Eric Clapton-Eric Clapton (1970)

In the early seventies, Eric Clapton had an impressive artistic career behind him. His work with The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Delaney and Bonnie & Friends, and Derek and The Dominos had earned him guitar superstar status, inspiring the famous slogan "Clapton is God". Fed up with it all, Clapton initially wanted to join John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band as just another guitarist, but soon after, he focused on his first solo project. On this debut album, the original repertoire was composed in collaboration with Bonnie Bramlett, Leon Russell, and Steve Cropper, while the J.J. Cale cover "After Midnight" is the only non-original track. For the recording, Eric Clapton enlisted some members of Delaney & Bonnie, a band that had previously opened for Blind Faith, as well as Derek and The Dominos, along with Leon Russell and Stephen Stills, among other prominent musicians from the California rock scene. The songs included here are rooted in rock and blues, and feature the aforementioned "After Midnight," as well as the excellent tracks "Bad Boy", "Slunky", "Lonesome and a Long Way from Home", "Blues Power", "Bottle of Red Wine", and "Let It Rain".