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Eric Clapton: From the Cradle

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: Eric Clapton
Title: From the Cradle
Released: 1994.09.13
Label: Reprise Records
Time: 60:11
Producer(s): Russ Titleman, Eric Clapton
Appears with: The Yardbirds
Category: Blues
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2001.04.09
Price in €: 9,99
Web address: www.ericclapton.com

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Blues Before Sunrise (Carr) - 2:57
[2] Third Degree (Boyd) - 5:08
[3] Reconsider Baby (Fulson) - 3:20
[4] Hoochie Coochie Man (Dixon) - 3:15
[5] Five Long Years (Boyd) - 4:47
[6] Tore Down (King) - 3:02
[7] How Long Blues (Carr) - 3:08
[8] Goin' Away Baby (Lane) - 4:01
[9] Blues Leave Me Alone (Lane) - 3:37
[10] Sinner's Prayer (Fulson/Glenn) - 3:20
[11] Motherless Child (Traditional) - 2:57
[12] It Hurts Me Too (James) - 3:19
[13] Someday After a While (King/Thompson) - 4:28
[14] Standin' Round Crying (Waters) - 3:38
[15] Driftin' (Brown/Moore) - 3:08
[16] Groaning the Blues (Dixon) - 6:06

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


ERIC CLAPTON - Guitar, Vocals, Cover Photography

ANDY FAIRWEATHER-LOW - Guitar
JERRY PORTNOY - Harmonica
TIM SANDERS - Tenor Saxophone
SIMON CLARKE - Baritone Saxophone
RODDY LORIMER - Trumpet
CHRIS STAINTON - Keyboards
DAVE BRONZE - Bass
JIM KELTNER - Drums

RICHIE HAYWARD - Percussion on [7]

ALAN DOUGLAS - Engineer, Mixing
ALEX HAAS - Engineer on [7]
RUSS TITLEMAN - Mixing
GILES COVLEY - Assistant Engineer
JULIE GARDINER - Assistant Engineer
TED JANSEN - Mastering
MICK DOUBLE - Project Coordination
LEE DICKSON - EC's Guitar Technician
RAVI SHARMAN - Equipment Technician
JACK ENGLISH - Photography
WHEREFOR ART? - Design
 

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1995 CD Reprise 45735
1995 LP Reprise 945735
1995 CD Reprise 45735
1995 CD Reprise 9362 45735
1994 CS Reprise 45735
1999 CD Import 10120

FROM THE CRADLE won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. It was also nominated for Album Of The Year.



For years, fans craved an all-blues album from Clapton; he waited until 1994 to deliver From the Cradle. The album manages to recreate the ambience of postwar electric blues, right down to the bottomless thump of the rhythm section. If it wasn't for Clapton's labored vocals, everything would be perfect. As long as he plays his guitar, he can't fail — his solos are white-hot and evocative, original and captivating. When he sings, Clapton loses that sense of originality, choosing to mimic the vocals of the original recordings. At times, his overemotive singing is painful; he doesn't have the strength to pull off Howlin' Wolf's growl or the confidence to replicate Muddy Waters' assured phrasing. Yet, whenever he plays, it's easier to forget his vocal shortcomings. Even with its faults, From the Cradle is one of Clapton's finest moments.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All-Music Guide



Some may feel that although Eric Clapton has always been a little bluesy, the true blues form is not for him. Listeners are persuaded to change their minds after hearing "From the Cradle," however. It is powerful, soulful, and intoxicating, and Clapton's passion for this genre is evident. He offers versions of classics such as "Five Long Years" and "Hoochie Coochie Man" that would give Eddie Boyd and Muddy Waters a run for their money. "Blues Before Sunrise" and "I'm Tore Down" test his true blues ability, while "Motherless Child" is reminiscent of his earlier years.

Kristi McCabe



People complain he is "washed up", but he puts all such complaints to rest with this release which goes to back to good old rock 'n' roll blues. One of the musical geniuses around this album is an exercise in improvisation - the whole thing was recorded live with little overdubbing. From the cradle to the grave, Clapton has proven he has got what it takes to still make an enduring piece of guitar work.



It takes the assurance of a titan like Eric Clapton to muster the humility that inspires "From the Cradle." The guitarist's tribute to the gods who formed him (Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Otis Rush among them), the disc sacrifices flash to sheer blazing force. "Groaning the Blues," "Five Long Years" - this is the bone and sinew of blues.

PAUL EVANS (RS 698/699)
Copyright © 1968-1998 Rolling Stone Network.



"From the Cradle" is an album that some Eric Clapton fans had been waiting for years. Indeed, this is Clapton's first real Blues album. After years of flirting with Blues in his pop work, and years of guest star appearances on Bluesmen's records, Eric Clapton finally issued a Blues album of his own. "From the Cradle" was released in 1994. It contains sixteen covers of songs by legendary Bluesmen, like Leroy Carr ("Blues Before Sunrise", "How Long Blues"), Muddy Waters ("Standin' Round Crying"), and Willie Dixon ("Hoochie Coochie Man", "Groaning the Blues"). Eric Clapton is given talented support here ; harmonicist Jerry Portnoy is more than just a sidekick ; keyboards and brass erase themselves in the album (a perfect example of that would be "Someday After a While") ; and Jim Keltner is an inspired drummer. Heavy instrumental support, and no background vocals, give the album a original tone, that may unfortunately be considered as overloaded on some songs ("Groaning the Blues", for instance). Some other songs, however, are softly interpreted, like "Driftin'", and "Third Degree". It seems like Eric Clapton wanted to prove his talent as a Bluesman, by challenging himself in playing songs of some of the greatest Blues legends ever. There is no doubt about his skills, the man can play the Blues. Still, this is Eric Clapton we're talking about - "From the Cradle" is often filed under "Pop" in record stores.



The full-tilt blues album that Clapton had been promising for years, From the Cradle proves the guitarist's enduring devotion to a form he had long relegated to merely a flavor in his music rather than the main ingredient. Clapton's singing on the album is somewhat mannered; he tries to compete with original versions of these songs by Muddy Waters, Charles Brown, and others, and there's no way he's going to win that battle. Still, you can feel the emotional connection Clapton has with these songs, and guitar aficionados will swoon over his fretwork on songs such as "Third Degree," "Someday After a While," and the incendiary "Groanin' the Blues."

Daniel Durchholz, Amazon.com essential recording



Occasionally this British guitar god's blackface vocal mannerisms are a little unsettling. Nonetheless, Eric Clapton's 1994 homage to his blues roots--which he'd pledged to make for nearly a decade--is a thriller. The song list spans the music's formative history and these live in-studio recordings have a vitality that Clapton's pop albums have lacked for 20 years. Certainly it's Clapton's guitar prowess that claims the spotlight. His slide, rhythm, and dazzling solos ring with rich-toned power and restraint--perhaps because he swapped his usual Stratocaster for burlier sounding Gibsons on these sessions. But ex-Muddy Waters harmonica man Jerry Portnoy is the CD's other star. His performances match Clapton's virtuosity while providing spare and evocative evidence of the music's birth from the dust of the Mississippi Delta.

Ted Drozdowski, Amazon.com



...This is the plugged-in, all-blues album that old school Clapton freaks have been moaning and groaning for ever since the guitarist gave his two weeks' notice to John Mayall in July 1966...

Rolling Stone (10/20/94)



...His passion seems authentic, unrehearsed, and there's a sort of moral earnestness to his plea for romantic reconciliation...his struggle with loneliness...and his soul-wrenching rejection of sadness....Clapton's slide guitar explodes ...like the Second Coming of Elmore James...

Down Beat (12/94)



The question remains: can someone in a pair of boots as new and fresh as the ones Clapton's wearing in the CD booklet's pictures possibly have the blues? Well, maybe. Parts of From The Cradle, Eric Clapton's love letter to the blues, succumb to the problems typical of modern, revisionist blues interpretation: the hokey accents (Clapton oversings on "Five Years" and "Third Degree") and the laid-back groove are substituted for the intensity and spark of the originals. Vocally, Clapton often sounds forced, but when his guitar bites off a chord or snarls into the first notes of a solo, he's in peak electric form. These moments - the solos - show the significance of what Eric Clapton really did, which was take the power and psychic energy of the blues and project it to a new audience. If his version of "Hoochie Coochie Man" sounds close the original, it's because you can tell that every musician in that studio had listened to the original 50,000 times, and knows every beat, pulse, scream and twang of the song to the point of pure muscle memory. Of course, the argument is good that the world doesn't need any more versions of "It Hurts Me Too," "Hoochie Coochie Man" or any of these songs; but by putting his renditions of them in one place, Clapton has created a primer for blues, based upon his love for the music rather than on some other agenda. The thing to remember is that this is not a VH-1 record; it is not a Phil Collins pop record; it is not a radio format record; coming after the massive commercial success of "Tears In Heaven" and Unplugged, it's not even a career move - it'd be a lot safer to keep writing tender ballads or team up with other `60s veterans in a super-group. This is a blues record, a pretty darn good one, and that's all Eric Clapton's ever really wanted to make.

CMJ New Music Report Issue: 398 - Oct 10, 1994



Gelegentlich wirkt der manierierte "schwarze Gesang" des britischen Gitarrengottes etwas deplaziert. Dennoch ist diese 94er Hommage an seine Blueswurzeln, an der er bezeichnenderweise fast ein Jahrzehnt bastelte, ein Hammer. Die Songliste ist eine einzige Geschichte des Blues, und die im Studio live aufgenommenen Nummern sind von einer Lebendigkeit, wie man sie auf Claptons Popalben seit zwanzig Jahren nicht mehr gehört hat. Klar, es sind Claptons gitarristische Fähigkeiten, die hier im Mittelpunkt stehen. Seine Slide- und Rhythmusarbeit, auch seine schwindelerregenden Soli klingen reicher im Sound als sonst -- ein Grund hierfür ist möglicherweise der Wechsel von seiner üblichen Stratocaster zu den fetter klingenden Gibson-Gitarren während dieser Sessions. Der Ex-Muddy Waters Harmonikaspieler Jerry Portnoy ist der zweite, heimliche Star dieser CD. Sein Spiel paßt perfekt zu Claptons virtuoser Gitarre, und bietet eine Gelegenheit, mal wieder daran zu erinnern, daß der Blues senen Ursprung in den Mississippi Deltas hat.

Ted Drozdowski, Amazon.de



Der gute Eric sieht zwar so aus wie REINHARD MAY, hat aber im Gegensatz zu seinem deutschen Kollegen eine Überladung Blues! Tracks wie "Blues Before Sunrise", "Groaning The Blues", "How Long Blues" oder "Blues Leave Me Alone" sprechen da eine deutliche Sprache. Mit ebenso erstklassiger wie zurückhaltender Unterstützung live und ohne Overdubs oder Edits eingespielt, dürfte das audiophile Ergebnis letztendlich aber nur die gesetzte Stiefel-Fraktion interessieren. Blues eben, nicht wahr, Willie?

Waldemar Hartmann / Intro - Musik & so
mehr unter www.intro.de



Daß der Gitarren-Heroe den Blues "von der Wiege an" hatte, ist übertrieben; verbürgt ist, daß er Clapton in jungen Jahren packte. Entsprechend souverän spielt er auf, delikat mit Dobro, sonst flüssig und bissig. Neu ist, daß Erics Stimme wie ein Kettenhund losbellen kann (Blues Before Sunrise). Bei den 16 Songs setzte er kaum auf Standards, von Hoochie Coochie Man oder It Hurts Me Too abgesehen, bei denen Routiniers wie Jim Keltner oder Chris Stainton mitmischen. Schade, daß die Aufnahmen, live im Studio, allzusehr nach "authentischem" Blech-Sound klingen.

© Audio
 

 L y r i c s


BLUES BEFORE SUNRISE

I have the blues before sunrise, tears standing in my eyes.
I have the blues before sunrise, tears standing in my eyes.
It was a miserable feeling, now babe, a feeling I do despise.

I have to leave, leave you baby, because you know you done me wrong.
I have to leave you baby, because you know you done me wrong.
I'm gonna pack up and leave you darling and break up my happy home.

I have to leave, leave you baby, I'm gonna leave you all alone.
I'm gonna leave you baby, I'm gonna leave you all alone.
I'm gonna pack up and leave you darling because you know you done me wrong.

Well now goodbye, goodbye baby, I'll see you on some rainy day.
Well now goodbye baby, I'll see you on some rainy day.
You can go ahead now little darling, 'cause I want you to have your way.


THIRD DEGREE

Got me accused of peeping, I can't see a thing.
Got me accused of petting, I can't even raise my hand.

  Bad luck, bad luck is killing me.
  Well I just can't stand no more of this third degree.

Got me accused of murder, I ain't harmed a man.
Got me accused of forgery, I can't even write my name.

  Chorus

Got me accused of taxes, I ain't got a dime.
Got me accused of children, and ain't nary one of them was mine.

  Chorus


RECONSIDER BABY

So long, oh I hate to see you go.
So long, oh I hate to see you go.
And the way that I will miss you, I guess you will never know.

We've been together so long to have to separate this way.
We've been together so long to have to separate this way.
I'm gonna let you go ahead on now baby, pray that you'll come back home someday.

You said you once had loved me, but now I guess you've changed your mind.
You said you once had loved me, but now I guess you've changed your mind.
Why don't you reconsider baby?  Give yourself just a little more time.


HOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN

Gypsy woman told my mother 'fore I was born,
You got a boy-child coming, gonna be a son of a gun.
Gonna make pretty womens jump and shout,
And then the world gonna know what this all about.

  But you know I'm here.
  Everybody knows I'm here.
  Well, I'm the hoochie coochie man.
  Everybody knows I'm here.

I got the black cat bone and I got a mojo, too.
I got the John the Conquerer Root, gonna mess with you.
I'm gonna make you girls lead me by my hand,
And then the world will know the hoochie coochie man.

  Chorus

On the seventh hour, on the seventh day,
On the seventh month, seven doctors say,
"He was born for good luck, that you'll see."
I got seven hundred dollars; don't you mess with me!

  Chorus


FIVE LONG YEARS

Have you ever been mistreated?  You know just what I'm talking about.
Have you ever been mistreated?  You know just what I'm talking about.
I worked five long years for one woman, she had the nerve to put me out.

I got a job in a steel mill, shucking steel like a slave.
Five long years, every Friday I come straight back home with all my pay.
Have you ever been mistreated?  You know just what I'm talking about.
I worked five long years for one woman, she had the nerve to put me out.

I finally learned my lesson, should a long time ago.
The next woman that I marry, she gonna work and bring me the dough.
Have you ever been mistreated?  You know just what I'm talking about.
I worked five long years for one woman, she had the nerve,
She had the nerve,
She had the nerve,
She had the nerve to put me out.


I'M TORE DOWN

I'm tore down, I'm almost level with the ground.
I'm tore down, I'm almost level with the ground.
Well, I feel like this when my baby can't be found.

I went to the river to jump in.
My baby showed up and said, "I will tell you when."

  Well, I'm tore down, I'm almost level with the ground.
  Well, I feel like this when my baby can't be found.

I love you babe with all my heart and soul;
Love like mine will never grow old.
Love you in the morning and in the evening too.
Every time you leave me I get mad with you.

  Chorus

I love you baby with all my might;
Love like mine is out of sight.
I'll lie for you if you want me to.
I really don't believe that your love is true.

  Chorus

I'm tore down, I'm almost level with the ground.
Well, I'm tore down, I'm almost level with the ground.
Well, I feel like this when my baby can't be found.


HOW LONG BLUES

How long, baby how long,
Has that evening train been gone?
How long, how how long, baby how long?

Went to the station, didn't see no train.
Down in my heart, I have an aching pain.
How long, how how long, baby how long?

I feel disgusted, I feel so bad
Thinking 'bout the good time that I once have had.
How long, how how long, baby how long?

I could see the green grass growing on the hill;
I ain't seen no greenback on a dollar bill.
How long, how how long, baby how long?

You're gonna be sorry, you'll feel so blue.
When you want me, baby, I declare I won't want you.
How long, how how long, baby how long?

Don't have no money for to ride the train.
I would ride the rods, baby, to be with you again.
How long, how how long, baby how long?

How long, baby how long
Must I keep my, my watch in pawn?
How long, how how long, baby how long?


GOIN' AWAY BABY

Lord, I'm going away just to wear you off my mind.
Lord, I'm going away just to wear you off my mind.
Well you keep me worrying 'bout it all the time.

Well, I ain't been loved but four womens in my life.
Well, I ain't ever loved but four womens in my life.
Well, my mother and my sister, sweetheart and my wife.

If you don't want me baby, please don't call me 'round.
If you don't want me baby, please don't call me 'round.
Well, just like you found me, you can put me down.

Well now goodbye baby, if you call at home.
Well now goodbye baby, if you call at home.
You can go away; swear you won't stay long.


BLUES LEAVE ME ALONE

Blues, blues trying to drive me away from home.
Blues, blues trying to drive me away from home.
Had the blues so bad, blues followed me all day long.

Blues, blues won't let me take my rest.
Blues, blues won't let me take my rest.
My mind is rambling like a wild geese out in the west.

Well, you're my all day steady, baby you're my midnight dream.
Yes, you're my all day steady, baby you're my midnight dream.
I love that woman better than anyone I've ever seen.

Blues, blues follow me all day long.
Blues, blues follow me all day long.
Blues, blues won't you please leave me alone.


SINNER'S PRAYER

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Well if I've done somebody wrong, Lord, have mercy if you please.

I used to have plenty of money, the finest clothes in town,
But bad luck and trouble overtaken me, bound to get me down.
Please have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Well if I've done somebody wrong, Lord, have mercy if you please.

Keep on working now, child.
Lord every morning.

Well if I've been a bad boy, baby, I declare I'll change my ways.
I don't want bad luck and trouble to follow me all my days.
Please have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Well if I've done somebody wrong, Lord, have mercy if you p


MOTHERLESS CHILD

If I mistreat you girl, I sure don't mean no harm.
If I mistreat you girl, I sure don't mean no harm.
Well, I'm a motherless child; I don't know right from wrong.

Please tell me pretty mama, honey where'd you stay last night?
Please tell me pretty mama, honey where'd you stay last night?
Well, you didn't come home till the sun was shining bright.

I had to go so far girl to get my ham bones boiled.
Had to go so far girl to get my ham bones boiled.
Well, he's had a lotta women, gonna let my ham bones burn.

Well, I did more for you, girl, than your daddy ever done.
Well, I did more for you, girl, than your daddy ever done.
Well, I give you my jelly, he ain't give you none.

And when you see two women, always running hand in hand.
When you see two women, always running hand in hand.
You can bet your bottom dollar, one got the other one's man.

Lord, I'm going to the river, get me a tangled rocking chair.
I'm going to the river, get me a tangled rocking chair.
And if the blues overtake me, gonna rock away from here.


IT HURTS ME TOO

You said you was hurting, almost lost your mind,
And the man you love, he hurts you all the time.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too.

You love him more when you should love him less.
I pick up behind him and take his mess.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too.

He love another woman and I love you,
But you love him and stick to him like glue.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too.

Now you better leave him; he better put you down.
Oh, I won't stand to see you pushed around.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too.


SOMEDAY AFTER A WHILE

I've got to ride that lonesome train.
My heart is heavy with aches and pain.
I said but someday, someday baby,
After a while, you will be sorry.

Every day my clouds are grey;
It takes you to roll all those clouds away.
I said but someday, someday baby,
After a while, you will be sorry.

Trouble, trouble, trouble on my mind.
Trouble, trouble, way down the line.
I don't need, I don't need no sympathy,
So babe, babe, don't you, don't you pity me.

I may be blue, but I don't mind,
Because I know way down the line,
I said someday, someday baby,
After a while, you will be sorry.


STANDIN' ROUND CRYING

Oh baby, look how you got me standin' 'round crying.
Oh baby, look how you got me standin' 'round crying.
Lord I love you little girl, you're always resting on my mind.

Oh baby, I ain't gonna be riding you 'round in my automobile.
Oh baby, I ain't gonna be riding you 'round in my automobile.
You got so many men, I'm afraid you may get me killed.

Oh baby, you ain't nothing like you used to be.  (No, don't get me killed, honey!)
Oh baby, you ain't nothing like you used to be.  (Oh man, leave that woman alone!)
When I was deep in love with you, little girl,
you were just sweet as an apple on a tree.


DRIFTIN'

I'm drifting and drifting, just like a ship out on the sea.
I'm drifting and drifting, just like a ship out on the sea.
Well I ain't got nobody in this world to care for me.

If my baby would only take me back again.
If my baby would only take me back again.
I would feel much better, darling, and at least I'd have a friend.

I give you all my money, tell me what more can I do.
I give you all my money, tell me what more can I do.
You is a sweet little girl but I swear you won't be true.

I'm drifting and drifting, just like a ship out on the sea.
I'm drifting and drifting, just like a ship out on the sea.
Because I ain't got nobody in this world to care for me.


GROANING THE BLUES

I'm so tired of moaning, trying to groan away my blues.
I'm so tired of moaning, trying to groan away my blues.
I keep weeping and crying every time I think of you.

I would rather die of starvation, perish out in the desert sun,
I would rather die of starvation, perish out in the desert sun,
Than to think of some other man holding you in his arms.

My heart gets so heavy, Lord I shakes down in my bones.
My heart gets so heavy, Lord I shakes down in my bones.
I can't hurt a murderer, oh Lord, but I'm forced to weep and moan.
 

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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