Sold Date: December 12, 2020
Start Date: December 5, 2020
Final Price: $21.00 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 262
Buyer Feedback: 13

ERIC CLAPTON  -  TIME PIECES: THE BEST OF ERIC CLAPTON  -  RSO RX-1-3099 (1982)
Prior to Eric Clapton, the idea of the guitar hero didn't exist in rock & roll. There were plenty of flashy players, but nothing along the lines of Clapton, who rocketed to fame in the 1960s as the guitarist for the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and Cream. Clapton eased into a solo career in 1970, but he was so reticent to step to the front of the stage he adopted the pseudonym Derek & the Dominos for the album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. By the end of the '70s, he had finally embraced his role as the preeminent guitarist of his generation, and also tempered his virtuosity with pretty ballads. That sensitive side shone on his biggest hit, 1992's MTV Unplugged, which also reconnected him with the blues roots upon which his entire career lay.
By the time Eric Clapton launched his solo career with the release of his self-titled debut album in mid-1970, he was long established as one of the world's major rock stars due to his group affiliations -- the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith -- all of which had demonstrated his claim to being the best rock guitarist of his generation. The fact that it took Clapton so long to go out on his own, however, was evidence of a degree of reticence unusual for someone of his stature. And his debut album, though it spawned the Top 40 hit "After Midnight", was typical of his self-effacing approach: it was, in effect, an album by the group he had lately been featured in, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends.
Not surprisingly, before his solo debut had even been released, Clapton had retreated from his solo stance, assembling from the D&B&F ranks the personnel for a group, Derek & the Dominos, with whom he played for most of 1970 and recorded the landmark album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Clapton was largely inactive in 1971 and 1972, due to heroin addiction, but he performed a comeback concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London on January 13, 1973, resulting in the album "Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert" (September 1973). But Clapton did not launch a sustained solo career until July 1974, when he released "461 Ocean Boulevard", which topped the charts and spawned the number one single "I Shot the Sheriff".
The persona Clapton established over the next decade was less that of guitar hero than arena rock star with a weakness for ballads. The follow-ups to "461 Ocean Boulevard", "There's One in Every Crowd" (March 1975), the live "E.C. Was Here" (August 1975), and "No Reason to Cry" (August 1976), were less successful.  But "Slowhand" (November 1977), which featured both the powerful "Cocaine" (written by J.J. Cale, who had also written "After Midnight") and the hit singles "Lay Down Sally" and "Wonderful Tonight", was a million-seller.  Its follow-ups, "Backless" (November 1978), featuring the Top Ten hit "Promises", the live "Just One Night" (April 1980), and "Another Ticket" (February 1981), featuring the Top Ten hit "I Can't Stand It", were all big sellers.