Eric Clapton

Released 2015/Acquired 2020/Listened 2022*

Eric Clapton, never easy, has become a more problematic person than ever with his anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination statements. An article I read said he was becoming very isolated, with few of his friends even calling him anymore. Holding such views, of course, not only puts yourself at risk, it puts the people you come in contact with at risk. And your views also contribute to other people putting themselves at risk – and everyone around them at risk. It’s irresponsible.

I think back to the 60s and 70s, though, when a lot of us in our teens and twenties didn’t trust the government – especially during the Nixon years. We often didn’t do what we were told to do, and reveled in it. Back then you could defy accepted wisdom and be a hero. Now maybe you’re a pariah.

Which is not to say we should cut him some slack. It was just a thought that occurred to me, a disconnect.

As to whether to buy and listen to his music now, that’s an individual choice and I have no problem with people who decide not to. I’ve spent periods where I’ve mentally blacklisted people’s books and movies and music, but it never seems to stick. I guess I compartmentalize the artist and the work without even trying to. In part, it may go back to when I stopped buying Exxon gas after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and then I stopped filling up with BP after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill…and then I thought, wait, am I actually looking for a socially- and environmentally-responsible oil company? I decided that when buying anything, given a choice I’d go with the more acceptable one, but I wasn’t going to stress about it.

Forever Man is a 3-cd followup to Clapton’s 1988 4-cd box set Crossroads, one of the early successes of the cd era. Forever Man picks up where Crossroads left off. Crossroads covered the Yardbirds through 1986’s August (and a couple singles after that); Forever Man goes back for a couple mid-80s tracks (including “Forever Man” itself), then picks up with 1989’s Journeyman and continues through 2014’s The Breeze.

Unlike the earlier set, which was chronological, this one splits the tracks into “Studio,” “Live” and “Blues” discs. My favorite is the live disc, which contains selections from 1991’s 24 Nights, 1992’s Unplugged, 1994’s One More Car, One More Rider, and 2009’s Clapton/Winwood Live from Madison Square Garden. The selections on this disc are all strong, with familiar songs like “White Room,” “Layla” and “Presence of the Lord,” a bunch of blues numbers, and ending with a surprisingly pleasant “Over the Rainbow.” I really enjoy playing this disc.

Not to slight the others. The blues disc is half Robert Johnson songs, because Clapton had recorded two albums worth of those, but there’s enough variety to make this a good listening experience. On the songs disc I prefer the rock numbers to the ballads, but even here, I really like the vocals on “My Father’s Eyes,” so that’s a good ballad. “Pretending” is probably my favorite of the songs, but there’s a lot of good stuff on here.

I have played Crossroads a lot over the years; now the four discs have been expanded to seven.

* I have a stash of unheard cds down in my basement. Every five days I bring a randomly-selected one upstairs, where it stays in rotation for ten days. (I spent a month listening to the three Clapton discs.) A disc can sit downstairs for years waiting for its number to come up.