Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

Until this release, there had been a distinct paucity of Faces live material, which something of a surprise as they were known for being an energetic, always exciting live outfit, if not a little shambolic. They were a bit like Mott The Hoople in that respect - hard drinkers, saucy fun lovers, solid, prolific giggers - and you got what you got. Thankfully, they always gave of their best, warts 'n' all.  Anyway, all that existed from The Faces live in concert before this release was the long out-of-print Overture And Beginners album, which was roundly acknowledged to be of particularly poor quality (even by the band themselves), and a few extra live cuts included on the remastered re-releases of their studio albums. This release therefore comes as an unexpected and most welcome treat. This collection of live material played on various BBC Radio shows in the early seventies. As with all BBC live cuts, the sound quality is definitely variable. Some of it is bloody awful, but most

Some  four years before one of his most successful solo albums, Eric Clapton released his debut. He had been on tour with folky bluesers Delaney & Bonnie and he used much of the same band to accompany him. The result was a pleasing offering with hints of blues, rock 'n' roll, gospel, country rock and a bit of pop sensibility. It is also quite brassy and, as I said, gospelly in many places, which I love. The best-known tracks are ones that would come to exemplify Clapton's seventies sound in the embryonic AOR of  Let It Rain,  with its great bassline, and J.J. Cale's lively rock-funk of  After Midnight .  After opening with a saxophone-driven jam in Slunky, other impressive Delaney Bramlett collaborations are the chunky brassy groove of  Bad Boy , the upbeat gospel of Lonesome And A Long Way From Home, the kick-ass bassy rock of  Bottle Of Red Wine (check out that solo)  and  Lovin' You, Lovin' Me .  Clapton also joins forces with Leon Russell on the excellen

Yes, all of Eric Clapton's solo albums in the seventies were laid-back, but this is probably the most laid-back of all of them, and possibly the most appealing of his albums. He had not recorded for nearly three years, going through a "drugs hell" period and sitting around, Elvis-style, watching TV. He then got his act together and started going back to his blues roots in his listening habits.  People expecting "God"-like guitar solos, however, were to be disappointed. Its influences are the blues, of course, but also country rock, r'n'b, soul and, notably, reggae, which was still not too popular with the rock fraternity at the time, although Bob Marley's Catch A Fire, from the previous year, had helped to change that. Clapton's voice is laconic and understated throughout, as is the backing and overall, it is a most relaxing album. As beautifully low key as a sunny afternoon in the house on the cover. Incidentally, though, I always felt the cover

This is slightly different to  Eric Clapton 's other mid-seventies offerings in that although it is till made up of laid-back, bluesy folky rock, it is performed at  The Band 's studio with various members of The Band contributing throughout, thus making it sound very much like a Band album with Clapton guesting.  You hear  Robbie Robertson 's guitar as much as Clapton's on  Sign Language  and that trademark Band organ is around a lot.   Beautiful Thing  is slow tempo and melodious, also in a Band sort of way.   Carnival  is a slightly incongruous mock-Caribbean upbeat rock number. It is lively enough, despite Clapton's naturally sleepy voice.  The afore-mentioned  Sign Language  is a duet with  Bob Dylan  and sounds very much like it ought to be on  Desire . It has a real vibe of that album about it. Dylan's vocal makes it very much a Dylan song.  County Jail Blues  is a muscular blues more typical of Clapton, but still very Band-esque in places, particularly t

  Hastily recorded and released after the success of 461 Ocean Boulevard, which was his first album for four years, this one did not quite hit the spot in the way its predecessor had done.It is similarly laid-back in its sleepy tones, not many searing blues cuts to be found. There is gospel, folk, low-key reggae and the occasional blues, but overall it is a pretty understated album. We've Been Told (Jesus Is Coming Soon) is a somnolent, relaxing gospel song, with Clapton's gentle vocal recalling quite a bit of the previous album. It has an infectious, shuffling beat to it though. Swing Low Sweet Chariot is also a spiritual, given an appealing reggae makeover. It was a hit single, and deservedly so as it is lively and enjoyable. Little Rachel has a bluesy backing to it and another decidedly drowsy vocal. When the drums kick in it develops a bit of a bluesy thump, it has to be said, however.  Don't Blame Me  was written as an "answer" song to   Bob Marley 's  I

Blues rock of the highest calibre here - the whole album reeks of quality, despite a notoriously muffled-ish production that multiple remasters can never quite cure. Anyway, let’s get to it.  After the underwhelming Blind Faith “supergroup” experiment, Eric Clapton reconvened with his mates from the Delaney and Bonnie band, together with slide guitar maestro Duane Allman to produce a double album that has gone down in history as one of the great rock albums. Allman’s searing licks are all over album, outshining even Clapton at times. Tragically, he was killed in a motorcycle accident a year later.  In a series of lengthy blues rock workouts that sound as if they are being played live, Eric and the band bring new rocking life to blues standards such as  Nobody Loves You When You’re Down And Out , the peerless  Key To The Highway  (just check out that guitar half way through),  Have You Ever Loved A Woman  and Hendrix’s  Little Wing .  There  are also more laid-back numbers like  I Am Yo

1985  wasn't a great time for music, was it? Phil Collins seemed to be dominating everything and guess what? Yes, he produced this album, giving it that BIG, crashing eighties drum sound in places.  While not as bad as some of the synthesiser-drenched offerings from his contemporaries at the time, there is still a feeling of "another Eric Clapton album and one that bowed to contemporary musical trends" about it, which was a problem all established artists suffered from by the mid-eighties and beyond. It differs in this respect from its blues rock/country rock predecessors.  The successful single Forever Man was one of the album's best cuts, and the slightly Peter Gabriel-ish/world music-influenced See What Love Can Do was a fine single too. The slightly synthy but still punchy and soulful She's Waiting was a fine track too as was the classic Clapton blues of Same Old Blues (not the J.J. Cale song but a Clapton original) and Knock On Wood was covered acceptably. It

Eric  Clapton fired his band for this release, with the exception of guitarist Albert Lee and brought in bass legend Donald "Duck" Dunn of Booker T. & The MG's fame, Muscle Shoals drummer Roger Hawkins and guitarist Ry Cooder among others.  There were some fine blues tracks here such as a slightly funky cover of Sleepy John Estes' Everybody Oughta Make A Change, Albert King's Crosscut Saw and Johnny Otis's Crazy Country Hop.  Typical laid-back Clapton MOR/AOR rock can also be found on the album's hit single, the irresistible I've Got A Rock And Roll Heart and ex-alcoholic Eric even finds time to have a pop at his wife for the same thing on the actually quite catchy, upbeat Shape You're In. He makes it up to her, though, with the loved-up strains of Pretty Girl and Man In Love, so that was alright then.  Once more, listened to now, this is more than just another eighties album from an already ageing rocker, it's pretty damn good, as far as I

Eric  Clapton albums in 1981 were not culturally relevant, were they? In the midst of new wave, post punk and new romanticism, who wanted gnarled old blues rock? Those long-time fans in the US, I guess, where this was still a hit release.  A US top ten single came from it too in the catchy blues/pop of I Can't Stand It. The album featured second guitarist Albert Lee and ex-Procol Harum keyboardsman Gary Brooker and was far more of a blues rock offering than the previous few seventies country rock/funk lite releases.  The afore-mentioned single, Muddy Waters' rocking Blow Wind Blow, the sleepy blues of Something Special, the insistent, laid-back blues of Floating Bridge, the enjoyable shuffle of Catch Me If You Can and the gently melodious Another Ticket are probably the album's standouts. I like this album, as I do the previous one, far more than I would have done back in 1978 or 1981. Listening to it all these years later I have found myself really enjoying it - maybe it&#

After the incredibly successful  Slowhand  from 1977,  Eric Clapton  attempted to repeat the laid-back, slightly folky, slightly bluesy rock vibe on this album. Although it was more of the same, it hasn't had its predecessor's long-lasting appeal, and has become a somewhat forgotten piece of work. It is actually a lot bluesier and rockier than Slowhand. It is not a bad album, to be honest.  Personally, I much prefer it to Slowhand, and indeed to 461 Ocean Boulevard, There's One In Every Crowd and No Reason To Cry.  After working with  Bob Dylan  on 1976's  No Reason To Cry , Clapton joined up with him once more for a couple of tracks.  The opener,  Walk Out In The Rain ,  is one of them, although this time it is not a duet, with Clapton handling the vocals.  Watch Out For Lucy  is a jaunty, upbeat piece of bluesy country rock. It would all go down very well these days, but one tends to forget that this was 1978, and punk was all around. Stuff like this would not have be

This is far less bluesy than its retrospective predecessor and, in common with many albums from its period it suffers considerably from an overloud sonic murk with tends to detract from the sensitive nature of many of the songs, on which Clapton bares his soul.  Again, the album lasts a whopping one hour and fifteen minutes - far too long. One loses enthusiasm some forty minutes in, to be honest.  Some tracks are way too long too, such as  Broken Hearted , which clocks in at nearly eight minutes. It should be around four. There are also, really unfortunately, mechanised drums and throbbing digital bass lines on here too, as well as too many synthesisers.  Anyway, let's get positive - the standout songs are  My Father's Eyes ,   Circus ,   Pilgrim ,   River Of Tears , the blues cover of  Goin' Down Slow , a cover of Bob Dylan's  Born In Time  and  You Were There .

This is the return to the blues that Clapton fans had craved for years.   The tracks are all copper-bottomed blues covers and are delivered in unsurprisingly convincing manner.  The musicianship from Clapton and his band is superb, although Eric's voice can't replicate that of Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters, but then it never could. Not that that really matters, however, because Eric is singing here as a blues fan, paying homage to the music he has always loved.  Highlights are many, particularly the much-covered  Hoochie Coochie Man ,   Reconsider Baby ,   I'm Tore Down ,   How Long Blues ,   Motherless Child ,   Driftin' Blues   and   Groaning The Blues . As with many albums from this era, though, it is probably fifteen minutes too long.  

Phil  Collins was on production duties once more as well as playing drums for this stripped-down but somewhat dated mid-eighties release that sought to give the listener (supposedly) a tougher, more r'n'b-edged sound.  It doesn't do that at all, though. It still carries a lot of the typically mid-eighties synths and big drums vibes of the previous album and sounds like a Phil Collins album in many ways - one with Eric on guitar.  The writing collaboration with The Band's Robbie Robertson of It's In The Way That You Use It is a highlight - albeit one very much of its time -along with the chunky synth/funk of Tearing Us Apart, the very Collins-sounding Run and Miss You.  This was actually Clapton's most successful album since Another Ticket but it has become somewhat buried in the dense sands of mid-eighties time, perhaps quite rightly. It lacks any real standout qualities and, as I said, now sounds very archaic. Of these four albums, give me the first two for per

After spending most of the eighties courting the AOR market, albeit successfully,  Eric Clapton  tried, with this album, to launch himself as a credible, hard-hitting mainstream rocker. It was not a bad effort either, despite the eighties synthesisers still floating around in the background.  A lot of the blues had gone, however. It is far more "AOR rock" than "blues rock" and Clapton gained a new audience of late thirties-forty somethings who regularly sold out his Royal Albert Hall concerts.  Pretending/Anything For Your Love/Bad Love Pretending   is a muscular, guitar and organ-driven opener, full of backing vocals and a strong vocal from Clapton himself. His vocals are more attacking and forceful than they have been in the past.  Anything For Your Love  is a melodic, standard piece of rock of its time.  Bad Love   is probably the most well-known track on the album. It has a synth beginning worthy of eighties-era  Fleetwood Mac , but then Clapton's guitar kic

Another long album saw Clapton getting nostalgic - a picture of him as a child on the cover and several more old family snapshots inside - especially with the jazzy instrumental title track,  Reptile , that opens proceedings.  There is chugging, sixties-ish blues on a track like the old late 1950s blues cover of  Got You On My Mind  too. This is what one had come to expect from Clapton in the nineties and into the new millennium - solid, mid-pace retrospective blues rock. J.J. Cale's  Travellin' Light  could almost be latter-era Dire Straits in its shuffling AOR rock sound.  Ray Charles' slow blues of  Come Back Baby  is also covered, as well as James Taylor's 1972 hit  Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight , Stevie Wonder's 1980 single  I Ain't Gonna Stand For It  and an interesting 1930s jazz cover in  I Want A Little Girl .  Believe In Life  is typical, melodious later era Clapton and  Superman Inside  is like so many of Eric's eighties mainstream radio rock

This is a long-awaited collaboration between the then 74 year-old King and 55 year-old Clapton. In many ways it is more of a King album than it is a Clapton one, his presence is so strong and dominant and Clapton's respect is such that he almost takes too much of a back seat at times.  No matter really, because King's contribution is so good, both on guitar and with his gruff, bluesy vocal. The sound quality is excellent too.   Riding With The King   is a copper-bottomed blues rock corker with both legendary guitarist giving it all they've got, both musically and vocally. Wonderful stuff.  Ten Long Years   is a thumping, classic blues.   Key To The Highway , covered many times by Clapton and also by  The Rolling Stones  in the early days features Clapton quite a bit, although King more than plays his part, taking two verses as well.   Marry You   is a very Clapton-sounding mid-pace rock number. It is solid. muscular and full-on, however, nothing laid-back here. Very enjoyab

You know, it is getting a bit tiresome hearing all the "Clapton used to be "God", where are all the guitar solos? etc etc etc...". After many albums like this one over recent years, you would think by now that people would have got the picture by now that low-key, comfortable, laid-back blues-influenced material is what  Eric Clapton  wants to do these days.  If you like it, as I do, you will enjoy albums like this. If you don't then carry on listening to Cream, Derek & The Dominoes, The Yardbirds and John Mayall's Blues Breakers. Personally, I enjoy listening to both.  As with albums from Van Morrison, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Mark Knopfler and the like, you know what you're going to get from an Eric Clapton album now. The musicianship is excellent, as is the sound quality. The delivery is affectionate to the material and you feel Clapton is enjoying himself. These are honest albums. I they don't pull up too many trees I am actually not too both

Ten years after From The Cradle, which was an impressive collection of blues covers, Clapton delivers an album full of blues legend/originator Robert Johnson's songs.  If you like the blues and you like Clapton, you are going to like it, it is as simple as that. Boasting a fine sound quality, it ploughs the same chugging, chunky bluesy furrow as From The Cradle.  All the tracks are good, but highlights are  Little Queen Of Spades ,  Me And The Devil Blues ,  When You Got A Good Friend ,  Travelling Riverside Blue s  and the Stones-covered  Love In Vain .  It is not all solid blues either,  They're Red Hot  is a catchy piece of jaunty fun, as indeed is  32-20 Blues . You can't beat these albums where Eric plays the blues, despite all the AOR stuff, I feel that this is where he is happiest.

  Clapton considered this album to be one that completed the journey he started with Journeyman in 1989 and it is a pretty good offering, containing similarities to 2001's Reptile.  It is a pleasant, varied mix, albeit one flourishing under the umbrella of "Clapton rock", something that by now everyone immediately recognises.  This is exemplified by the personable, mid-pace shuffle of the opener,  So Tired . Eric has always liked dabbling reggae over the years, and he does here on the summery vibes of  Say What You Will  and the more rootsy, convincingly authentic  Revolution .  I thought I  had heard the upbeat, brassy  I'm Going Left  before and I had, on one of Syreeta's Stevie Wonder-produced seventies albums. Similarly, the soul ballad  Love Don't Love Nobody  is a Detroit Spinners cover. Also nice to hear is the tribute cover of George Harrison's lovely  Love Comes To Everyone .

In 2006, Eric Clapton finally cut an album with one of his long-time muses, the comparatively unsuccessful and lesser-known J. J. Cale. Now, given that Clapton had released several Cale covers (notably After Midnight and Cocaine) and that he spent most of his post-1970 career sounding like Cale, it is not surprising to find that this is an album very much in that laid-back effortless, sleepy blues mode. Clapton had this to say about the album -  “This was the realisation of what may have been my last ambition — to work with the man who’s music has inspired me for as long as I can remember, there are not enough words for me to describe what he represents to me, musically and personally, and anyway I wouldn’t want to embarrass him by going overboard,  for he is a truly humble man. I think it’s enough to say that we had fun, made a great record, and I for one already want to make another." Eric teamed up with Albert Lee, Derek Trucks, John Mayer and Billy Preston (in one of his last

From the early seventies, beginning with his hit cover of After Midnight, Eric Clapton was hugely influenced by Oklahoma blueser and Americana trailblazer J. J. Cale. Indeed, there were times when Eric sounded more like J. J. than J. J. himself, if you get my drift. Cale's laid-back, sleepy sound acted as a virtual blueprint for Clapton's entire solo career. Tracks that sounded like Cale turned up without fail on pretty much every Clapton album. Eventually, the pair of them teamed up on the excellent Road To Escondido album too. Here, after Cale's passing, Clapton decided to pay tribute to him with this album of covers of the man's work. As he liked to do, he gathered several buddies to help him out - Tom Petty, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Derek Trucks - all artists steeped in the Americana tradition. The result is an unsurprisingly effortless and highly listenable workout of an album that positively drips with quality . These guys know their onions and pr

Sure, by 1972 Deep Purple were becoming a virtual caricature of themselves, the very quintessence of a long-haired heavy rock band. The living spirit of 1972 in many ways. Singer Ian Gillan shrieked in that high-pitched way that hundreds of heavy metal singers would soon do, Ritchie Blackmore made his axe talk, man, Jon Lord freaked out on the organ, backed by the solid and steadfast power duo of Roger Glover on bass and the underrated Ian Paice on drums. Whatever these guys were, one thing is for damn sure - they could play.  On this now iconic live album, they took the already gargantuan sound from their heavy albums In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head and, guess what? They made them even longer, rocking out for even up to twenty minutes while the enraptured Japanese audience donned their rising sun headbands and went into heavy metal battle. They lapped up everything Purple San could throw at their ears. Yes, nearly twenty minutes of Space Truckin' is probably too long and of co

A fair few artists have recently decided to issue re-recordings/new interpretations of some of their well-known songs. Here it is the turn of Jeff Lynne and his Electric Light Orchestra material. Of course, as with all these projects, it hasn’t gone down well. Nobody seems to be happy with the new versions, except for Lynne himself, who has said that he is delighted with them and that they are now as he intended them to be. He claimed never to have been happy with the originals and he feels he has now out things right. He wrote the songs after all, so fair enough. I have to say that in many ways I agree with him. The sound on the originals was always very tinny and over-trebly, for me. It is only the fact that I am so familiar with every note and nuance of the originals that I have a bit of a problem accepting the new versions. Taken in isolation and viewed objectively, they are much better. They have a full, warm bass on them and that is the main difference. As a bass lover that is fi