Music of the Moment: Derek & The Dominos - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
We have a winner (pronounced winn-ah) in yesterday’s retail therapy sesssion: Derek & The Dominos’ Layla…. Wow! What a great album! I never knew. I guess for some reason I allowed it in my head that it was “Layla” and some other songs to fill out the record. I could not have been more wrong. This is essential, classic rock from that late ’60s, early ’70s era.
My only nitpick: I’m not sure if it was like this on vinyl, but this remaster seems to be a bit noisy and compressed. Maybe I’ve just got this on the brain, what with last night’s discussion about mastering, loudness, and compression on the B-Sides Concept Album program. Maybe it was recorded that way; I don’t know. I’m listening to it for a second time and there are some moments (”Little Wing,” for example) where it just seems to have a lot of noise all over it and even sounds a little bit distorted. If they did that on purpose, they shouldn’t have. If someone did this to it on the remaster, they’re a fiend. I don’t know if it’s odd or normal that some songs seem to be more affected by this than others.
That aside, the songs and the playing on this set really are extraordinary. This is one of my best purchases in quite awhile.
Filed under: Tags: Eric Clapton
I wonder what the Mobile Fidelity remaster of the album sounds like. I’m curious, but not $60 on eBay curious.
Yep, one of the great ones … perhaps the single great record that’s a bit too intense and painful to listen to, unless you really want (or need) to wallow. I can only put it on a handful of times per year, because I don’t want to dilute its intensity. The interplay of guitars across the entire album, however, is an aural experience not to be missed.
Oh … there’s one other extremely intense album, but it’s of a different sort: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, which is for me, anyway, the definitive right-time, right-place, right state-of-mind album. (But, oh! When it IS the right time, right place, and right state of mind!)
MIg
Speaking of guitars, do you have any familiarity with Richard Thompson? Clapton can’t hold a candle to him, I think. His style of singing, and writing isn’t for everyone (lots of discordant notes and dark themes — his heritage is not blues, but celtic) but his playing is simply (for me) without peer — both on electric and acoustic. If you can, download “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” and “Shoot Out the Lights.” Following that trail might truly change your life.
Layla is fantastic. I was a latecomer, too, but I’ve fully been won over by it.
The thing about the latest version of this album is that it’s not only remastered, it’s remixed. That’s a double-edged sword. I’ve heard clips of the original and I liked it - I’d like to hear the whole album as it was originally intended. Now, in fact, I will because I just scored a relatively hard-to-find original - the big 2-disc version from “back in the day” when they didn’t believe you could put that much music on one disc! Another $10 swallowed by Amazon. I will probably sell my remix when that one comes in, if it all sounds as good as the clips I’ve heard.
You too can check out the various versions this album has gone through here. Disregard the first one, it’s a master for a special collection, but #2 is the original CD mix and master while #3 is Mobile Fidelity version and #4 is the CD layer of the SACD. Only #2 remains true to the original album by not tweaking the EQ - the other two crank up the bass considerably.
Mig, thanks for the comments. I’m familiar by name with Thompson but haven’t really investigated his work. He’s been suggested to me before so I’m going to have to check this out.
I know what you mean about Plastic Ono Band and the idea that some albums or songs seem to fit certain headspaces and mindframes.
Tom, thanks for the chronology. I do think I’m going to have to investigate further. The material is so good, it demands to be properly heard.
I suppose if I were to recommend one album by which to introduce a pal to RT, it’d be Shoot Out the Lights, the last created with is former wife Linda. It’s gorgeous and intense, both. For a bit of perspective, their first album was called I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight. (BTW, her voice is as lovely as his guitar chops are capable.)
I first heard of him, and heard him, on his Spring ‘85 tour, when his albums were being released in an organized way in the USA for the first time. Rolling Stone started its featured review with, “Can you imagine encountering anyone unfamiliar with the collected musical masterworks of Lennon and McCartney, Bob Dylan, or the golden age of Motown? Yet how many *are* familiar with the richly gifted singer-songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson and his former wife Linda?” They went on to review five or six of their albums, giving them all 4 or 5 stars. I thought it was a joke, until a week later, pal working at a nearby club asked if I’d like to go see him, on the house. She didn’t know a thing, except that he was supposed to be “good.” LOL.
I grabbed another friend, and we went, never having heard a note until then. After the show, he bought me a t-shirt simply out of gratitude for the invitation. I’ve seen RT some twenty or thirty times since … and I’m always looking forward to the next time. Really — if you do connect with his work, you may find yourself thinking of him on a par with Messrs. Dylan, Young, Costello, Springsteen, etc., and there’s no shortage of music available in his catalog. Good luck if you pursue it, and let us know what you think.
For a quick shortcut, give a listen & view to his latest “single”: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%22Dad%27s+gonna+kill+me%22
I like RT but it’s only his newer stuff that I’ve really been able to get into. It’s that celtic thing Mig mentions. He seems to lay off of that in his newer solo material, aside from a few places. I think Mock Tudor would appeal to just about anyone that likes good guitar and good lyrics. Thompson doesn’t go too far into his niche with that one and so it’s just a good all-around enjoyable very smart rock record. Damned great album! Josh, check this one out - I think you would really like this one. His Live from Austin, TX disc is also excellent and gives a decent overview of his career, too.