Derek & The Dominos

Derek & the Dominos was a group formed by guitarist/singer Eric Clapton (born Eric Patrick Clapp, March 30, 1945, Ripley, Surrey, England) with other former members of Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, in the spring of 1970. The rest of the lineup was Bobby Whitlock (b. 1948, Memphis, TN) (keyboards, vocals), Carl Radle (b. 1942, Oklahoma City, OK -- d. May 30, 1980) (bass), and Jim Gordon (b. 1945, Los Angeles) (drums). The group debuted at the Lyceum Ballroom in London on June 14 and undertook a summer tour of England. From late August to early October, they recorded the celebrated double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (November 1970) with guitarist Duane Allman sitting in. They then returned to touring in England and the U.S., playing their final date on December 6. The Layla album was successful in the U.S., where "Bell Bottom Blues" and the title song charted as singles in abbreviated versions, but it did not chart in the U.K. The Dominos reconvened to record a second album in May 1971, but split up without completing it. Clapton then retired from the music business, nursing a heroin addiction. In his absence, and in the wake of Allman's death in a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971, the Dominos and Layla gained in stature. Re-released as a single at its full, seven-minute length in connection with the compilation album History of Eric Clapton (Atco 803) (March 1972), "Layla" hit the Top Ten in the U.S. and the U.K. in the summer of 1972. (It would return to the U.K. Top Ten in 1982.) A live album, Derek and the Dominos in Concert (January 1973), taken from the 1970 U.S. tour, was also a strong seller. Time has only added to the renown of the group, which is now rated among Eric Clapton's most outstanding achievements. The 1988 Eric Clapton box set retrospective Crossroads featured material from the abortive second album sessions. The Layla Sessions was a 1990 box set expanding that album across three CDs/cassettes. Live at the Fillmore (1994) offered an expanded version of the In Concert album.

1970 - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos - 1970 - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs

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.

		1		I Looked Away	Clapton, Whitlock	3:03
		2		Bell Bottom Blues	Clapton	5:01
		3		Keep on Growing	Clapton, Whitlock	6:20
		4		Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out	Cox	4:56
		5		I Am Yours	Clapton, Nizami	3:34
		6		Anyday	Clapton, Whitlock	6:34
		7		Key to the Highway	Broonzy, Segar	9:37
		8		Tell the Truth	Clapton, Whitlock	6:37
		9		Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?	Clapton, Whitlock	4:41
		10		Have You Ever Loved a Woman	Myles	6:51
		11		Little Wing	Hendrix	5:32
		12		It's Too Late	Willis	3:48
		13		Layla	Clapton, Gordon	7:02
		14		Thorn Tree in the Garden	Whitlock	2:49

¡Aquí!