Eric Clapton adopted a new, tougher, hard R&B approach on
August, employing a stripped-down band featuring keyboard player
Greg Phillinganes, bassist
Nathan East, and drummer/producer
Phil Collins, plus, on several tracks, a horn section and, on a couple of tracks, backup vocals by
Tina Turner, and performing songs written by old Motown hand
Lamont Dozier, among others. The excellent, but incongruous, leadoff track, however, was "It's in the Way That You Use It," which
Clapton and
Robbie Robertson had written for
Robertson's score to the film The Color of Money. Elsewhere,
Clapton sang and played fiercely on songs like "Tearing Us Apart," "Run," and "Miss You," all of which earned AOR radio play. That radio support may have helped the album to achieve gold status in less than six months,
Clapton's best commercial showing since 1981's
Another Ticket, despite the album's failure to generate a hit single. The title commemorates the birth in August 1986 of
Clapton's son Conor. [The CD version of the album contains the bonus track "Grand Illusion."] ~ William Ruhlmann