Limited Edition Japanese pressing comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. Universal. 2008. * Please note these are issued on Universal EU barcodes but are in fact pressed in Japan and include an OBI and booklet. Album Description
There's One In Every Crowd, the follow-up to the excellent 461 Ocean Boulevard, marks the beginning of Clapton's career when he decided that he no longer wanted to be known just as a bluesy lead guitarist. On this album there's barely a flicker of a Clapton blues solo to be heard. What you get instead is a series of songs some good, one or two mediocre, and a mixture of gospel, reggae and light pop. Most of the songs in this set are composed by Clapton, who plays in a very laid-back style. In fact this style was already beginning to emerge on his preceding solo album (461 OB). But it's taken much further here. By this stage Clapton was pleasing himself and not his fans, who were still clamoring for his fiery Cream style solos. Here he just sings, strums rhythm guitar, a few short non-bluesy solos here and there, and fair use of the Dobro, an instrument that took his fancy for a few years. The same backing musicians as used on 461 OB are present here.
It's not that this record is bad or even boring. It isn't. Bland, it maybe to those who were heavily into Cream or Derek And The Dominoes. But I really like most of the tracks especially Pretty Blue Eyes, with its lilting acoustic guitar solo, High, and the gospel-like We've Been Told. But the outstanding track is the highly soulful and moody Better Make It Through Today. This shows a side of Clapton that he failed to capitalize on later albums. TOIEC is just so different in style to what Clapton had been doing and was famous for, only a few years earlier. It's hard to believe this is the same guy. However he was to continue in this vein for years to come and on some considerably worse albums than this one.
To sum up if you like the unplugged side of Clapton without his bluesy guitar, you may well get to enjoy this album, as most of the songs are up to standard and grow on you after a few plays. Otherwise, if you haven't the patience or time, best stay away.
July 19, 2008In the '60's, you could expect great things from anything Clapton released, and you'd usually get them. But his solo career was consistently inconsistent. On the high end of the specturm are discs like Unplugged and 461 Ocean Blvd. On the low, Back Home and Backless (any album with "back" in its title by Clapton is bound to suck). This occupies the space between the two - killer in places, filler in others. A bare minimum of blues (the only blues song is The Sky Is Crying, and naturally it's the best here). Instead, it's all either reggae, completely insincere soft-rock or slightly harder, but still completely insincere relatively hard rock. Of course, the soft rock's hard to listen to, but nothing's as bad as Wonderful Tonight (though Pretty Blue Eyes and High come close), and I like Better Make It Through Today. No, the best stuff here is the reggae (Swing Low, Sweet Chariot) and the rock (Little Rachel). If you're a Claptonophile, buy it if you wish, and I will insist you could do much worse. But don't expect Layla.
March 12, 2007WOW is all I can say. Why did I have to buy this online? No stores stock it! Why!?!? PLEASE buy this!
February 27, 2007You know who you are. The long-time fan of Clapton's, the person in the audience nowadays yelling "Go Slowhand!" as Eric plays lick after passionless lick, the dude who wishes Eric would reunite with Cream for good. If so, this is not for you. Sorry. If it's any consolation, I used to be one of you. Somewhere down the line, my road forked off and, at the tender age of 20, here I am saying that this album is too subtle for most. What is the world coming to? What sense could I have? Hear me out.
The genius behind these songs is not in the mindless soloing, or the screeching vocals. In fact, the record has neither. Rather, it's "There's One In Every Crowd"'s economy that gives it a five-star charm. Most words are barely spoken over a whisper. Most solos barely reach above the tenth fret. And they barely last more than thirty seconds. Instead, the album is full of melodic, moody guitar playing, and breathy even sexy singing. And, God, what a band- they're guaranteed to hit the groove that will either make you melt or shiver by the time the last seconds of "Opposites" dissappear back to 1975. That is, unless you're the guy mentioned above. If you are, again, I'm sorry...your loss.
March 23, 2006I would have given this 3 stars just to be polite to a man whose music I respect very much but with all of the 4 and 5 star reviews on this site, someone needed to step in and provide some balance. Swing Low Sweet Chariot is nice and EC's cover of The Sky Is Crying is pretty good but I'd lean toward Elmore Jame's original or SRV's before this one. I'm a long-term EC fan, from his days with the Yardbirds on. If I had a penny for every time I've listened to him play a tune, I'd probably own Amazon! So I love the man and his music and I'm not calling this a BAD disc. I'm just trying to put some dynamic range in the rating process. There are people out there that use these reviews to make buying decisions and if you're one of them, I'd hope that you already had at least 20 Clapton CDs before you point your credit card at this one.
November 18, 2005More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(17 reviews)
