Wed May 19 2021
4
music sucks but he fucked george harrison's wife. 4 stars
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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Derek & The Dominos
1970
- Album Summary
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is the sole studio album by the English–American blues rock band Derek and the Dominos, released in November 1970 as a double album. It is best known for its title track, "Layla", and is often regarded as Eric Clapton's greatest musical achievement. The other band members were Bobby Whitlock on keyboards and vocals, Jim Gordon on drums, and Carl Radle on bass. Duane Allman played lead and slide guitar on 11 of the 14 songs. Initially regarded as a critical and commercial disappointment, it failed to chart in Britain and peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Top LPs chart in the United States. It returned to the US albums chart again in 1972, 1974 and 1977, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA. The album finally debuted on the UK Albums Chart in 2011, peaking at number 68. In 2000, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2003, television network VH1 named Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs the 89th-greatest album of all time. In the same year, Rolling Stone ranked it number 117 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It was ranked at number 226 on the 2020 reboot of the list. It was voted number 287 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In 2012, the Super Deluxe Edition of Layla won a Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album.
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Mon Aug 09 2021
2
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.
Fri Jul 09 2021
2
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.
Fri Jul 09 2021
1
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.
Sat Apr 24 2021
5
“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
Mon Aug 09 2021
1
Oh the irony of someone that is openly racist building a career on piss poor blues rip-offs. Fuck racist, rapist, anti-vax Clapton.
Mon Jul 19 2021
4
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
Mon Aug 09 2021
2
My two year old son died in the same way Eric Clapton's son died. For inspiration.
Thu Jul 08 2021
3
I get the feeling that the only reason this is on this list is because of the hit song Layla.
Thu Feb 03 2022
3
A few decent songs. Plenty of bland twaddle. And Clapton is a racist piece of shit, so I won't listen again
Tue Jan 11 2022
2
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
Fri Apr 29 2022
3
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
Tue Mar 15 2022
2
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.
Fri Jul 09 2021
5
Slow hand does not disappoint. I had forgotten how much more than Layla they were. Great stuff
Sat Jun 05 2021
5
What a great sound, fast paced songs and howling guitars, every song has class - what's not to like?
Thu Oct 07 2021
1
I need a slowed-down, soul-free version of Little Wing like I need another hole in my head. Diet blues.
Mon May 03 2021
5
That was really really good. I’m surprised. I mean, Layla is a banger but there was so much good stuff on this album!
Sun Jan 09 2022
5
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
Thu Mar 31 2022
5
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.
Tue Jun 28 2022
5
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!
Thu Nov 03 2022
5
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
Sun May 23 2021
4
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
Sat Aug 28 2021
3
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.
Tue Jun 06 2023
3
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…”
Fri Jul 14 2023
3
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
Mon Jun 07 2021
2
"Layla" the most known and best song on the album. Bluesy/Eric Clapton type music. 5/10.
Sat Dec 03 2022
1
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.
Thu Dec 15 2022
1
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.
Sat Jan 07 2023
1
bleck
Tue Jan 17 2023
1
The cover of Little Wing is unlistenable, especially the grating refrain they added. I never want to hear this album again.
Fri Oct 06 2023
1
Eric Clapton absolutely sucks
Fri Apr 16 2021
5
Absolute classic
Sat May 22 2021
5
Un 5.
Mon May 17 2021
5
love it
Thu May 27 2021
5
An incredible blues rock album with Clapton at his best
Tue Jun 29 2021
5
One of the best albums ever recorded. A masterpiece.
Fri May 07 2021
5
I would like to find a source for reading about the history of the albums meaking.
Fri May 21 2021
5
It was nice...I was tempted to give it 4 stars, but its about as good if not better than Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Tue Aug 03 2021
5
Masterpiece! Great Melodies. A shame I didn’t know it.
Wed Sep 15 2021
5
De Clapton no conocía más que ya su onda de adulto contemporáneo, con el Unplugged y el disco con B.B. King. Lamento que haya sido así porque disfruté muchísimo este disco que nunca había oído. En mi perspectiva es un perfecto disco de Rock de los setenta: con un toquecito de Folk y Psicodelia, mucho de Blues y algo de Hard Rock, muy buena batería y bajo, arreglos vocales rasposos y por supuesto guitarras… muchas guitarras. Incluso para lo largo que es, y considerando que las canciones más blueseras de pronto se parecen entre sí, me gustó todo y me alegra agregarlo a mi librería.
Sun Oct 03 2021
5
Great album some classic blues covers and originals
Wed Nov 03 2021
5
Classic, and quite bold considerings it's largely a love album to George Harrison's then-wife...
Fri Nov 05 2021
5
Excellent album.
Sat Nov 13 2021
5
Fantastic Clapton work
Sun Nov 28 2021
5
Bruh
Tue Nov 30 2021
5
Ah look, this is an absolute classic album for so many reasons. Can I deduct a star because Eric Clapton? Nah. Are there better tracks than Layla on this? Yup.
Mon Dec 06 2021
5
Brilliant
Tue Dec 21 2021
5
Big fat Blues jam. Loved it all, especially Key to the Highway. Great omen to get this album right before baby Layla is due to enter the world.
Tue Jan 04 2022
5
An all time classic, would give a 4.5 if possible. It does lag a bit 2/3 in but there's nothing higher than the highs.
Fri Jan 21 2022
5
Великолепно
Thu Feb 03 2022
5
Blues, rock, Clapton... ¡Vinilo!
Fri Feb 04 2022
5
Muito bom! Álbum repleto de bons solos de guitarra e com tons de serestas em algumas faixas. Só depois descobri que Eric Clapton havia fundado a banda. Tudo a ver o lance das incríveis guitarras em quase todas as canções.
Fri Feb 25 2022
5
Very “The Band” and “Beatles” esque.
Sun Feb 27 2022
5
I liked it right from the beginning. Didn't realize it was Clapton until Layla started and i read the Wikipedia entry.
Wed Mar 09 2022
5
Eric Clapton that’s it
Tue Apr 05 2022
5
Awesome album. I love seeing the evolution of Clapton career. Layla is such a fantastic song
Sun May 01 2022
5
Un classiqe et un de mes albums preferées 5
Mon May 16 2022
5
love it..
Fri Aug 12 2022
5
And then it all goes downhill from here
Sun Aug 28 2022
5
Great blues album, enjoyed this quite a bit.
Tue Sep 06 2022
5
How've I only listened to the title track for going on 15 years and am just now listening through in its entirety? Clapton's masterpiece - he works best in this ensemble format (which, holy shit, this is the same band that recorded "All Things Must Past"?!?) Perfect coked-out, bluesy, romantic anguish. Fav Tracks: Keep On Growing, I Am Yours, Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?, Little Wing, Layla (obv), Thorn Tree in the Garden, Nobody Knows You
Thu Sep 08 2022
5
awesome
Fri Sep 09 2022
5
6/3 down goes the dominos
Tue Sep 20 2022
5
Just good old school rock, the only problem I found is the duration of the album it is just too long, however it never gets boring
Sat Sep 24 2022
5
Clapton is only good when someone else writes his songs. Consider this his all-time masterpiece.
Sat Sep 24 2022
5
5/5. A great collection of songs that I can choose from any and be satisfied. Just great songwriting and musicianship.
Sat Oct 01 2022
5
cool
Sat Oct 15 2022
5
itse asiassa aika vitun hyvä albumi... lyriikka... muistuttaa dustyä... tulee miinuspisteitä.. mutta melkeimpätukkoo jokainen biisinnyrikkä aivan vitun hyvä. tiiät että se espoon blues (meni konkkaan btw) ottaa sieluun mukavasti paras biisi noh tietenkin mainstream paskavittu layla mutta onhan se aika kova
Mon Oct 17 2022
5
Almost perfect
Mon Oct 17 2022
5
One of the truly great albums
Tue Nov 08 2022
5
baita som
Mon Jan 09 2023
5
So many of these are great and were totally new to me! Particularly enjoyed Tell The Truth as a new-to-me tune.
Fri Jan 13 2023
5
my man was down bad lmao whole album is just Eric Clapton wanting to fuck George Harrison’s wife still, despite the subject matter, this is a shockingly beautiful album actually, I guess it isn’t too surprising Clapton is Clapton; he’s a complete asshole irl, but he’s a damn talented one 10/10
Thu Jan 19 2023
5
This, objectively, a great album by a talented group of musicians. It’s also worthy of the list given they were one-and-done. Still, my gut tells me it’s still a 4. That might be because Clapton’s style is so familiar at this point that it’s hard to give this the appreciation that a fresh set of ears might have. Also, he kinda turned in to a crazy old man and I can’t get that part out of my head. Still, the album. The album is a 5.
Fri Jan 20 2023
5
Yeah, I mean, it's a banger. Even the Little Wing cover manages to justify its existence
Sat Jan 21 2023
5
I wasn't really awake when I put this album on this morning before hopping in the shower. As the hot water hit me and I started to finally wake up, I thought, "Dang. That sounds like Clapton. I thought it was Derek somebody..." Look, I said I wasn't awake yet. Yeah, it's Clapton. It's Clapton trying to be less of a cult icon which means it's largely missing the ego and it's just a guy wailing on his guitar like his life depends on it. He's clearly just enjoying making really good music and it's tasty as hell. Later in his career, as a solo artist, Clapton would become pretty cringey but here, at this point in the game, he's just fantastic. Maybe the top of his game. There's a reason he's a legend. And this album is a big part of it. On top of ALL that, I just enjoyed the hell out of it. No reservations. Full marks.
Wed Jan 25 2023
5
This was even better than I remember it being.
Thu Feb 02 2023
5
Been probably my fave album all time for a while. Love when Clapton gets into bluesier side. Also finally starts embracing himself as a vocalist here.
Thu Feb 09 2023
5
If you like rock and blues influenced guitar playing, I have the album for you. Here two of the GOATs united for one glorious celebration of the instruments and the songs are not bad either. Favorites: bell bottom Blues, keep on growing, why does love got to be so sad, and of course Layla. Clapton’s second best work (after Blind Faith).
Thu Feb 09 2023
5
I hadn’t listened to this all the way through for a long time. Was thinking I’d probably give it a 4. After listening again today, that would have been absolutely wrong. Definitely a 5. My favorite is the cover of Little Wing. Hard to imagine that this was panned when it came out.
Thu Feb 09 2023
5
This one is awesome and belongs on the list. It is a masterpiece that provides Clapton with a perfect showcase for his tremendous talents. Clapton was not in a great space, but that inspires incredible (and incredibly personal) music. The rest of the "group" is also up to the task - especially Bobby Whitlock. There may be some filler (the issue with most double albums), but the highlights give it the five stars.
Thu Feb 09 2023
5
The song writing on this album is just so good. Add the blues guitar shredding and you’ve got a fantastic album. Easy 5
Tue Feb 21 2023
5
Classic already heard it a million times
Thu Mar 02 2023
5
“Just when I think you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this, and totally redeem yourself!” – Harry Dunne
Thu Mar 02 2023
5
Songs I grew up with that I didn't know were all from one album
Tue Mar 14 2023
5
What a excellent discovery! Loved it...
Wed Mar 15 2023
5
Classic legendary rock, capped off with Layla.
Tue Mar 28 2023
5
Love this
Sat Apr 01 2023
5
solid solid licks on this one...the only one. I mean with only one studio album this is definitely a gold standard.
Fri Apr 28 2023
5
This was really good, I enjoyed this alot
Wed May 03 2023
5
Before today, the only Derek & the Dominos song I was familiar with was the epic, Layla, so this will be an interesting listen today. An interesting story about the theme of this record. It is mostly a series of love songs, as the title states, which are written for George Harrison's then wife, Patti Boyd, who Clapton eventually manages to marry. Duane Allman's spectacular slide guitar playing techniques, and Clapton's canoodling guitar solos mesh together beautifully on this album. Each and every song had at least one guitar solo thrown in. Without the solos, this album could have been done in like 40 minutes instead of the 1 hour, 16 minute runtime that this ended up being, but there is a lot of creativity to all those solos. The cover of the song Little Wing is good, but not as good as Jimi Hendrix's original. The first song on the album, I Looked Away, starts with a real country blues sounding riff to start off the record, and they kept the hits coming throughout. Although the runtime is long with this album, it doesn't feel it. Overall, a really good blues rock record. Maybe a bit too much showboating from Clapton, but who cares, it's great! Will definately listen again. I'm impressed there was a song that topped Layla for me! Favorite songs: Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?, Have You Ever Loved a Woman?, Key to the Highway, Layla, Bell Bottom Blues, It's Too Late, Keep On Growing, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, I Looked Away Least favorite songs: Thorn Tree in the Garden 5/5
Mon May 08 2023
5
Classic
Tue May 23 2023
5
Light five half nostalgia
Tue May 30 2023
5
I can listen to this in the background all day :)
Fri Jun 16 2023
5
Yes! I grew up on this album. Love love love it.
Sat Jun 17 2023
5
Just a great album. Clapton found his voice and musicianship is superb.
Thu Jun 22 2023
5
love this! The title track is the best! Also, Little Wing; reminds me of Hendrix. What would make this album better ix more Clapton, less everyone else!
Fri Jun 30 2023
5
I so wanted to love this album because of Layla. Little did I know it would be the greatest Blues album I’ve ever heard.
Tue Jul 04 2023
5
Stone Cold Classic.
Wed Jul 12 2023
5
La mejor manera de decir que querés a alguien, con el rigor del arte y la desesperación del corazón.