Unplugged

Eric Clapton over the years has been known for his electric guitar and his fast blues licks.
Eric Clapton grew up listening to Mississippi Delta blues players. I believe this CD allowed Eric to do the songs of his youth. It allowed him to let his hair down and play the music he grew up on.
Eric in this CD puts down his flat pick and changes to finger picking and a slide.
All of the songs an the CD are worth listening to. The highlights of the CD are,"Tears in Heaven, Nobody knows, when you're down and out", Running on Faith and "Walking Blues"
He pulls some old songs out of the hat such as Alberta, San Francisco Bay Blues.
What you see here is Eric as you would probably see him at home with his acoustic guitar. I never tire of this CD and would recommend it to anyone, not only Clapton fans. One of his finest ever.

When this album came out in the early 90s I was thrilled. MTV Unplugged had opened the door to acoustic mainstream music again and Clapton stepped up to crown this genre with the perfect performance of classic tunes, even stepping back to the Delta with two great Robert Johnson songs. Claptons' band is at its' best and the moving version of Tears in Heaven is unparalled. As much of a fan of Claptons' electric playing as I am, I still prefer his acoustic work and if this music was the kind he did for the rest of his career it would suit me just fine. In fact I was a bit disappointed last year when he put out Me and Mr Johnson because it was electric rather than acoustic. After hearing his versions of Johnsons' Walkin' Blues and Malted Milk Blues on Unplugged, I was eager to hear other Johnson tunes covered this way

Apart from the two most noticeable tracks, LAYLA and TEARS IN HEAVEN, this album is consistently great, those first two tracks are beyond great, and border on phenomenal.
I watched some "jam" sessions that Clapton did with some other stars, all acknowledged masters in Blues, and Clapton was in his class.
Whatever you want to call it, Clapton does it superbly. The criticism of EC always reminds of the anecdote that I think it was Jon Lord made about Ritchie Blackmore... and it was words to the effect that Lord knew that Ritchie had finally lost the plot when he told him that Eric Clapton could not play. Its just sour grapes.
Clapton does something so beautifully, it works well when copied too. I have performed TEARS IN HEAVEN for audiences, and thanks to Claptons basic but beautiful arrangement, the audiences loved it. But the kicker for me was that a classically trained musician in the group I was in one time could not play the tune even WITH the music... and this was a guy with superb classical skills. Simple is not always the best, but in the hands of some brilliant musicians like Clapton, simple elevates to the level of genius.
A Beautiful album.

this is easily my favorite EC album; I see that many people share my fascination with it. Clapton was very good at crafting great blues songs on acoustic guitar, and I like these songs much better than his electric guitar music (though Cream of Clapton is a strong hits collection). with great songs like "layla" crafted to absolute acoustic perfection, I knew I absolutely had to have this music on cd (I was introduced to it from an old tape my parents had). One song I love learning to play is "layla," it is so good and so improved from the original on here. Other songs like "tears in heaven" and "alberta" are real gems also, and there is not a single weak track on here, which encourages repeat listenings. My respect for Clapton was immeasurable when I first heard this cd. If you don't have it, you need it. no questions.

Eric Clapton is an amazing artist, muisician and lyricist. His vocals are not the best but he then again one can not be great at everything. At the time this album, it was a trend to play unplugged and many artists and bands should not have done this. Clapton manages to do this quite well and shows that he is an accomplished muisician and artists. The book-let is nice if a bit sparse and the photo on the cover looks grainy and not all that well done. This is a nice after work recording to relax and drink some gin and tonic.