The album Eric Clapton considered overrated: “I found it all overblown”
There would always be a part of Eric Clapton that was just a bit overhyped. While he was a stellar guitar player by many accounts and could still deliver great solos to this day, there were only so many times that someone could be called God before people started to see if he was truly without musical sin. Although Clapton himself was a bit lenient when it came to his title, he admitted that he never saw the appeal of his Unplugged record.
By the time Clapton entered the 1990s, Unplugged may have been the best scenario he could have asked for. This was a few years after his massive smash with his heartwrenching ballad, ‘Tears in Heaven’, so hope was high that he could deliver another strong album for his fans.
What we got instead was a live album of acoustic cuts, and it’s still being passed down by many a dad to this day. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, but you are definitely hearing the sleepier version of what Clapton could do across this album, which actually makes for a lot more surprises than you’d probably expect.
The acoustic versions of songs like ‘Before You Accuse Me’ and ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out’ see Clapton in his element as a modern-day Robert Johnson, and his reinterpretation of ‘Layla’ is much more than just another acoustic cut. For many, this is the definitive version of the song now, with the lovesick man from the 1970s version being replaced with a lonely old man who never got to see his dreams come true.
Whereas most people saw this as a watershed moment for Clapton, ‘Slowhand’ never thought it was as good as people made it out to be, telling Guitarist, “I must admit I found it all a little bit overblown. I mean, I thought the album was rough, to say the least. I don’t want to put it down at all. I appreciate all of it–but I felt it was all a bit blown out of proportion. If I’d taken it too seriously, it would have done me in”.
Despite the insane concept of seeing this as just an also-ran, Clapton seems to struggle with the same problems nearly every rockstar deals with: going back and listening to your performances. Even though you can look like you’re crushing it on the bandstand now, chances are Clapton looks back and sees a few songs that could have benefited from being touched up a little bit.
That didn’t stop Clapton from staying the course as a blues cat. If anything, when you look at the music that he made directly after this album, he may have liked his live set a little bit more than he originally let on.
Since many of his albums after this are comprised of covers and feature a lot more acoustic guitar, perhaps Clapton saw his future as the soulful bluesman who could break out his unplugged chops and entertain his kids every once in a while. The dangerous version of Clapton wasn’t around anymore, but that didn’t mean that the guitar legend didn’t still have something to say.
