Derek & The Dominos "Live at the Fillmore"

 

 

 

 

Derek & The Dominos is a very powerful, unique blues rock band, that does not get nearly as much credit as it deserves. Aside from the blues itself, this band has most definately had it's fair share of hard times, with the only surving member of the band being Eric Clapton. This blues band started out with a very bright future ahead, but that quickly deteriated after the death of guitarist Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band. Not only did he die, but the bass player succembed to a nasty kidney infection after years of substance abuse, and the drummer ended up in a mental asylum after bludgening his mother to death with a hammer. This super group was doomed before it even had the chance to start.

This live album in particular really show cases every member of the band has immense talent, and is shown through pounding drum solos, or nearly 8-minute guitar solos headed by Mr. Slowhand himself, Eric Clapton. Unfortunately, Duane Allman had prior commitments with his own band, and was only able to make it to a few Derek & The Dominos show, with the Fillmore not being one of them. But with Clapton's prior experience being in bands such as Cream, he could handle guitar duties by himself pretty easily.

The first few songs on this album are truly a testament to blues rock music, with the particular diamond sticking out being "Got To Get Better In a Little While." The song starts out with a very funky rythmic drum beat, and Clapton's heavily wah-wahed guitar sustained a single low E note. Quickly after a few bars, Slowhand moves into a very funky guitar riff, and soon begins singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFkOeA_UeNs&safe=active

The next high-lite of this amazing blues record is "Blues Power." Originally recorded by Eric Clapton while he was solo, he ultimately decided to play it live while he was with Derek & The Dominos. The song lyrically is pretty powerful, as Clapton tells how no one thought he could "rock n roll" because he was a white boy with an electric guitar. The song has a very slow blues groove to it, and some intense soloing as well.

"Have you ever loved a woman" Is a cover from one of the greatest bluesmen of the 20th century, Freddie King. Clapton delivers just as good as the King on this one, with soulful licks that can surely rival Freddie. When I close my eyes and listen to this song, I can imagine a very harry faced Slowhand up on stage with a big red ES-335 tearing away.

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out" tells a story about Clapton while he was going through a rough time with drugs and alcoholism, and how everybody sadly abandoned him. He tells about his friends who he used to buy stuff for all the time, but when he fell on hard times they left him.

The next notable song on this record is "Little Wing" another cover song, orignally by Clapton's proffesional rival and friend, Jimi Hendrix. Recorded 8 days before Jimi's untimely demise, Clapton decided ultimately to start playing it live after the death of his beloved friend. This version sounds much harder and a little more gritty than Jimi's with harder solos and more gain and distortion.

The second to last song on this album is "Let it rain"  which is a song that show cases every one in the band's talents. It starts off with a nice happy guitar riff, with Clapton soon following with gruff vocals and a guitar solo. Soon after Clapton's nice extended guitar solo is a drum solo that could easily rival John Bonham of Led Zeppelin.

The last song on this fantastic album is one that Clapton recorded in his days with Cream, "Crossroads." This is typically a very fast blues shuffle, with searing guitar on top. For the live version though, Slowhand slows the song down rather quite significantly. Still retaining it's complexity through soloing and such, it does not cease to amaze.