’t get old!

Interesting album, both lore and music wise. Written by Clapton to profess his wife to Pattie Boyd who was then George Harrison’s wife, and as you would expect she said no and Clapton got so depressed he stopped performing music for like 5 years which Is objectively very funny. The music aspect of this album is very good, it is musically very fun to listen to but I did find the majority of blues numbers to be very similar and I could predict the chord changes that was going to happen, which at times did take away some of the enjoyment. A good album but could’ve been much better if it was shorter and a bit more varied

Pretty based and sad rock album. 4/5

Fuck Eric Clapton, but this slaps man. Some of rock's greatest albums and songs came from some simp whining about a woman.

Clapton is obviously a racist, fascist shitbag, which is particularly rich for a guy who built his career on Black music. But there's also a reason the graffiti called him God. Both halves of the title track feel transcendent for a reason. The covers are great, especially "Little Wing," where Clapton really shows the fuck off. Some of the deep tracks ("Anyday", "Key to the Highway") rank with the hits. Like most blues rock, it gets a little noodle-y for me at points, but I find it hard to deny that it's a great album made by a bad, ignorant man who happens to be a guitar genius.

Derek and the dominos dont interest me much. Layla is really good but about 3 minutes too fukcing long. i am eternally disturbed by them since Jim Morrison the crazy schizo mom-killer was part of the whole thing. But i wont let it deter me! album cover is cute it's very soulful and the guitar is really good. All the songs are lowkey the same but I love them they sound like heaven. Too long. but vibey

No review of Eric Clapton is complete without a reminder that he is a horrible racist. That being said, good album.

This has a couple of favs and a classic 70s sound. Bell Bottom Blues❤️

Really not sure what to rate this one. I thought to myself, “this is the first really long album that hasn’t felt really long,” and then I checked and I was only on song six. I played this before class on Friday and one of my students said “isn’t this album just incredibly long?” which maybe isn’t the best thing for your album to be known by. There wasn’t a song I disliked on the album, but there were definitely some to cut to make it more complete.

I liked this more than I expected. I recently learned what electric guitars sound like and I kind of like them. I’m also intrigued by the process of remastering, so it’s cool to listen to an example of that. Music from this era seems so simple, which gives me more respect for the artistry. Eric Clapton is also one of those people of whom I only know the name; this listen may come in handy for trivia later today.

I really can’t get why Clapton is as highly regarded as he is. I thought this project would help me but it fees it showed me Clapton is a scam, his only good work was with Cream and that probably had more to do with the rest of the band. Anyway a collection of mostly fun and good blues songs. Nothing earth shattering or transcendental. It’s fine. Three stars.

My heart sank when this popped up, and I put it off long enough that I forgot about it, until my partner-in-project dropped his glowing review as a part of a desperate bid to catch up on his reviews ahead of a group zoomscotch. Perhaps expectations played a part, but listening to this album was not the torture I expected it to be. #claptonblows.

“Stop Britain from becoming a black colony,” said Clapton at the time. “Get the foreigners out. Get the w*gs out. Get the c**ns out. Keep Britain white.” Start this off with a quote from 1976 just to see what kind of person Eric Clapton is. He expressed remorse for this by saying: "There was this sort of air of this in the early '70s. I'm not excusing myself. It was an awful thing to do. I think it's funny actually." Hawhawhaw. So funny. He also protested COVID restrictions, so he is exactly this person. But enough about the main person in this band, this is the only album for Derek and the Dominos, which was basically Eric Clapton post his other bands. Maybe it's just one of those days for me, but this album droned on and on for me. I can hear the passion in Have You Ever Loved A Woman? and I pretty much stuck it out to hear Little Wing, remake of Jimi Hendrix's song, and Layla. Little Wing was well done and great. One Rolling Stone writer said of Layla: "there are few moments in the repertoire of recorded rock where a singer or writer has reached so deeply into himself that the effect of hearing them is akin to witnessing a murder, or a suicide … to me, 'Layla' is the greatest of them." Yeah.......a bit of a sociopath statement to make there. I can't say anything bad about the song, it's an awesome song with a great beat switch going from the screaming guitar to the smooth, melodic piano. The insanity of wanting a woman so badly and then finally getting her and living happily ever after, so it's really a great song and kind of makes the album worth it. Overall there are like, 3 great songs, 1 insanely good song and the rest is just not there for me. The ending song, Thorn Tree in the Garden, takes you from rock hard to instantly flaccid and wtf were they thinking? Just end the album with Layla.

It has some great songs on it. Well put together and musically sound. I've always enjoyed listening to it. With Clapton being such complex dude I can't give it the full 4 stars it deserves. On one hand he has said some racist shit. Then he will do everything he can to help out black musicians and they will say nothing but good things about him. Dude is only about music from what I can tell.

hate clapton, chinless bitch front kicked his son out of a a 69 floor building. racist and bigot probably hates gays too. cat can play though. good voice. this shit rips better than cream fuck clapton. wish it was him and not skydog edit: after reading his wiki i retract most o f that. he needs to be sack tapped for sure but whatever

That was quite a lot of 12-bar blues. Not bad, but a lot of blues. When I heard Layla, I was wondering who wrote it, these guys or Clapton? Turns out that this was Clapton's prior band. The blues played on the album was really good at moments, but it kind of ran together.

Layla is good, the rest is meh

Album No. 0013 on my list. Before listening to this, I was only aware of the title track, which I like in general. I have mixed feelings about the album though. There are some good tracks on there ("Layla", "Bell Bottom Blues", "Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out"), but there is also - including in these songs - a lot of guitar noodling. The album has a great blues rock sound and has inspired me to listen more to that genre. But I do not like the album itself all that much. Too much endless guitar play without any particular musical reason. Clapton is great of course, but the long solos feel - for some reason - kind of unneccessary to me and do not serve the songs. All in all, this feels good but a little overhyped. 3/5 stars. Did I mention that the guitar parts are too long?

The pivot between his great early stuff and the bullshit rest of his career. The moment where Clapton becomes boring. Of course there's some great guitar moments and the tone is beautiful, but overall this is a very average blues record.

One of the all-time classics which I've spun a number of times, and it's certainly good, but there's a long way between the grandiosity of the album's title track and the B-sides. Layla is a true 5 star song; one or two others come in at 4, but the majority of the album tracks are more in the 2-3 range, leaving it overall at a 3. Seriously though, Layla's piano outro is one of THE ultimate moments in rock music.

It was fine, Clapton and all....

Went into this knowing nothing about the album except for Layla which obviously fucks. I don’t really care about jam bands unless I’m watching live - sue me. Doesn’t make for a great album experience. Aside from Layla the rest is straight ahead Beatles-y rock and blues jams which gives Clapton the stage to shred for an hour. Nothing wrong with that. Taking with me: Layla, I Am Yours, Little Wing

Not terribly exciting, surprised I found this album a lot more 'meh' then I thought I would, it's good and I appreciate Eric Clapton's guitar work it was just not entirely the kind of blues rock I get overly excited about ⭐⭐⭐

It's just alright until you hit Layla then it becomes amazing for a bit then goes back to just alright.

Title track is a masterpiece, fiery guitar riffs galore and a young Eric singing his goddamn heart out for his mate's missus. He had a turn later, and found out the grass ain't that much greener. Still, prior to that sad domestic disillusion, he was drinkin' and smokin' and cokin' himself right silly, and he had the forethought to get that shit down on tape. Lo and behold, this album. Bell Bottom Blues is another great track, and his crack at Little Wing is alright too (no outdoing Sir Jimi though). Years later, Stevie Ray would demonstrate what a cover of Little Wing could be. I've listened to this album of bunch of times before - last time was about 3 weeks ago while grocery shopping. I forgot I was even listening to the music until it reached the title track and my ears zoomed back in on the sound coming through my headphones. This may be a sign that, while I appreciate the album's status as a classic, it's not some kind of Top Ten (hell, Top 100) album for me.

The most accurate album title since I got 69 Love Songs by Magnetic Fields. It really is Layla, which is genuinely great, GoodFellas piano outro and all ... and some other, largely interminable songs.

I did not know about Layla or Clapton going into this, so I get to approach it from a clean slate. It's okay blues rock, but it's also so bloody long. It doesn't need to be anywhere near this long. Wikipedia suggests it was Clapton's attempt to show he could produce good music as part of a band instead of as a guitar noodling showoff, but then this album is just unnecessarily full of guitar noodling showoffness. It's both nothing special and also a drag.

Another double album? Another artist who turns out to be a schmuck? I just picked up Claire Dederer's book Monsters, about how to deal with art by terrible people, from a little free library and I haven't read it yet, but I think the answer is I'm supposed to tell Eric Clapton to fuck right off, which I am happy to do. (It gets one point above the absolute minimum for being a blues album that is not all covers.)

Ok, like I get it, the songs are solid enough and the guitar playing is obviously masterful, but my god. Somewhere halfway through Key to the Highway I had my fill and we were halfway through. Album slowly lost me as it went, and Layla did not get me back.

Heard the radio hits but never the album tracks before. After one listen I'm ready to call this my favorite Clapton record. Duane Allman rips this apart and seems to inspire EC, too. Key To The Highway was probably my favorite because Duane really stretches out and seems to drive EC to new heights as they trade solos. The cover of Hendrix's Little Wing severely bummed me out - they sound like they're trying to do something monumental but it comes across as heavy handed and hysterical where Jimi was light and loving. Guys, it's LITTLE wing, not gigantic wing. Their wing is enormous and leaden and there's no way it could ever catch air. And they were very smart to put Thorn Tree In The Garden last. It is truly terrible. I'm rooting for his ex-lover to come back and thorn him to death. On the other hand, it is aptly titled because the sweet relief when it finally ends is reminiscent of removing a splinter.

Great material for one of those blues dad cover bands that meet up once a week to drink mediocre beer and ward off their incoming midlife crises. The music is well played, but it’s not really my thing and it doesn’t convince me to explore it further. However, it still has a certain vibe. Most tracks are very forgettable, and the album lacks cohesion. Notable tracks: "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" "Little Wing" "Layla" Favorite track: "Little Wing"

In the spirit of “separating the art from the artist”, I’d just like to say that this is decent record by a talented band that happened to be fronted by a massive douchebag. (Seriously, do yourself a favor and google “Eric Clapton $11 Lawsuit”)

You know, when I first listened to this album I thought, "Guitar, guitar guitar guitarguitar, but guitar with guitar is guitartar." Then after a while, I found myself really soaking in and saying, "Guitarguitar on gui- guitar is guitar tar tar tar gui targuitar guitar!" And now after having heard it all the way through, I can confidently say, "Layla."

"Layla" the most known and best song on the album. Bluesy/Eric Clapton type music. 5/10.

I would recommend people check out Pattie Boyd’s autobiography to learn more about how she (“Layla”) was treated by him.

Always nice to push the average rating down guilt free

I refuse to listen to Eric Clapton because he’s such a piece of shit