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Eric Clapton
From the Cradle

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"From the Cradle" is an album that some Eric Clapton fans had been waiting for years. Indeed, this is Clapton's first real Blues album. After years of flirting with Blues in his pop work, and years of guest star appearances on Bluesmen's records, Eric Clapton finally issued a Blues album of his own. "From the Cradle" was released in 1994. It contains sixteen covers of songs by legendary Bluesmen, like Leroy Carr ("Blues Before Sunrise", "How Long Blues"), Muddy Waters ("Standin' Round Crying"), and Willie Dixon ("Hoochie Coochie Man", "Groaning the Blues"). Eric Clapton is given talented support here ; harmonicist Jerry Portnoy is more than just a sidekick ; keyboards and brass erase themselves in the album (a perfect example of that would be "Someday After a While") ; and Jim Keltner is an inspired drummer. Heavy instrumental support, and no background vocals, give the album a original tone, that may unfortunately be considered as overloaded on some songs ("Groaning the Blues", for instance). Some other songs, however, are softly interpreted, like "Driftin'", and "Third Degree". It seems like Eric Clapton wanted to prove his talent as a Bluesman, by challenging himself in playing songs of some of the greatest Blues legends ever. There is no doubt about his skills, the man can play the Blues. Still, this is Eric Clapton we're talking about - "From the Cradle" is often filed under "Pop" in record stores.

TRACKS

(Audio snippets in Windows Media format)

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