Wishing to escape the superstar expectations that sank
Blind Faith before it was launched,
Eric Clapton retreated with several sidemen from
Delaney & Bonnie to record the material that would form
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. From these meager beginnings grew his greatest album.
Duane Allman joined the band shortly after recording began, and his spectacular slide guitar pushed
Clapton to new heights. Then again,
Clapton may have gotten there without him, considering the emotional turmoil he was in during the recording. He was in hopeless, unrequited love with Patti Boyd, the wife of his best friend,
George Harrison, and that pain surges throughout
Layla, especially on its epic title track. But what really makes
Layla such a powerful record is that
Clapton, ignoring the traditions that occasionally painted him into a corner, simply tears through these songs with burning, intense emotion. He makes standards like "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" and "Nobody Knows You (When You're Down and Out)" into his own, while his collaborations with
Bobby Whitlock -- including "Any Day" and "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?" -- teem with passion. And, considering what a personal album
Layla is, it's somewhat ironic that the lovely coda "Thorn Tree in the Garden" is a solo performance by
Whitlock, and that the song sums up the entire album as well as "Layla" itself. [A remastered version was released on
Layla's 40th anniversary.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine