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Title: Eric Clapton – Journeyman (1989) [Audio Fidelity 2014]
Genre: Rock, Blues Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

For most of the ’80s, Eric Clapton seemed rather lost, uncertain of whether he should return to his blues roots or pander to AOR radio. By the mid-’80s, he appeared to have made the decision to revamp himself as a glossy mainstream rocker, working with synthesizers and drum machines. Instead of expanding his audience, it only reduced it. Then came the career retrospective Crossroads, which helped revitalize his career, not only commercially, but also creatively, as Journeyman — the first album he recorded after the success of Crossroads — proved. Although Journeyman still suffers from an overly slick production, Clapton sounds more convincing than he has since the early ’70s. Not only is his guitar playing muscular and forceful, his singing is soulful and gritty. Furthermore, the songwriting is consistently strong, alternating between fine mainstream rock originals (“Pretending”) and covers (“Before You Accuse Me,” “Hound Dog”). Like any of Clapton’s best albums, there is no grandstanding to be found on Journeyman — it’s simply a laid-back and thoroughly engaging display of Clapton’s virtuosity. On the whole, it’s the best studio album he’s released since Slowhand.

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Title: Eric Clapton – Unplugged (2022 MFSL UltraDisc UHR SACD) (1992/2022)
Genre: Blues Rock, Acoustic
Format: SACD ISO

Eric Clapton’s Unplugged is far more than an album. It remains a majestic picture of a moment in time; an unvarnished glimpse into the soul of one of music’s most legendary artists; a visionary journey into the inspirations that helped shape Clapton’s character; a re-exploration and re-evaluation of deep-seated roots; a continuation of critical blues heritage; a building block on which a subgenre sprouted; a launching pad for both a later-career resurgence and discovery. The best-selling concert release of all time, Unplugged now takes on an irresistible luster that veritably gives you a front-row seat at Bray Film Studios.

Mastered from the original master tapes, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered hybrid SACD enhances the blockbuster work for today – and the ages to come. Peeling away remaining sonic limitations to provide a transparent, lively, ultra-nuanced presentation of a record that won six Grammy Awards – including prizes for Album of the Year, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and Best Rock Song, it places Clapton and company in your room. The expanse and depth of the soundstage, fullness of tones, natural snap and extension of the guitar strings, realistic rise and decay of individual notes, and roll of Clapton’s vocals all attain demonstration-grade levels. A perennial audiophile favorite, Unplugged now tosses its hat into the ring as a demonstration disc. Having sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. and more than 26 million copies worldwide, the 1992 work resonates with listeners of all generations and speaks a universal language. Recorded for MTV before a very small audience on January 16, 1992, the 14-track set became the signpost for future acoustic-based endeavors that witnessed artists of all stripes re-examining their catalogs and, in many instances, as Clapton does here, placing familiar originals in fresh contexts and unveiling spirited versions of cover material. Needless to say, Clapton’s session turned MTV’s series into can’t-miss programming for which the likes of Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and more would soon participate. Kicking off his performance with a spirited instrumental to establish the mood, Clapton immediately wades into the style that originally caught his attention as a British teenager in the early 1960s: American blues. Backed by a superb band that includes guitarist Andy Fairweather Low, pianist Chuck Leavell, bassist Nathan East, and drummer Steve Ferrone, Slowhand delivers a rhythmic, toe-tapping rendition of Bo Diddley’s “Before You Accuse Me” that announces he’s come to reconnect with his muse. What follows over the course of nearly the next hour stirs the heart, shakes the soul, moves the mind, and invigorates the senses. Of course, there’s no talking about Unplugged without keying in on “Tears in Heaven,” the striking ballad Clapton penned about the death of his four-year-old son. More emotional, direct, spare, and healing than the studio version released a year prior, it crackles with an intimacy, maturity, poignancy, honesty, sweetness, and integrity that inform the entire concert. Indeed, how Clapton frames other favorites here – transforming “Layla” into a relaxed, comfortable stroll and ruminating on the seasoned ripples flowing throughout “Old Love,” for example – indicate both a creative rebirth and gleeful acceptance of the next phase of his career. And that very direction (two of Clapton’s next three albums would be all-blues projects) is what really makes Unplugged so indispensable. Equivalent in mastery if not in volume to the output that earned him his “God” nickname, interpretations of Jesse Fuller’s “San Francisco Bay Blues” (complete with kazoo!), Big Bill Broonzy’s “Hey Hey,” Robert Johnson’s “Walkin’ Blues” and “Malted Milk,” and Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ & Tumblin'” showcase a learned professor in his element and all the wheels turning. In every regard, Clapton’s Unplugged session was appointment listening when it came out in August 1992. With Mobile Fidelity’s SACD, that sensation is more urgent than before.

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Title: Eric Clapton – Time Pieces: The Best Of Eric Clapton (1982) [Audio Fidelity ‘2014]
Genre: Rock, Blues Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

This is a reissue of the Time Pieces comp, a good single-disc collection of Eric Clapton’s solo hits — including “I Shot the Sheriff,” “After Midnight,” “Wonderful Tonight,” Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla,” and “Cocaine” — that has since been supplanted by the more thorough The Cream of Eric Clapton, which combines his solo work with selections of his Cream and Blind Faith work. Nevertheless, the compilation still provides a good introduction for neophyte Clapton fans, especially those who just want copies of his ’70s hits.

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Title: Eric Clapton – Slowhand (1977) [SACD 2014]
Genre: Rock, Blues Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO

After the guest-star-drenched No Reason to Cry failed to make much of an impact commercially, Eric Clapton returned to using his own band for Slowhand. The difference is substantial — where No Reason to Cry struggled hard to find the right tone, Slowhand opens with the relaxed, bluesy shuffle of J.J. Cale’s “Cocaine” and sustains it throughout the course of the album. Alternating between straight blues (“Mean Old Frisco”), country (“Lay Down Sally”), mainstream rock (“Cocaine,” “The Core”), and pop (“Wonderful Tonight”), Slowhand doesn’t sound schizophrenic because of the band’s grasp of the material. This is laid-back virtuosity — although Clapton and his band are never flashy, their playing is masterful and assured. That assurance and the album’s eclectic material make Slowhand rank with 461 Ocean Boulevard as Eric Clapton’s best albums.

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Title: Eric Clapton – Pilgrim (1998) [Audio Fidelity 2014]
Genre: Rock, Blues Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

One strange thing about Eric Clapton’s ’90s success is that it relied almost entirely on covers and new versions of classic hits; he released no albums of new material between 1989’s Journeyman and 1998’s Pilgrim. In the decade between the two albums, he had two new hits — his moving elegy to his deceased son, “Tears in Heaven,” and the slick contemporary soul of the Babyface-written “Change the World” — and Pilgrim tries to reach a middle ground between these two extremes, balancing tortured lyrics with smooth sonic surfaces. Working with producer Simon Climie, his collaborator on the TDF side project, Clapton has created a numbingly calm record that, for all of its lyrical torment, displays no emotion whatsoever. Much of the problem lies in the production, which relies entirely on stiff mechanical drumbeats, gauzy synthesizers, and meandering instrumental interludes. These ingredients could result in a good record, as “Change the World” demonstrated, but not here, due to Pilgrim’s monotonous production. Unfortunately, Clapton doesn’t want to shake things up — his singing is startlingly mannered, even on emotionally turbulent numbers like “My Father’s Eyes” or “Circus.” Even worse, he’s content to take a back seat instrumentally, playing slight solos and fills as colorless as the electronic backdrops. The deadened sonics would make Pilgrim a chore even if there were strong songs on the record, but only a handful of tunes break through the murk. Considering that Journeyman, his last album of original material, was a fine workmanlike effort and that From the Cradle and Unplugged crackled with vitality, the blandness of Pilgrim is all the more disappointing.

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Title: Eric Clapton – Behind The Sun (1985) [Audio Fidelity 2014]
Genre: Rock, Blues Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Eric Clapton’s career was in decline in the early ’80s when he switched record labels from Polydor to Warner Bros., and his debut Warner album, Money and Cigarettes, became his first to fall below gold-record status in more than six years. As a result, Warner looked critically at his follow-up, the Phil Collins-produced Behind the Sun, in the fall of 1984 and rejected the first version submitted, insisting that he record several new songs written by Jerry Williams, backed by Los Angeles session players under the auspices of company producers Lenny Waronker and Ted Templeman. Warner then emphasized the new tracks, releasing two of them, “Forever Man” (which reached the Top 40) and “See What Love Can Do,” as singles. The resulting album, not surprisingly, was somewhat schizophrenic, though the company may have been correct in thinking that the album as a whole was competent without being very exciting. The added tracks were not bad, but they were not the sure-fire hits they were supposed to be. As usual, there was some effective guitar soloing (notably on “Same Old Blues”), but despite the tinkering, Behind the Sun was not one of Clapton’s better albums.

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