Eric Clapton - Me & Mr Johnson
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Free Music Notes for Me & Mr Johnson
Free Music Review: Spectacular!!!! Wonderful!! (NOT Robert Johnson!!)
Hit: 5 Stars
Seems a lot of folks hate this album because it isn't "authentic," it isn't "tortured"... in short, because it isn't Robert Johnson! This is like saying you hate Berlioz because he isn't Mozart, you hate van Gogh because he isn't Michelangelo, and you hate Hemingway because he isn't Shakespeare! Well, here's a warning for those of you who haven't heard this album yet:
WARNING: This is NOT a Robert Johnson album!
That being said, I really don't know if I'm listening to the same album these so-called blues "purists" who keep bashing it are listening to. I really love this album!! I've played it many times, and I never get sick of playing it. There aren't any tracks I have to skip over. It's my favorite of any recently-recorded (ie. not pre-1970) blues albums I own (other than Albert King's/Stevie Ray's "In Session".) It beats hands down most of the blues albums released in the last 20 years. Does that mean it's good? Well, it means it's good TO ME!
Is this album an epic masterpiece of a single mythic man and his acoustic guitar for 41 tracks in a row esentially inventing/remaking a genre of music? No. But that only happened ONCE in history! Everything afterwards has somehow been derivative and, by definition, NOT authentic.
That also being said, this music is still great!
The production on each track is filled out perfectly, with wonderful musicians, and in interesting ways. It is not monotonous. The vibe is generally upbeat, not tortured--- but the vibe is still there! "They're Red Hot" makes me want to sing along every time I hear it. I do think Clapton's vocals on "Me And The Devil" are really wonderful. And, like I said before, there is not a mistake here, or a track I want to skip over. That is very rare!
I guess people are upset that this isn't "Layla" and that Eric isn't a strung-out heroin junkie in love with his best-friend's wife anymore-- that he has actually pulled his life together-- and that this somehow this makes him less "authentic." Maybe they are actually upset that he is a better and more versitile musician than 90% of the blues "Masters" ever were. Maybe they are just upset that he isn't Robert Johnson. I really don't know.
All I know is that I still love Hemingway even though Shakespeare essentially invented the English language.
And I still love Eric Clapton.
Free Music Review: A Natural Fit
Hit: 5 Stars
Eric Clapton for years has recorded song by Robert Johnson. The two together seem like a natural fit.
If you study Clapton over the years he does fragments of Robert Johnson songs.
Crossroads for instance is made up of lyrics from Crossroads Blues and Traveling Riverside Blues.
Now you are able to hear Clapton sing the lyrics they way they were originally written.
This is Claptons intrepreation of Robert Johnsons' music.
Many of the guitar riffs are taken from songs already recorded by Clapton. What appeals to me is the "Down Home" atmosphere this album has.
You feel like Clapton is on the porch playing blues guitar for you.
This is Mississippi Delta Blues the way Robert Johnson intended it.
Clapton along with Billy Preston are a lethal combination.
They're Red Hot shows Billy Preston playing the way we all know he can. Clapton appears to be very relaxed.
The next song of note is Me and the Devil Blues. I think that back then blues players called their women devils. With the legand of the Crossroads you wonder though.
The version of Travelin Riverside Blues is much more interesting than the version Led Zeppelin did.
Stop Breaking Down which was also covered by the Rolling Stones is very strong also.
Kindhearted Woman has been released before, this version is not new, in my mind its recycled.
The best three songs on the CD are Come On In My Kitchen, If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day which Clapton recorded before as Rollin and Tumblin. This is the entire song though.
Love in vain also appears here and is entirely different than the version by the Rolling Stones, Claptons version is much more like Johnsons'
Hell Hound on My Trail I guess is about the torment he feels and is one of the "Gems" on the CD.
Clapton plays a lot of blues slide guitar and Billy Preston is phenominal on keyboards.
This CD is one of Claptons career albums and a must for any blues fan or any Robert Johnson fan. This is Mississippi Delta Blues at its very best........ENJOY
Free Music Review: From The Cradle To The Grave
Hit: 5 Stars
I thought From The Cradle would be my forever favorite Eric Clapton album ever, with it's roots planted deep in Eric's best music ever. But Lo! The weeping guitar does it again, and has now unseated my favorite blues slam with another even more heart-pounding release! It is neck-tar of the gods, ladies and gentlemen, if you love the blues, if you love Eric Clapton, and most of all, if you Love both, do not, under any circumstances, do not pass this treasure up! (Yes! Do Seek The Treasure!)Do yourself one better, get Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings box set (ASIN: B000002757) along with it, that's 3 cd's for only $35 and it's classic music of the best kind! I have listened to the Johnson set, no not so much listened as been haunted by it, for over 10 years now, and Eric's renditions are a pure merger between the two powerhouses of past and present. Billy Preston lilts, he peeks out here and there, and then he jumps up and nails the keys to these.
Eric, in the libretto to the Robert Johnson box set, came just short of saying he could never even attempt to record Hellhound on my Trail, well 14 years after that writing, here is Eric making it his own, but remaining faithful to Mr. Johnson's image at the same time. If you're not hooked by Little Queen of Spades, by the 2nd song, then you don't have any stake in the blues, pack up and go home.
Eric has triumphed here with a cd that should be remembered and nominated at next years Grammy's. Tradition meets digital here folks, the engineering is the best you can hope for, the band is the best at purity of sound, and the arrangements are strikingly original and yet dutiful to the composer, each time with a nod of gratitude to the genius of an artform, the pioneer of an entire genre. I promise you, there is no rolling over in Mr. Johnson's grave, but he just might be waking up to give this one a listen.
Free Music Review: Listen To It For What It Is
Hit: 5 Stars
Man, after reading some of the vehemently negative reviews posted here, I feel like George Bush at a Howard Dean rally by expressing a somewhat different view.I like this CD. To me, its the best thing EC has done since his Cream years. Think of Cream's music and EC's work with John Mayall, then think of years of commercial garbage like I Shot the Sheriff and worse and you'll see what I mean.
When I bought this, I wasn't expecting "authenticity", some of the media hype prior to its release notwithstanding. And I didn't expect a CD full of Cream-like power blues. Actually, I didn't really expect anything, but I hoped that the CD would redeem him in the eyes of old fans like myself who have endured nearly thirty lean years with hardly a bone thrown our direction.
It has done this. Yes, Me and Mr Johnson is a lot more polished than other Johnson tributes I have heard and no, its not "authentic". But to my ears, it is quite enjoyable. Clapton has his own way with the blues and here he and his capable sidemen give us his interpretation of Robert Johnson's music and nothing more.
Robert Johnson was no doubt a great songwriter and I like all the songs here no matter who covers them. On this CD, I like the interpretations of Me and the Devil Blues, Last Fair Deal Gone Down, Stop Breakin' Down Blues, If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day, and Love In Vain the best.
If you are a Clapton fan and make an honest attempt to listen to the album for what it is rather than constantly comparing the songs to the originals, you may find you really like this. Listen as though you are hearing these songs for the first time. Eric Clapton can't be Robert Johnson and he shouldn't try to be. He can only be himself and on Me and Mr Johnson he offers us his homage to the man he holds to be his chief musical influence. Check it out for yourself!
Free Music Review: Another jewel from Clapton
Hit: 5 Stars
It is no secret that Clapton's life as a musician has been heavily influence by the blues. As a matter of fact, Clapon is probably the "blues purist" of the 60's trio of Clapton, Beck and Page and, in one way or the other, each musical project in which Clapton has been involved revolves around the blues. Also, Clapton has stated tha the work of Robert Johnson is pivotal in his love for the blues. This delta singer is probably the biggest influence in Clapton's guitar work.
Also, Clapton returned in the 90's with mission to return to the blues or to a blues influence style since his Journeyman album. This was followed by other blues influenced works as Unplugged, From the Cradle, Riding with the King and now Me & Mr Johnson.
Therefore, this record has to be seen as part of a process in which the artist has reviewd and presented to its audience his vision of the blues.
With that in mind this record is outstanding. Clapton is not set to provide a guitar album based on exact note by note copy of Johnson music but to present a fresh and updated version of songs that were recorded 80 years ago by just a man and his acoustic guitar!. The songs still remain true to the style and craftmanship of Johnson guitar work but are augmented by the use of a full electric blues band. As always, this is the best back up band in the world that Calpton can have (Andy Fairwheather-low, Nathan East, Steve Gadd, Billy Preston, Doyle Braham II, etc).
I regret a bit that Clapton was not "purist" enough to record an entire acoustic album true to Johnson's original recordings but the results are simple and direct and true to Claptons blues career.